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{{Short description|Ethnic group in north-west Angola}}
{{Redirect|Mbundu people|the Ovimbundu, a people to their South|Ovimbundu}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Ambundu
| population       = 8,631,500{{cn|date=December 2024}}
| popplace         = {{flag|Angola}}<br />
{{flag|Portugal}}
| langs            = [[Kimbundu]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]]
| rels             = [[Christianity]], [[African traditional religion]]s
| related          = [[Ovimbundu people|Ovimbundu]], other [[Bantu peoples]], [[Afro-Brazilians]]
}}
[[File:Angola Ethnic map 1970.svg|thumb|Ethnic map of Angola {{legend|#e4dcc0|Ambundu/Kimbundu}}]]
The '''Ambundu''' (also '''Mbundu''' or''' Kimbundu)'''<ref>The historical literature in English refers to them generally as ''Mbundu''; erroneously, they are sometimes called "Kimbundo(s)", after their language. In Portuguese, they are in such cases spelled as "Quimbundos".</ref>  ([[Kimbundu|Mbundu]]: {{lang|kmb|Ambundu}} or {{lang|kmb|Akwambundu}}, singular: {{lang|kmb|Mumbundu}}<ref>Mateus Jacinto Marques Manuel, ''Conhecimento das Diferenças Sintáticas Entre a Língua Portuguesa e a Língua Kimbundu'', Universidade da Beira Interior, Faculdade de Artes e Letras, Departamento de Letras, 2017, {{p.|43}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Robson |first=Paul |title=Communities and Reconstruction in Angola |url=https://www.angonet.org/dw/sites/default/files/online_lib_files/CommunitiesAndReconstructionInAngola.pdf |access-date=18 November 2021 |page=36}}</ref> (distinct from the [[Ovimbundu people|Ovimbundu]]) are a [[Bantu people|Bantu]] people who live on a high plateau in present-day [[Angola]] just north of the [[Cuanza River|Kwanza River]]. The Ambundu speak [[Kimbundu]], and most also speak the official language of the country, [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]]. They are the second biggest ethnic group in the country and make up 25% of the total population of Angola.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}}

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 Province|Bengo]] and [[Malanje Province|Malanje]] provinces and in neighbouring parts of the [[Cuanza Norte]] and [[Cuanza Sul]] provinces. The head of the main Ambundu kingdom was called a ''Ngola'', which is the origin of the name of the country [[Angola]].

== Language ==
The Mbundu speak the [[Kimbundu|Kimbundu language]], which has two dialects: Akwaluanda and Ambakista. Spoken in Luanda in the west, ''Akwaluanda'' (also referred to as ''Ambundu'') developed from interactions between Kimbundu speakers and other ethnic groups in the region. Spoken in [[Ambaca|Ambacca]] in the east, Ambakista developed from interactions between Kimbundu speakers and Portuguese traders.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Njoku, PhD |first=Onwuka N. |title=Mbundu |publisher=Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. |year=1997 |isbn=9780823920044 |edition=1st |location=New York, NY |pages=9–12, 14–16}}</ref>{{Infobox Bantu name|Mumbundu|Ambundu or Akwambundu|[[Kimbundu]]|Ndongo and Matamba|Ambundu}}

== Origins ==
The exact origin of the Mbundu people is unknown, but there are some oral traditions that were passed down through the generations. The first oral tradition says that the Mbundu came from "the great water." Many historians interpreted this as the Atlantic Ocean and cite their origin as [[Ilha de Luanda|Luanda Island]].<ref name=":0" /> This oral tradition also speaks of five great ancestors of the Mbundu: Zundu dya Mbulu, the mother of the Ndongo people; Kajinga ka Mbulu, founder of the Mbondo Kingdom; Matamba a Mulu, mother of the Pende people; and Kongo dya Mbulu, founder of the Hungu people.<ref name=":0" />

The second oral tradition records that a man named Mussuri rose from ironworker to king of the Mbundu. After marrying a woman named Ngola Inene, they are said to have birthed a daughter named Samba. Samba gave birth to 8 children, who later begot the Ndongo, the Mbondo, the Pende, the Hungu, the Lenge, the Imbangala, the Songo and the Libolo people.<ref name=":0" />

The Pende people tell an oral tradition of a single ancestor named Ngola Kilanji, who ruled over hunters and warriors at Tandji in Milumbu near the [[Zambezi|Zambezi River]]. Then Ngola moved his people west towards the sea, creating villages, or ''jingundu,'' along the way until they reached Luanda on the coast.<ref name=":0" /> He later unified his people with another group that was led by a master blacksmith named Bembo Kalamba and his wife Ngombe dia Nganda. Bembo's people introduced Ngola's people to farming, cattle-herding and weaving. This origin story maintains that Ngombe's daughters became the mothers of the Mbundu ethnic groups and that Ngola founded the [[Kingdom of Ndongo]]. The royal title ''[[Ngola (ruler)|ngola]]'' is said to be derived from his name. The symbol for iron, which is so called ''ngola'', is still used today by the Mbundu.<ref name=":0" />

