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Portuguese Angola

by stuart notholt - 1996-01-10

See also: Angola

Angola was discovered by the Portuguese mariner Diogo Cao in 1483 and became one of Europe's first colonies in sub-Saharan Africa.
It was also one of the last to achieve independence, when the Portuguese left in 1975. (Angola became officially independent on 11 November 1975).
From 1951 onwards, Portugal regarded its overseas territories as integral parts of the Portugal itself - they were 'provinces', not colonies - and accordingly maintained at the United Nations that they were not subject to decolonization. For the same reason, Portuguese overseas provinces did not have flags of their own: the Portuguese flag was official for all the usual purposes.
However, there were distinctive flags for the Governors and Governor Generals of the territories. The flag of the Governor General of the Portuguese Overseas Territories was white, with the cross of the Order of Jesus, on which was centred the arms of Portugal. Two light green stripes ran horizontally across the flag. The flag of the Governor was similar, except that the stripes were vertical.
stuart notholt - 1996-01-10