The Bahá'í Faith in Angola begins after `Abdu'l-Bahá wrote letters encouraging taking the religion to Africa in 1916. The first Bahá'í pioneered to Angola about 1952. By 1963 there was a Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly in Luanda and smaller groups of Bahá'ís in other cities. In 1992 the Bahá'ís of Angola elected their first National Spiritual Assembly. The Association of Religion Data Archives (relying mostly on the World Christian Encyclopedia) estimated some 1800 Bahá'ís in 2005.