Cuando Cubango (

Umbundu Umbundu, or South Mbundu (autonym ''úmbúndú''), one of many Bantu languages, is the most widely-spoken autochthonous language of Angola. Its speakers are known as ''Ovimbundu'' and are an ethnic group constituting a third of Angola's populati ...

: Kwando Kubango Volupale) was a former

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

. It was divided into the provinces of Cuando and Cubango in 2024. Cuando Cubango had an area of 199,049km² and a population of 534,002 in 2014.

Menongue Menongue, formerly Serpa Pinto, is a Municipalities of Angola, municipality and the Capital city, capital of Cubango Province in Angola. The municipality had a population of 320,914 in 2014. It is one of the four municipalities in Angola whose inh ...

was the capital of the province. The name of the province derives from that of the Cuando and Cubango rivers, which flow through the eastern and western edges of the province, respectively.

History

Throughout much of the 1980s and 1990s, Cuando Cubango served as the location for the primary base camp of Angola's

UNITA The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (, abbr. UNITA) is the second-largest political party in Angola. Founded in 1966, UNITA fought alongside the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the National Liberat ...

rebel movement, led by

Jonas Savimbi Jonas Malheiro Sidónio Sakaita Savimbi (; 3 August 1934 – 22 February 2002) was an Angolan revolutionary, politician, and rebel military leader who founded and led the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola ( UNITA). UNITA was on ...

. The rebel movement received support from the United States as part of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

conflict against Angola's Marxist government, which was supported by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

and other communist states. Savimbi and UNITA maintained a large and clandestine base camp in the Cubando Cubango town of Jamba. The camp was protected by anti-aircraft weapons and included an air strip, which was used for the delivery of military and other supplies, which typically arrived from neighboring

Zaire Zaire, officially the Republic of Zaire, was the name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1971 to 18 May 1997. Located in Central Africa, it was, by area, the third-largest country in Africa after Sudan and Algeria, and the 11th-la ...

. The

Angolan Civil War The Angolan Civil War () was a civil war in Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with interludes, until 2002. The war began immediately after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. It was a power struggle between two for ...

ultimately became one of the most prominent conflicts of the Cold War, with both the United States and the Soviet Union depicting its outcome as important to the global balance of power.

Geography

Cuando Cubango was traversed by the northwesterly line of equal latitude and longitude. It was located in the extreme south-east of Angola. To the north and north-east it bordered

Moxico Province Moxico (Portuguese spelling) or Moshiko (Bantu spelling) is the largest Provinces of Angola, province of Angola. It used to have an area of , which corresponded to 18% of the landmass of Angola. The province has a population of 758,568 accordin ...

, and in the west - the provinces of Huila and Cunene. In the south of Cuando Cubango it bordered

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

, and to the east -

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

Municipalities

The province of Cuando Cubango contained nine

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

(): * Calai * Cuangar * Cuchi * Cuito Cuanavale * Dirico * Mavinga *

* Nancova * Rivungo

Communes

The province of Cuando Cubango contained the following communes (); sorted by their respective municipalities: * Calai Municipality – Calai, Maué, Mavengue * Cuangar Municipality – Caila (Bondo), Cuangar,

Savate Savate (), also known as French Boxing (French language, French: ''Boxe Française'') or French Foot Fighting, is a French hybrid martial art and full-contact combat sport that combines principles of boxing, western boxing with a wide variety ...

* Cuchi Municipality – Chinguanja, Cuchi, Cutato (Kutato), Vissati * Cuito Cuanavale Municipality – Baixo Longa, Cuito Cuanavale, Longa, Lupire (Lupiri) * Dirico Municipality – Dirico, Mucusso, Xamavera * Mavinga Municipality – Cunjamba Dima, Cutuile (Kutuile), Luengue, Mavinga * Menongue Municipality – Caiundo (Kaiundo), Cueio-Betre,

, Missombo * Nancova Municipality – Nancova, Rito * Rivungo Municipality – Chipundo, Jamba-Cueio, Luiana, Mainha Neriquinha, Rivungo

Natural history

Considerable natural habitat previously existed within the province, although much of these areas has been destroyed during the period 1965 to 1991 during the foreign intervention years of the

. In particular, the area was previously suitable habitat for the endangered

painted hunting dog The African wild dog (''Lycaon pictus''), also called painted dog and Cape hunting dog, is a wild canine native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is the largest wild canine in Africa, and the only extant member of the genus '' Lycaon'', which is disti ...

, ''Lycaon pictus'', which is now deemed

extirpated Local extinction, also extirpation, is the termination of a species (or other taxon) in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinctions. Local extinctions mark a chan ...

in the local area.C. Michael Hogan. 2009

List of governors of Cuando Cubango

References

Citations

Bibliography

* , 9780415350150 354 pages * C. Michael Hogan. 2009
''Painted Hunting Dog: Lycaon pictus'', GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. N. Stromberg
*

External links

Official website of province governor

Information on this province at the Angolan ministry for territorial administration

Information on this province at ''Info Angola''

{{Authority control Former provinces of Angola 2024 disestablishments in Angola