Malanji

Malanji lies on the Angolan plateau along a route between the interior and the Kwanza valley. Caravans travelling toward Dondo used the area as a stopping place on their way west. Farther east, the kingdom of Kasanje arose near the upper Kwango in the early seventeenth century. It became an important centre of inland commerce, where Portuguese merchants were active by the 1650s and where routes brought together people from several linguistic communities.