[1] The city was founded in 1843 and owes its existence to the bay of the same name having been chosen as the sea terminus of the Benguela railway to the far interior, passing through Luau to Katanga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The town was also founded in 1843 by order of Maria II of Portugal, and its harbour works were begun in 1903.

It wasn't until 1843 that Maria II of Portugal approved the foundation of the town, which had by then been known as Catumbela das Ostras (Catumbela of Oysters)[5] Large developments, however, were not stimulated until the completion in 1928 of the important Benguela Railway, which connected Portuguese Angola with the Belgian Congo.

Under Portuguese rule, the port was one of Angola's busiest, and the busiest of Africa, exporting agricultural produce from the interior and handling transit trade from the mines of southeastern Belgian Congo and of Northern Rhodesia.

With peace and stability, in the 2000s, Lobito started the process of reconstruction and resumed its path to development.