Ovimbundu

The Ovimbundu, also called the Southern Mbundu, are a Bantu people of the Bié Plateau in central Angola and the coastal strip around Benguela. Bantu groups moving in from the north coalesced into small kingdoms including M'Balundu, combining plateau agriculture with cattle acquired from peoples to the south.

After the Portuguese set up a colonial bridgehead at Benguela in the late 1500s, the Ovimbundu kingdoms organized long-distance caravan trade, carrying wax, rubber, honey and ivory from the interior to the coast. The slave trade formed part of the same network.

Regional crafts such as metalwork and cornmeal production developed, and caravans led by professional trader-diviners remained the backbone of Ovimbundu life until the suppression of the slave trade in the 1800s began their decline.