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50 free Angola trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Angola is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking country on earth, a land of oil, diamonds, the Namib desert and a capital, Luanda, that has been ranked among the most expensive cities in the world for expatriates. This quiz covers the country from the Kingdom of Kongo and Queen Nzinga's resistance to the Portuguese, through the slave trade, the 1961-74 war of independence and the 27-year civil war that followed, to dos Santos's 38 years in power and the Lourenço era. The geography questions take in the Cabinda exclave, the Kwanza River that named the currency, Mount Moco, the Kalandula Falls and the Benguela Railway to Lobito. Culture and sport are here too: funge and muamba, semba, kizomba and kuduro from the streets of Luanda, the poet-president Agostinho Neto, the giant sable antelope, the flag with its machete and cogwheel, Africa's dominant basketball team, the women's handball side and the Palancas Negras' 2006 World Cup. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on Angola, its provinces, leaders and history, so the dates and numbers are reliable.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Angola is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking country in the world after which nation?
Brazil
It ranks second in both area and population among Lusophone countries.
Q 02Which Angolan province is an exclave separated from the rest of the country by DR Congo?
Cabinda
Its offshore oil earned it the nickname 'the Kuwait of Africa'.
Q 03The name Angola derives from 'ngola', the title held by the kings of which two kingdoms?
Ndongo and Matamba
The Portuguese name Reino de Angola appears in a charter of 1571.
Q 04Which kingdom dominated the region from the 14th century and met the Portuguese in 1483?
Kongo
It stretched from modern Gabon to the Kwanza River, and later fought three wars against Portugal.
Q 05Which Portuguese explorer reached the Angolan coast in 1484?
Diogo Cão
The Portuguese set up their first trading post at Soyo, at the mouth of the Congo.
Q 06Which Portuguese explorer founded Luanda in the 1570s?
Paulo Dias de Novais
It was named São Paulo de Loanda; Benguela followed in 1587.
Q 07Which queen ruled Ndongo from 1624 and Matamba from 1631, resisting the Portuguese for decades?
Nzinga
She had first served as an ambassador to the Portuguese and signed treaties with them in 1656.
Q 08Which European power occupied Luanda in 1641 during the Portuguese Restoration War?
The Dutch
The Dutch West India Company allied with local peoples against Portuguese holdings.
Q 09The Kingdom of Kongo used which natural object as its national currency?
Nzimbu shells
Nobles could buy slaves with them, but Kongo lacked an international currency.
Q 10The 1884-85 conference that fixed the borders of Portugal's Angolan claims was held in which city?
Berlin
Portugal's dream of linking Angola to Mozambique was blocked by Britain and Belgium.
Q 11Angola's war of independence against Portugal lasted from 1961 until which year?
1974
The Carnation Revolution in Lisbon ended Portugal's colonial wars.
Q 12The Alvor Agreement of January 1975 set Angola's independence for which date later that year?
11 November
Holden Roberto, Jonas Savimbi and Agostinho Neto had met in Mombasa to agree a coalition.
Q 13Who was independent Angola's first president, also regarded as its preeminent poet?
Agostinho Neto
He led the MPLA and served from 1975 until his death in 1979.
Which country's troops backed the MPLA against South African and Zairean intervention from 1975?
Q 21What is Angola's currency, named after a river?
The kwanza
It replaced the escudo at par in 1977 and was divided into 100 lwei.
Q 22Angola's flag shows a machete crossed with what, beneath a five-pointed star?
A half cogwheel
It is based on the MPLA party flag and was adopted on independence day, 11 November 1975.
Q 23In 2023, which country was Angola's biggest trade partner and export destination?
China
More than half of Angola's exports that year, mostly crude oil and diamonds, went there.
What was Angola's estimated population as of 2024?
Cuba
Over a thousand Cuban soldiers were in the country by independence day.
Q 15Jonas Savimbi founded which rebel movement in 1966?
UNITA
It was largely Ovimbundu-based and later backed by the US and South Africa.
Q 16The 1987-88 Battle of Cuito Cuanavale is called Africa's biggest conventional battle since what?
The Second World War
Cuban and Angolan forces faced South Africa and UNITA over eight months.
Q 17Angola's civil war ended in 2002 after government troops killed Jonas Savimbi in which province?
Moxico
The 27-year war killed between 500,000 and 800,000 people.
Q 18José Eduardo dos Santos stepped down in 2017 after how many years as president?
38
João Lourenço, his chosen successor, then purged many dos Santos allies.
Q 19Which state company did Isabel dos Santos head until João Lourenço removed her?
Sonangol
The 2020 Luanda Leaks alleged the family ran the oil firm for personal profit.
Q 20Angola quit which organisation in December 2023 after a dispute over production quotas?
OPEC
It had joined in 2006; the exit ended 16 years of membership.
36.6 million
Luanda alone holds more than 8.8 million, a third of the country.
Q 25Which is Angola's largest ethnic group, at about 29%?
Ovimbundu
The Ambundu are 27% and the Bakongo 14%.
Q 26Which is the most widely spoken indigenous language of Angola?
Umbundu
Portuguese is the native tongue of 45.5% of Angolans according to the 2024 census.
Q 27Luanda holds what distinction among the world's Portuguese-speaking capitals?
The most populous
It is also the largest Lusophone city outside Brazil and one of the most expensive for expatriates.
Q 28Mount Moco, Angola's highest mountain at 2,620 m, stands in which province?
Huambo
It lies about 70 km west of the city of Huambo on the central plateau.
Q 29The Kalandula Falls in Malanje Province, 105 m high and 400 m wide, are on which river?
The Lucala
They were once called the Duque de Bragança Falls.
Q 30The Benguela Railway runs from the Congolese border to which Atlantic port?
Lobito
It carries Copperbelt minerals; the line reached the border at Luau in 1929.