Battle of Mbumbi

Battle of Mbumbi

The Battle of Mbumbi was a military engagement between forces of Portuguese Angola and the Kingdom of Kongo in 1622. Portuguese Angola was established in 1575 as a reward to the Portuguese for helping Kongo defeat the Jagas who invaded the realm in 1568. The Portuguese governor Mendes de Vasconcellos made an alliance with the Imbangala.

About Battle of Mbumbi in brief

Summary Battle of MbumbiThe Battle of Mbumbi was a military engagement between forces of Portuguese Angola and the Kingdom of Kongo in 1622. Portuguese Angola was established in 1575 as a reward to the Portuguese for helping Kongo defeat the Jagas who invaded the realm in 1568. The Portuguese governor Mendes de Vasconcellos made an alliance with the Imbangala, a people described by European and Kongo sources as rootless, cannibal mercenaries originating south of the Kwanza River.

In 1621, João Correia de Sousa hoped to reap the same benefits as his predecessor by unleashing the Im bangala into Kongo territory. He first targeted the forest land of Kazanze, a Kongo vassal that had been a haven for runaway slaves from Portuguese Angola. But just as in Ndongo, the Im Bangala mercenaries would not yield and destroyed the Kongo force with a counterattack.