Mbangala

Mbangala, or Imbangala, was a name associated with warrior bands active in the Angolan interior. In the early seventeenth century some established themselves near Ambaca, where the Portuguese sought their military support in wars against Ndongo. The relationship also drew captives into the Atlantic slave trade. Other Imbangala leaders moved farther east, and around 1620 one such band founded the kingdom of Kasanje near the upper Kwango River.