Independence begins with memories of the colonial situation in Angola, reveals the first steps in the struggle and covers the main settings where it took place. From 1961 to 1974, the war in Angola spread from the bush areas in the North and Cabinda to the flood plains in the East, involving many, many people, the guerrillas and those that supported them. Meanwhile, prisons and prison camps were full of political prisoners. Using military endeavour as well as economic and legal reforms, Portugal managed to prolong a war that it could not win.