Cuito

Cuito lies in the Mbunda country of Angola's southern interior, where the Cuito River rises in the highlands near Bié and Moxico and flows south to join the Cubango. Its valley holds woodland and seasonal grassland, and the river supplied fish and water for villages that grew millet, cassava and maize. Paths crossed the valley toward the highlands and the Cubango crossings.

The wider Bié highlands were an important junction for long-distance caravans. Ovimbundu traders carried wax, ivory and slaves from the interior to the coast at Benguela and Luanda, and goods from the coast moved back inland in return. The Mbunda and related peoples of the river valleys took part in these exchanges, and their chiefs controlled the crossings and the paths that served them.