In the late 16th century, when Portugal began pushing deeper into Angola, it turned to African military groups to help fight the powerful states of the interior. Among them were the Imbangala, whose warriors would eventually fight alongside the Portuguese in campaigns and slave raids that captured thousands of Africans and fed the growing Atlantic slave trade.
To understand why Portugal became involved with the Imbangala, it is necessary to look at how the Portuguese arrived in west-central Africa in the first place. Portuguese expansion along the African coast had begun in the 15th century, driven by the search for gold and other commercial opportunities, the expansion of Christianity and the effort to establish direct access to African and Asian trade. The enslavement and transportation of Africans also became part of this expanding Portuguese commerce during the 15th century.
By 1482, Portuguese expeditions had reached the mouth of the Congo River. Diogo Cão established contact with the Kingdom of Kongo, a powerful Central African state with its own political institutions, armies and trading networks. Portuguese relations with Kongo developed over the following decades, while Portuguese interests gradually extended farther south toward the territories of the Mbundu-speaking peoples, including the kingdom of Ndongo.
Portugal established a permanent base at Luanda in 1576 under Paulo Dias de Novais. Luanda gave the Portuguese a strategic foothold on the coast and a base for trade, warfare and further expansion into the interior. It did not, however, mean that Portugal controlled the territory that would eventually become Angola. Powerful African states remained in control of the interior, and Portuguese forces were not large enough to conquer them without African military support.
That military problem would become central to Portugal’s expansion. As Portuguese authorities pushed toward Ndongo and sought greater access to captives for the Atlantic trade, they increasingly relied on African allies. Among the most important were the Imbangala.
The Imbangala
The Imbangala were not a single centralized kingdom or army. They were groups organized into military communities whose societies were shaped by warfare. Their exact origins remain disputed. Historians argue that they had reached Angola much earlier than the date given in some older accounts, probably by the mid-16th century and certainly before the arrival of Paulo Dias de Novais in 1575.
Portuguese writers often referred to the Imbangala as “Jaga,” although they did not use the term consistently. This has made older Portuguese accounts difficult to interpret, particularly when describing the origins and identity of the groups they encountered in Angola.
By the end of the 16th century, Portuguese traders and officials were already encountering Imbangala groups south of the Kwanza River and buying captives taken in their wars.
Slave Raiding and the Rise of the Imbangala
The relationship became even more important under Luís Mendes de Vasconcelos, who became governor of Angola in 1617. Vasconcelos launched a major campaign against Ndongo and used Imbangala forces alongside Portuguese troops and other African allies.
The war was not simply about defeating an opposing army. Capturing people was also an important part of Portuguese warfare in Angola. Portuguese and Imbangala forces attacked settlements, defeated African forces and took captives. During the war against Ndongo, tens of thousands of people were enslaved.
After their capture, many enslaved Africans were taken toward Luanda, where Portuguese and Luso-African traders connected the inland trade to Atlantic markets. From there, ships carried them across the Atlantic to Brazil and other parts of the Americas, making Angola a major source of enslaved labor for the Portuguese Atlantic world.
The slave trade gave the Portuguese relationship with the Imbangala a significance that went beyond military cooperation. Imbangala forces could wage war deep in the interior and seize captives, while Portuguese merchants and officials connected those captives to a growing Atlantic market. The arrangement benefited both sides, but neither controlled the other. Portuguese authorities depended on African military power to expand their reach, while Imbangala leaders used their alliances with the Portuguese to pursue their own political and economic interests.
This also meant that Portuguese influence over the Imbangala had clear limits. The Portuguese could negotiate alliances, supply resources, and profit from the captives taken in warfare, but they could not simply turn Imbangala forces into an extension of Portuguese authority. Imbangala leaders remained independent actors who could use warfare and access to Atlantic commerce to strengthen their own power.
Together, their interests produced a violent system in which warfare supplied captives, captives supplied the slave trade, and the profits and resources generated by that trade helped sustain further warfare.
Sources:
https://www.africarebirth.com/the-portuguese-used-the-imbagala-to-facilitate-slave-activities-in-kongo-and-angola/
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-african-history/article/abs/imbangala-and-the-chronology-of-early-central-african-history/B60F2C0615DC5F1E7B92B50135E860F2
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/portuguese-in-west-africa-14151670/angola-paulo-dias-and-the-founding-of-luanda/D440CFA70555D87579EA73AABBBE96D1
