How many People have heard of Imbangala? They were perhaps the most terrifying & at once fascinating People in Africa's illustrious history. Tragically, they were also unwittingly involved in the enslavement of almost half of all Africans trafficked by Europeans to the Americas.

To this day, not much is known of the origins of the Imbangala. They appeared mysteriously in Central Africa in the 17th century, founded the most powerful kingdom in Pre-Colonial Africa, wreaked havoc & terror for 2 centuries until their eventual annihilation by Queen Nzingha

They first appeared on the scene in 1500 & settled along the western banks of the Kongo river. It was the Bakongo people of the Great Kingdom of Kongo who named them "Bangala", meaning "River People". They soon became the fiercest nemesis of the Bakongo & later Queen Nzingha

The Imbangala lived in encampments which they called Kilombo. By their customs, no children were to be born in a Killombo. They were a wholly militarised society, they regarded infants as weak & useless. If a baby was born in the Kilombo, it was immediately slaughtered.

When a Woman was Pregnant, she had to leave the Kilombo to have the Baby, & could only return when the child was strong enough to survive on it's own. Even then child was not considered part of the tribe until they had completed military training & initiation rituals.

To be part of the tribe, initiates had to train everyday & complete several grueling task. Since Imbangala dressed in Leopard skin, an initiate had to kill an adult Leopard with nothing but a knife & fashion their own garments from the Leopard's skin.

They also placed a heavy collar around the necks of initiates, which you were not allowed to remove until you killed another warrior, eat their heart raw & drink their blood. This was required of all Imbangala, as they made no distinction between male or female.

As you can guess, not many people survived the Imbangala initiations. So, the Imbangala grew their population by constantly raiding other kingdoms, capturing people & conscripting them into their tribe through initiation. The conscript system was later exploited by the Portuguese

The Portuguese were extremely terrified of the Imbangala & thus constantly sought to ingratiate themselves to them. The Portuguese showered them with all sorts of European goods in effort to create friendship & alliance.

After the Portuguese were expelled from Kongo & Angola because of their slave trading & raiding, the Portuguese turned to the Imbangala. They told the Imbangala that they too came from a similar society as theirs, & their population was dying out, so they needed new conscripts.

And so the Imbangala began raiding the Empires of Kongo & Angola, capturing other Africans & splitting them 50/50 with the Portuguese. This went on for over 200 years, until they were defeated & effectively destroyed by Nzingha, who herself had undergone the initiation ritual.

After their defeat, some of the remaining Imbangala warriors joined Queen Nzingha's military & fought against the Portuguese. Others joint the Portuguese military & fled to Mozambique & even to Brazil.