Angola is originally tied to the traditions of the central Bantu peoples – like the Ovimbundu, Ambundu, Bakongo, Chokwe, Ovambo, and others – and the ancient kingdom of Kongo. However, from the 15th century onwards, it became a key colony for the Portuguese. Initially, they only sought control over the slave trade from forts along the coast, then they took over the entire territory, causing a resistance that inspired much art and literature. Angola’s struggle for independence was long and violent, and life in the independent nation has also been wounded by intense civil war. Such disorder has obstructed the development of Bantu customs, already overshadowed by Western influences, and also destroyed the more Portuguese traditions of the coastal cities, despite the work of various government research agencies that have tried to search and collect ethnographic material.
The wooden sculptures of the Chokwe people, the carved ivories of Cabinda, and the elaborate hairstyles of the Nyaneka and Nkhumbi peoples are especially famous along with the traditional arts of Angola, which have played an important part in cultural rituals marking such passages as birth or death, childhood to adulthood, and the harvest and hunting seasons. The sculpture is known as “The Thinker” is one of the oldest and well-known artifacts of the Chokwe origin and represents all Angolans by symbolizing its national culture.