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Updates: 

I showed Kwanza as an obsolete spelling of Cuanza, but it still seems to occur quite commonly. Probably that spelling (or misspelling) is reinforced by the Angolan currency unit, the kwanza.

Most maps place Bula Atumba and Pango Aluquém districts in Cuanza Norte province. Most current news reports, and many reference pages, place them both in Bengo province. I will assume that they were recently transferred from Cuanza Norte to Bengo, and the maps haven't caught up yet.

Jose Gavinha writes that the colonial name of Ondjiva, the capital of Cunene province, was Pereira d'Eça.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter Number I-2 was published on 2002-05-21. It changes the spelling of one of the provinces of Angola from Zaïre to Zaire.

Country overview: 

Short name	ANGOLA
ISO code	AO
FIPS code	AO
Language	Portuguese (pt)
Time zone	+1
Capital	Luanda

 

In 1900, the area now known as Angola was Portuguese West Africa. By 1906, its boundaries were almost exactly the same as Angola's are today. Angola was an overseas province of Portugal until its independence on 1975-11-11.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Angola
2. Dutch: Angola, Republiek Angola (formal)
3. English: People's Republic of Angola (formal)
4. Finnish: Angola
5. French: Angola m
6. German: Angola n
7. Icelandic: Angóla
8. Italian: Angola
9. Norwegian: Angola, Republikken Angola (formal)
10. Portuguese: Angola, República f Popular de Angola n (formal)
11. Spanish: Angola, República f Popular de Angola f (formal)
12. Swedish: Angola

Origin of name: 

From N'gola, 16th century king

Primary subdivisions: 

Angola is divided into 18 províncias (provinces).

Province	HASC	ISO	FIPS	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital	Colonial name of capital	Tel
Bengo	AO.BO	BGO	AO19	196,100	31,371	12,112	Caxito		034
Benguela	AO.BG	BGU	AO01	656,600	31,788	12,273	Benguela		072
Bié	AO.BI	BIE	AO02	1,119,800	70,314	27,148	Kuito	Silva Pôrto	048
Cabinda	AO.CB	CAB	AO03	152,100	7,270	2,807	Cabinda		031
Cuando Cubango	AO.CC	CCU	AO04	139,600	199,049	76,853	Menongue	Serpa Pinto	049
Cuanza Norte	AO.CN	CNO	AO05	385,200	24,190	9,340	N'dalatando	Salazar	035
Cuanza Sul	AO.CS	CUS	AO06	694,500	55,660	21,490	Sumbe	Novo Redondo	036
Cunene	AO.CU	CNN	AO07	241,200	89,342	34,495	Ondjiva	Pereira d'Eça	065
Huambo	AO.HM	HUA	AO08	1,521,000	34,274	13,233	Huambo	Nova Lisboa	041
Huíla	AO.HL	HUI	AO09	885,100	75,002	28,958	Lubango	Sá da Bandeira	061
Luanda	AO.LU	LUA	AO20	1,588,600	2,418	934	Luanda	São Paulo de Loanda	02
Lunda Norte	AO.LN	LNO	AO17	305,900	102,783	39,685	Lucapa		052
Lunda Sul	AO.LS	LSU	AO18	169,100	45,649	17,625	Saurimo	Henrique de Carvalho	053
Malanje	AO.ML	MAL	AO12	906,000	97,602	37,684	Malanje		051
Moxico	AO.MX	MOX	AO14	319,300	223,023	86,110	Luena	Luso	054
Namibe	AO.NA	NAM	AO13	107,300	58,137	22,447	Namibe	Moçâmedes	064
Uíge	AO.UI	UIG	AO15	802,700	58,698	22,663	Uíge	Carmona	033
Zaire	AO.ZA	ZAI	AO16	237,500	40,130	15,494	M'Banza Congo	São Salvador do Congo	032
18 provinces				10,427,600	1,246,700	481,354
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Province codes from ISO 3166-2. For full identification in a global context, prefix "AO-" to the code (ex: AO-MOX represents Moxico). FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4 Population: 1992 estimates Tel: Dialing prefix (mobile phones in Luanda are 09)

Further subdivisions:

See the City Councils of Angola page.

