Mbunda people
| Mbunda Mbúùnda | |
|---|---|
| Person | Kambunda |
| People | Vambunda |
| Language | Chimbúùnda |
| Country | Angola, Zambia |
The Vambunda (singular Kambunda, adjective and language Mbunda, Mbúùnda or Chimbúùnda) are a Bantu people who, during the Bantu migrations, came from the north to south-eastern Angola and finally Barotseland, now part of Zambia. Their core is at present found in the south-east of Angola from the Lunguevungu river in Moxico to the Cuando Cubango Province.
The Vambunda comprise a number of subgroups, each of which speaks its own dialect: Mbunda Mathzi (Katavola), Yauma, Nkangala, Mbalango, Sango, Shamuka (Chiyengele) and Ndundu, all of them alive in southeast Angola.
According to the oral tradition of the Vambunda, the first Mbunda Monarch was King Mwene Nkuungu. It was along the tributaries to the Zambezi that the first Mbunda settled in present-day eastern Angola.
After the crossing of the Lyambayi or Zambezi river, as it is known today, the Mbunda under the leadership of Vamwene Kaamba ka Mbaao travelled up to a tributary of the Luena river in the now Angola which they named Mithimoyi. They settled along the Mithimoyi river (or Misimoyi as known by later settlers), now called Sakasaji river, named after a nearby Chokwe village. They settled near its confluence with the Luena river. From there, the group moved in a south-westerly direction and settled in the Luchazes area.
This expansion, which was later spearheaded by the 12th and 13th Mbunda monarchs, King Mwene Kathangila ka Mukenge and King Yambayamba Kapanda expeditions respectively, also gave way to thirteen Mbunda descendant ethnicity of the Mbunda Mathzi (Katavola], the Chimbandi, the Humbi, the Ngonjelo, the Luimbi, the Nyemba, the Luchazi, the Sango, the Mbalango, the Nkangala, the Yauma, the Ndundu and the Mashaka.
The Mbunda continued expanding southwards to a larger settlement, where the Mbunda Kingdom continued to flourish in what became known as Mbundaland from Lungwevungu river to Chibanda or southern border with Namibia, while Lumbala Nguimbo became their capital, where His Majesty King Mbandu III Mbandu Lifuti reigns today.
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Wikipedia