A coastal province in central Angola. The capital city, also called Benguela, was founded by the Portuguese in 1617 and has long served as the gateway into the central highlands.

Benguela is a province of Angola. Its capital is Benguela and it has an area of 31,788 km² and a population of approximately 600,000. According to 1988 US government statistics, the population had 297,700 urban inhabitants and 308,800 rural inhabitants, with an estimated total provincial population of 606,500 http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/angola/ao_appen.html.