1975 — Angola Wins Independence

On November 11, 1975, Agostinho Neto declared the People's Republic of Angola independent, ending five centuries of Portuguese colonial rule. The date was the 400th anniversary of Luanda's founding, and the Portuguese had sailed home the day before. Independence came on the back of Portugal's 1974 Carnation Revolution and the Alvor Agreement, which together had finally opened the door that centuries of rule had kept shut against Angola's own people.

But before the celebrations faded, rival movements UNITA and the FNLA took up arms. Independence day became, at once, the first day of a civil war — freedom and conflict arriving in Angola on the very same morning.