Imbangala

The Imbangala were warrior bands who became prominent in Angola during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. They fought for both the Portuguese and their African opponents at different times, and supplied captives to the slave trade. Their fortified camps were known as kilombo. Around 1620 a band led by Kasanje established a kingdom on the upper Kwango River; its rulers, called kinguri, faced neighbouring powers including Queen Njinga's Matamba.