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Angola Ovimbundu and Kwanhama Kingdoms
Between 1500 and 1700, the Ovimbundu peoples migrated
from the
north and east of Angola to the Benguela Plateau. They did
not,
however, consolidate their kingdoms, nor did their kings
assert
their sovereignty over the plateau until the eighteenth
century,
when some twenty-two kingdoms emerged. Thirteen of the
kingdoms,
including Bié, Bailundu, and Ciyaka, emerged as powerful
entities,
and the Ovimbundu acquired a reputation as the most
successful
traders of the Angolan interior. After the Portuguese
conquered
most of the Ovimbundu states in the late nineteenth
century, the
Portuguese colonial authorities directly or indirectly
appointed
Ovimbundu kings.
The Kwanhama, belonging to the Bantu-speaking group,
established a kingdom early in the nineteenth century in
the
vicinity of the border with present-day Namibia. Kwanhama
kings
welcomed trade with Europeans, especially with Portuguese
and
German gun dealers. Feared even by the Portuguese, the
well-armed
Kwanhama developed a reputation as fierce warriors. Their
kingdom
survived until 1915, when a large Portuguese army invaded
and
defeated then.
Data as of February 1989
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