Mbundu people

Ambundu
Northern Mbundu

Total population
(4 million)
Regions with significant populations
Angola
Languages
Kimbundu, Portuguese
Religion
Christianity, African traditional religions
Related ethnic groups
Southern Mbundu people, Bantu peoples

The Northern Mbundu or Ambundu (distinct from the Southern Mbundu or Ovimbundu) are a Bantu people living in Angola's North-West, North of the river Kwanza. The Ambundu speak Kimbundu, and mostly also the official language of the country, Portuguese. They are the second biggest ethnic group in the country, with 2.4 million people in the latest count The Ambundu nowadays live in the region stretching to the East from Angola's capital city of Luanda (see map). They are predominant in the Bengo and Malanje provinces and in neighbouring parts of the Cuanza Norte and Cuanza Sul provinces. The head of the main Mbundu kingdom was called a Ngola, which is the origin of the name of the country Angola.

The Mbundu are one of the Bantu peoples. They had been arriving in the Angola region from the early Middle Ages on, but the biggest part of the immigration took place between the 13th and 16th century C.E.. Kimbundu is a West-Bantu language, and it is thought that the Mbundu have arrived from the North Africa rather than from the East Africa. The Bantu peoples brought agriculture with them. They built permanent villages, and traded with the indigenous Pygmies and Khoi-San populations.

The Mbundu society consisted of local communities until the 14th century. Their society has always been matrilineal. Land was inherited matrilineally, and the descent system was matrilineal as well. Boys used to go and live in the villages of their maternal uncles, so as to preserve a matrilinear core to the village. Theoretically, the lineage was projected onto status, instead of individuals, which gave the system some flexibility. This feature is not found with neighbouring peoples, like the Ovimbundu to the South, and the Bakongo to the North.

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Wikipedia