Why it looks like this

Luanda is one of the oldest European-founded cities in sub-Saharan Africa: the Portuguese established it in 1576, and the lower town by the bay — protected by the Ilha do Cabo, a long sandspit that closes the harbour — kept its colonial grid, forts and waterfront avenue.

The 20th century and Angola's oil boom built towers on that old core, while decades of civil war drove millions into the city, filling the surrounding plateaus with musseques — informal neighbourhoods whose dense, irregular lanes now hold most of Luanda's people.