Portuguese explorer Paulo Dias de Novais founds Luanda in 1575 as "São Paulo de Loanda", with a hundred families of settlers and four hundred soldiers.

Luanda is granted the status of city in 1605.

In 1618, the Portuguese build Fortaleza São Pedro da Barra fortress, followed by the Fortaleza de São Miguel fortress in 1634.

Luanda is Portuguese Angola's administrative center from 1627, with one exception, when the Dutch rule Luanda from 1640 to 1648 as Fort Aardenburgh.

The fortified Portuguese towns of Luanda and Benguela (a fort from 1587, a town from 1617) remain almost continuously in Portuguese hands until the independence of Angola in 1975.During the colonial history of Angola the country is a part of Portuguese West Africa from the annexation of several territories in the region as a colony in 1655 until its designation as an overseas province, effective October 20, 1951.

The Portuguese government incorporates Angola as a colony on May 12, 1886.