The provinces are divided into 159 city councils.

Territorial extent: 

Cabinda is an exclave, separated from the rest of Angola by part of Democratic Republic of Congo.

Origins of names: 

1. Cabinda: From an ethnic group of the same name.
2. Luanda: From a native word luanda = tax. Shellfish caught there were sent as tribute to the king of Congo.
3. Namibe: From the Namib Desert (see also Namibia).
4. Zaire: From the Zaïre River, from Kikongo nzadi = river (see also Democratic Republic of Congo).

Change history: 

1. 1900: The provinces were Benguella, Kongo, Loanda, Lunda, and Mossamedes. According to the 1911 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica , "Angola is divided into five districts: four on the coast, the fifth, Lunda, wholly inland, being the N.E. part of the province. ... The coast divisions of Angola are Congo on the N. (from the river Congo to the river Loje), ... Loanda [the 105 m. of coast, with its hinterland, between the mouths of the rivers Dande and Kwanza]; Benguella and Mossamedes to the south. Mossamedes is again divided into two portions--the coast region and the hinterland, known as Huilla."
2. 1950: The provinces were Benguela, Bié, Huíla, Congo (or Luanda), and Malange. The Encyclopædia Britannica World Atlas, 1957 edition, lists the following divisions:

Province	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Benguela	1,226,017	132,110	51,008	Benguela
Bié	710,841	453,667	175,162	Silva Pôrto
Cabinda	50,506	7,270	2,807	Cabinda
Congo	734,067	156,839	60,556	Uíge
Huíla	548,545	223,169	86,166	Mossâmedes
Luanda	164,340	1,549	598	Luanda
Malange	710,950	272,089	105,054	Malange
7 divisions	4,145,266	1,246,693	481,351
Province: Cabinda and Luanda are autonomous districts. Population: 1950 census

1. 1951: Name of country changed from Portuguese West Africa to Angola.
2. Between 1951 and 1967, Benguela was split into Benguela, Cuanza Sul, and Huambo; Bié was split into Bié-Cuando Cubango and Moxico; Huíla was split into Moçâmedes and Huíla; Congo was split into Cuanza Norte, Uíge and Zaire; and Malange was split into Lunda and Malange.
3. ~1971: Bié-Cuando Cubango province (capital Silva Pôrto) split into Bié and Cuando Cubango.
4. 1975-11-11: Angola changed from overseas province of Portugal to independent country.
5. ~1975: Huíla province (capital Sá da Bandeira) split into Cunene and Huíla.
6. ~1976: Name of capital of Zaïre province changed from São Salvador do Congo to M'banza Congo; name of capital of Cuanza Norte province changed from Vila Salazar to N'dalatando; name of capital of Bié province changed from Silva Pôrto to Bié; name of capital of Huambo province changed from Nova Lisboa to Huambo; name of capital of Cunene province changed from Pereira d'Eça to Ondjiva.
7. ~1978: Lunda province (capital Saurimo) split into Lunda Norte and Lunda Sul; name of capital of Bié province changed from Bié to Kuito.
8. 1985: Name of Moçâmedes (province and capital) changed to Namibe; name of Malange province and city changed to Malanje; Luanda province (capital Luanda) split into Bengo and Luanda.
9. There have also been minor boundary changes.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Benguela: Benguella (obsolete)
2. Cuanza Norte: Cuanza-Nord (French); Kwanza Norte (obsolete)
3. Cuanza Sul: Cuanza-Sud (French); Kwanza Sul (obsolete)
4. Luanda: Loanda (obsolete)
5. Malanje: Malange (variant)
6. Namibe: Moçâmedes, Mossamedes (obsolete)

Sources:

1. [1] L'Évaluation des effectifs de la population des pays Africains, Tome I. Groupe de Démographie Africaine, Paris, 1982.