Country Angola Website www.bie.gov.ao Capital Kuito | ISO 3166 code AO-BIE Area 70,314 km² | |
 | ||
Bié is a province of Angola located on the Bié Plateau in central part of country. Its capital is Kuito, which was called Silva Porto until independence from Portugal in 1975. The province has an area of 70,314 square kilometres (27,148 sq mi) and a population of 1,338,923. Municipalities in the province include Andulo, Camacupa, Catabola, Chinguar, Chitembo, Cuemba, Cunhinga, Kuito, and Nharea. The current governor of Bié is José Amaro Tati.
Contents
Map of Bi%C3%A9, Angola
Overview
Bié has boundaries with the province of Malanje, to the northeast with the province of Lunda Sul, to Moxico, to the south with Cuando Cubango and to the west with the provinces of Huila, Huambo and Cuanza Sul.
The climate of Bié is cool and abundant rainfall makes it possible to farm maize, sugar cane, rice, coffee and peanuts. Its ground is among the most fertile in Angola.
The province was once an important commercial link between the Portuguese traders at the port of Benguela on the Atlantic Ocean and the Ovimbundu in the interior. The capital and other cities in the province remain important commercial centers in Angola.
Origins of Jonas Savimbi
Bié province is perhaps best known as the place where the family of Angolan political leader Jonas Savimbi came from. Savimbi, although born in Moxico Province near Bié, was ethnically Bieno, i.e. of a subgroup of the Ovimbundu. He led the UNITA movement first in the anti-colonial war against the Portuguese, and then in the Civil War against the ruling MPLA before he was killed in combat in 2002. Savimbi gained global notoriety as a United States ally during the Cold War.
Civil War
Bié is one of the regions that was heavily affected by the Civil War. Agriculture came to a halt in several areas, and part of the rural population fled to the cities. The province capital Kuito was in part destroyed by bombing, as were roads and other infrastructures. Since 2002, reconstruction efforts have been important, but as of early 2011 much remained to be done.