Luanda is Angola's capital and largest city, set on a sweeping natural bay on the Atlantic coast. Founded by Portuguese colonists in 1576, it served for centuries as a major hub of the transatlantic slave trade — a history the city confronts honestly at the National Slavery Museum. The city has grown enormously since independence in 1975 and through the end of the civil war in 2002; today it is one of Africa's larger capitals, a chaotic, energetic place that has rebuilt itself rapidly on oil wealth.
The lower city (Baixa de Luanda) has a faded colonial charm along the seafront Marginal promenade. The bay itself is beautiful, and the Ilha do Cabo — a narrow peninsula curling around the harbour — has Luanda's best restaurants, beaches, and beach bars. The Fortaleza de São Miguel, a 17th-century fort on the hill above the Baixa, is the city's oldest Portuguese structure and houses the Museum of Armed Forces. Kissama National Park, 70 km south, is the most accessible wildlife reserve from the city, where elephant and antelope populations have been recovering since the end of the civil war.