Ganguela

Ganguela (pronounced gang'ela ) or Nganguela is an ethnographic term for a number of small peoples living in eastern Angola. These include the "actual" Ganguela that Lwena ( Luena ), the Luvale that Mbunda that Lwimbi that Camachi and other groups.

All these peoples are farmers who keep sheep, and not infrequently also gathering wild fruits, honey of wild bees and other things. They have their own language, but these are related to each other and often mutually intelligible, respectively. Every nation has its own social identity; an overarching social identity as " Ganguela " there is not, so you can not speak of a whole people.

These people did not trust Europeans, but also urban Angolans they look at often as " tribes " of the Ovimbundu. Of these, however they are clearly different due to language and sense of belonging. In the 20th century, however, are ethnic groups who settled just east of the Ovimbundu, was to some extent captured by a cultural " Umbundisierung "

The of them later as " Ganguela " summarized peoples were the Portuguese, known since the 17th century, when it in two ways in which - were included hand activities - emanating from the then " bridgeheads " Luanda and Benguela. For one, they were the reservoir for the slave trade, the Portuguese operated on African middlemen. Secondly, they were 19-20. Century to suppliers of wax, honey and other goods for the caravan trade, at that time operated the Ovimbundu with Benguela. Since they were of little interest for the Portuguese after the collapse of the caravan trade initially, they were relatively late, sometimes obtained only in the 1940s, from the systematic colonial conquest and occupation of the territory of present-day Angola. The Mbunda rendered temporarily armed resistance.

During the few decades in which they were under colonial rule, their lifestyle changed relatively less than in most other areas of Angola. In general, there was among them no really intense proselytizing or levies of labor and taxes. The only important for the Portuguese economic activity, which took place in parts of their territories, was the ( operated by Portuguese company ) felling of trees for the wood industry in Angola and Portugal - which only limited but drew the locals affected.

During the struggle for independence from 1961-1974, but especially of the civil war of 1975-2002, some of the people mentioned here, however, were more affected, although they participated only to a limited extent actively. Many people fled to neighboring countries, therefore, Zambia, and ( less) Namibia. About half of the Mbunda settled in Westsambia. The cohesion of this nation is ensured through a network of " chiefs ", headed by a resident in Ostangola "king" is.