The Imbangala probably originated in the central highlands of present-day Angola. Imbangala presence in Angola as early as 1563, this date reveals little about preceding events in Katanga, which may have taken place many decades, or even centuries, earlier.
Imbangala fighting men were known as 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.
There was maji a samba and yijila. Maji a samba was a salve that the Imbangala covered themselves in that was supposed to make the nugnza–warriors–invincible. This salve only worked if they followed through with yijila without fear or hesitation. Yijila was the warrior code that encouraged and was “powered” by the Imbangala’s death culture.
In the words of Munashe O’brian Gutu:
“Armed with superior weapons, Imbangala soldiers captured and sold natives on a far larger scale as every new slave translated into a better-armed force of aggressors. This sustained the slave supply and modelled it into a going concern .A combined force of Portuguese and Imbangala soldiers attacked and conquered the Kingdom of Ndongo from 1618 to 1619, laying siege to the Ndongo capital of Kabasa.”
About 1617 the Portuguese colony of Angola employed the Imbangala as mercenaries, achieving great success in wars against the Ndongo kingdom and other neighbouring peoples. Afterward many bands of Imbangala either were destroyed, joined with Ndongo or the Portuguese, or formed independent polities of their own in the central highlands—most notably, the Kasanje kingdom in the upper Cuango River valley.
The Kasanje kingdom became Portugal’s principal ally on the Cuango River and was integrated into Angola in c. 1911. In the 20th century, “Imbangala” became the specific name used to describe the ethnicity of people living in the former Kasanje kingdom.
