Angola is a country that has been detrimentally affected by colonization and imperialism. It has experienced years of war and conflict as a result of the Portuguese colonizer's consistent exploitation and disregard for human life. Through examining the religious and ethnic make-up of Angola, the effect of imperialism can be illustrated to some extent. Additionally, a brief look at the history of Angola will further illustrate the injurious effect of imperialism on the livelihood and happiness of countless individuals.
In defining ethnic groups, there will be a focus on the spoken language of each ethnic group, as well as a brief description of each group, in other words an analysis on the varying ethnolinguistic categories. Although it must be acknowledged that language and culture alone do not constitute an ethnic group, they do provide a framework from which a common identity can be derived, thus in defining the largest ethnolinguistic categories in Angola, language and cultural background will be analyzed. There are a plethora of languages that are spoken in Angola. There are forty-one living languages and there is one extinct language in Angola (Grimes 1). Each distinct language is a representation of varying ethnolinguistic categories. For the sake of brevity, only the largest ethnolinguistic categories will be discussed. .
Multiple sources discussed the three largest indigenous ethnolinguistic categories in addition to Europeans and mesticos (individuals who are of Native African and European decent). The majority of these sources are written from a western perspective. The composition of Europeans is 1% and the composition of mesticos is 2%. The remaining ethnolinguistic categories are clumped into a remaining group most commonly referred to as "other," which refers to the remaining indigenous groups. This appears to be culturally relativistic, as the "westernized" individuals make up such a small percentage of the Angolan population, yet they are discussed at greater length than other indigenous groups that make up an equally small proportion of the Angolan population.