Imbangala: Difference between revisions

The '''Imbangala''' or '''Mbangala''' were 17th-centurydivided groups of warriors and marauders who worked as hired mercenaries in 17th-century [[Angola|Angolan]]<ref warriorsname=":0" /> and marauders wholater founded the [[Kasanje Kingdom]].

The Imbangala were people, possibly from Central Africa, who appeared on the scene in Angola during the early 17th century. Their origins are still debated. There is general agreement that they were not the same [[Jagas]] that attacked the [[Kingdom of Kongo]] during the reign of [[Alvaro I of Kongo|Alvaro I]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Miller |first=Joseph C. |date=1972 |title=The Imbangala and the Chronology of Early Central African History |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/180754 |journal=The Journal of African History |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=549–574 |doi=10.1017/S0021853700011932 |jstor=180754 |s2cid=162591680 |issn=0021-8537}}</ref>

In the 1960s, it[[Jan wasVansina]] determinedand David Birmingham hypothesized that the oral traditions of the [[Lunda Empire]] suggested that both groups of Jaga marauders originated in the Lunda Empire (present-day [[Democratic Republic of the Congo|Democratric Republic of Congo]] and [[Zambia]]) under leader Kinguri and had fled it1550 duringand the1612.<ref 17thname=":0" century./> Another theory is that the Imbangala were a local people of southern Angola originating from the [[Bié Plateau|Bie Plateau]] or the coastal regions west of the highlands.<ref name=":0" />

The first witness account of the Imbangala, written by an English sailor named [[Andrew Battell{{citation neededBattel|date=MayAndrew 2015}}Battell]], who lived with them for 16 months around 1600–1601, places them firmly in the coastal regions and highlands of modern [[Angola]], just south of the [[Kwanza River]]. Their leaders told Battell that they had come from a place called "''Elembe"'' and that they had originated from a "page" in its army. Battell's story was published by [[Samuel Purchas]] partially in 1614 and fully in 1625.

The Imbangala were a fully [[militarism|militarized]] society based entirely on [[initiation]] rites as opposed to the customary [[kinship]] rites of most African ethnic groups. To keep kinship from replacing initiation, all children born inside a ''kilombo'' (village) were killed. Women were allowed to leave the ''kilombo'' to have their children, but when they returned, the child was not considered an Imbangala until undergoing initiation. In almost [[Sparta|Spartan]]n-like program, children were trained daily in group and individual combat.<ref name="Honor 2008"/>

Imbangala fighting men were known as nugnza''ngunza'' (singular: ''gonzo'') and were divided into twelve squadrons, each led by a captain called a ''musungo''. These twelve squadrons were part of a ''kilombo'', a temporarily-fortified town surrounded by a wooden palisade. Each kilombo had twelve gates for the twelve squadrons that formed the total fighting force.<ref name="Honor 2008">{{cite book|last=Thomas and Desch-Obi|first=M and J|year=2008|title=Fighting for Honor: The History of African Martial Art Traditions in the Atlantic World|publisher=Univ of South Carolina Press|page=23}}</ref> The Imbangala army took the open field or any battlefield away from their fortifications in a three-prong formation similar to the famous Zulu "bull and hornshorn" formation. The Imbangala attacked with a right horn (''mutanda''), left horn (''muya'') and vanguard (''muta ita'') in the center. Unlike the Zulu, the Imbangala fought with the same weapons as their enemies, including bows, knives and swords. Their primary weapon was the war club or hatchet.<ref name="Honor 2008 pg 21">{{cite book|last=Thomas and Desch-Obi|first=M and J|year=2008|title=Fighting for Honor: The History of African Martial Art Traditions in the Atlantic World|publisher=Univ of South Carolina Press|page=21}}</ref>

TheBattell Portuguesewent took an interest into the Imbangala while Battell first lived with them. Battell went to their's country in company with Portuguese merchants, who were buying their war captives to sell as slaves. At thethis time of their contact, the Imbangala were acting as marauders whose primary interest seemed to be pillaging the country, especially to obtain large quantities of [[palm wine]], which they produced by a wasteful method of chopping thedown tree downtrees and tapping itstheir fermented contents over a few months.

The Imbangala did not permit female members to give birth, allegedly exposing all the children born in their ''kilombo'' (Portuguese ''[[quilombo]]''), or armed camp. Instead, they replenished their numbers by capturing adolescents and forcing them to serve in their army. This social structure made the Imbangala warbands ideal slavers, as non-male prisoners had little use in their society and as such could be easily sold to the Portuguese.<ref name=":0" />

Other bands were integrated into the Portuguese army serving as auxiliary soldiers, under their commanders and cantoned within the Portuguese territory. As the 17th century wore on, they and other bands were annihilated by one or another of the political states, such as the one formed by [[Njinga]] in [[Matamba]]. One rogue group of Imbangala set down roots and formed the [[Kasanje Kingdom]].

South of the Kwanza, in the original homeland of the Imbangala, they continued operating much as before for a least another half a century, but even there, they gradually formed partnerships with existing political entities such as [[Viye|Bihe]] (Viye), [[Huambo]] (Wambu) or [[Bailundo (kingdom)|Bailundu]] (Mbailundu). In all these areas, their customs tended to moderate in the 18th century, cannibalism was restricted to ritual and sometimes only to symbolic occasions (for example, in the 19th century, Imbangala groups in the central highlands still practiced a ritual known as "eating the old man").

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