The African country that became independent from Portugal on 11 November 1975 was Angola. The date is commemorated annually as Angola's Independence Day.
Angola had been under Portuguese rule for centuries, and an armed independence struggle began in 1961. Three major nationalist movements became central to the conflict: the MPLA, the FNLA and UNITA. Portugal's Carnation Revolution in April 1974 overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime and opened negotiations over the future of its African colonies.
The Alvor Agreement, signed in January 1975, set 11 November as Angola's independence date and envisioned cooperation among the rival movements. That cooperation quickly collapsed, however, and fighting spread as each faction competed for territory and political control. On the eve of independence, Portuguese forces withdrew from Luanda.
On 11 November, MPLA leader Agostinho Neto proclaimed the People's Republic of Angola in the capital. Rival declarations also occurred in areas controlled by the FNLA and UNITA, and the Angolan Civil War followed almost immediately. Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique were also Portuguese colonies, but they became independent on different dates.