Pende

The Pende were a Bantu people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, divided into Eastern and Western groups who shared one identity without a central king or chief. Their society rested on matrilineal extended families and worship of the Mvumbi ancestor spirits. They once lived between the Atlantic and the Cuanza River in Angola, kin to the Ambundu.

Around 1620 the expansion of the Kingdom of Lunda drove them north into the Kwilu and Kasai country, where they settled beside the Yaka and Suku. They spoke Kipende, a Central Bantu language, and were known for masks and initiation art; carvers ranked close to clan chiefs and alone shared their privilege of receiving the first portion of the harvest.