Angola–Democratic Republic of the Congo border

[2] The border then follows this river, and then the Luao, as they flow from the south, before turning east and proceeding overland via various irregular lines to the Zambian tripoint.

[2] Portugal had begun exploring the coast of modern Angola in the 1480s, and over the following century established a number of coastal settlements, gradually expanding into the interior at the expense of the native kingdoms of Kongo, Matamba, Ndongo and others.

[3] At this time the area of the modern DRC was controlled by the Congo Free State, held under the personal rule of Belgian King Leopold II, who had sponsored various explorations in the region under the guise of humanitarianism.

[3] A treaty signed shortly thereafter delimited in a rough form the rest of the border, stating that a more precise line was to be drawn later by a boundary commission.

[3][2] Administration of the Congo Free State was taken over by the Belgian government in 1908 following controversies engendered by the atrocities committed by Leopold's forces there.

[6] The southern border section has also been unstable for much of this period also, due to civil wars in Angola and Congo, resulting in numerous cross-border incursions and refugee flows.