== Early history ==
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, in the Bantu migrations, the Ambundu have arrived coming from the North rather than from the East.<ref>Unesco/M. El Fasi  ''General History of Africa'', Vol. III</ref> The Bantu peoples brought agriculture with them. They built permanent villages and traded with the indigenous [[Pygmies]] and [[Khoi-San]] populations.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}
[[File:MBunduRegions.jpeg|right|thumb|upright=1.2|Ambundu-related regions]]

The Ambundu society consisted of local communities until the 14th century. Their society has always been [[Matrilineality|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. The latter feature is not found with neighbouring matrilineal peoples, like the [[Ovimbundu]] to the South, or the [[Bakongo]] to the North.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Angola – Mbundu Social Structure |url=https://countrystudies.us/angola/70.htm |access-date=2023-08-14 |website=countrystudies.us}}</ref>

The name ''Mbundu'' was first used by the [[Bakongo]], before it was adopted by the Ambundu themselves.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

== Portuguese invasion ==
Kongo, which had been in contact with the [[Portugal|Portuguese]] since 1482, held a monopoly on trade with this country. When [[Ndongo]]'s king, or ''ngola'', tried to break this monopoly, this led to war, in which the Bakongo were defeated in 1556. Ndongo was now independent, and directly confronted Portugal's [[colonialism]]. It allied itself with [[Matamba]] against the country in 1590 but was defeated in 1614. Now, Ndongo itself became a target for the slave trade, and its population fled in large numbers to neighbouring states.

[[Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba|Queen Njinga]] was the daughter of a deceased Ndongo ngola. At the request of Mbandi, the reigning ngola and her brother, she negotiated a peace treaty with the Portuguese. The treaty gave substantial trade and religious advantages to Portugal but delivered Mbandi the throne in Ndongo. After five years, she had to flee from Portuguese troops to Matamba. She became queen of Matamba, a kingdom which was traditionally led by women, and turned it into the most powerful state in the region, and a big exporter of slaves. Matamba, and neighboring Kasanje, had [[monopoly|monopolies]] in the slave trade, and started falling apart in the 19th century when this trade lost in importance. The rise of a new trade in ivory, rubber and wax, which avoided the old monopolies, reduced the power of central authority in the Ambundu states in this century.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

The Portuguese defeated Matamba in 1836, and advanced to Kasanje by the middle of the century. Their actual influence, however, was quite limited due to the lack of people, money, and an efficient military. The Ambundu had opportunities to revolt or negotiate liberties. This changed at the end of the 19th century. European countries forced, out of economic, strategic, and nationalistic considerations, a tighter control over African territories. To protect their interests, the Portuguese sent a number of military expeditions into the areas, which they considered to be their colonies, and brought them under actual control. The last Ambundu tribe to be defeated were the NDembo. It took the Portuguese three years to subdue a NDembo revolt in 1910. In 1917 all of their territory was occupied, and they became part of the Portuguese colony of [[History of Angola|Angola]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}

==Notable people of Mbundu descent==
The American actor [[Chris Tucker]] discovered on the [[PBS]] television programme ''[[African American Lives]]'' that his [[Mitochondrial DNA|matrilineal DNA]] traced to Mbundu people in present-day [[Angola]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gordan |first=Ed |date=February 12, 2006 |title=Documentary Traces Roots of Black Celebrities: Web Extra: Hear an Extended Version of Ed Gordon's Interview with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. |url=https://www.npr.org/2006/02/14/5205613/documentary-traces-roots-of-black-celebrities |access-date=May 9, 2023 |website=NPR}}</ref> [[Isaiah Washington]], another American actor, has a genealogical DNA link to the Ambundu group through his paternal line.

==References==
<references/>

==Bibliography==
* David Birmingham ''Trade and Conflict in Angola: The Mbundu and Their Neighbours  under the Influence of the Portuguese, 1483–1790'', Oxford: Clarendon, 1966
* Joseph Miller  ''Kings and Kinsmen: Early  Mbundu states in Angola'', Oxford: Clarendon, 1976
* Jan Vansina ''Kingdoms of Savanna: A History of the Central African States until European Occupation'', Madison, 1966.

{{Ethnic groups in Angola}}
{{authority control}}

[[Category:Northern Mbundu| ]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Angola]]
[[Category:Bantu peoples]]