Cabinda

Cabinda lies on the Atlantic coast north of the Congo River. The settlement became an important maritime outlet of the kingdom of Cacongo in the sixteenth century. A Portuguese trading post established in 1620 dealt in enslaved people, cloth, salt and timber, linking the coast to a wider Atlantic trade.

In 1783 Portuguese authorities agreed with Cacongo to build the fort of Santa Maria de Cabinda. Forces from Angoio and Cacongo, together with the French, destroyed it the following year. The present city later became the capital of Angola's Cabinda Province, a territory separated from the main body of Angola.