Angola–Portugal relations recession, had made buying large corporations that they would not have been able to afford if Portugal had not been in a crisis an easy picking for the Angolan government. Portugal had also sold some real estate and port wine estates. Angola now had stakes in the Portuguese economy from banking to energy to media. Angola–Portugal relations Angola–Portugal relations have significantly improved since the Angolan government abandoned communism and nominally embraced democracy in 1991, embracing a pro-U.S. and to a lesser degree pro-Europe foreign policy. Portugal ruled Angola for 400 years, colonizing the territory from 1483 until independence in 1975.
1960s in Angola exports doubled between 1965 and 1970 to 170 million pounds. In the district of Huambo, between 1968 and 1970 white-owned land more than doubled from 249,039 hectares to 526,270 hectares. Native-owned land decreased by 36.5%. The average African farm's gross income declined between 1964 and 1970 from $98.00 to $35.00 Portuguese petroleum-production began in Congo basin in the 1960s, and in the exclave of Cabinda in 1968. Now the petroleum industry is the engine of the Angolan economy. 1960s in Angola The 1960s in Angola were marked by the War of Independence (1961–1975). Portuguese police arrested Agostinho Neto of the