In fact, until the slave trade was abolished in 1836 it is estimated that Portugal sent over a million Angolans to Brazil fuelling resentment at the incomers that fed the later clamour for independence. During this period the Portuguese built railroads, ports together with towns and cities.

From 1885 as part of the Scramble for Africa, Portugal consolidated its hold over the country which saw ongoing local resistance, particularly to enforced labour which had technically replaced slavery. The colonisation of the country saw little in the way of social development for native Angolans. In 1920 Angola became a colony with its own administration, however in 1952 Angola's status was changed from a colony to an overseas province and the influx of white Portuguese during this period fanned the flames of racial tension. Whilst across Africa there were growing calls for independence, the Portuguese rejected these outright not least because Portugal itself was ruled by dictators. Over the next fifteen years three rival guerrilla emerged intent on independence for Angola, the Uniao Nacional para a Independencia Total de Angola (UNITA), the Frente Nacional de Libertacao de Angola (FNLA) and the Movimento Popular de Libertaccao de Angola (MPLA). These groups were not just fighting for independence, they were also at war with each other, and, following the collapse of the Portuguese regime in Lisbon in 1974, the Portuguese granted Angola independence the following year without handing power to a succeeding government, they merely abandoned Angola in the middle of a civil war.