Kalunga of Kasanje

Kasanje Kalunga ka Kinguri was the ruler of the Imbangala kingdom of Kasanje, in modern-day Angola. He succeeded on the throne of Kasanje in 1622 and was later murdered by his adoptive son Ngonga a Mbande, who secured rulership.[1][2]

The war-band of Kasanje (Cassange in Portuguese) is first known in 1617 when it and several other Imbangala bands migrated from the central highlands of Angola across the Cuanza River.[2] They initially settled in the Kingdom of Ndongo with the consent of its ruler.[3] Afterwards however, Kasanje served with the Portuguese against Ndongo in 1618 and 1619 but soon defected to engage in independent raiding.[2] Their removal was a key issue in the peace negotiations between Angola and Ndongo in 1622.[2] They were defeated in 1622 by the Portuguese led by captain-major Pedro de Sousa Coelho, who captured and executed the ruling Kasanje, Kulashingo.[4] Kalunga was elected in his place and the Imbangala migrated away.[3]

Kasanje Kalunga ka Kinguri settled his war-band along the banks of the Cuango River in the 1630s.[2] It moved to Ganguela near the Cuanza in 1635 and signed a peace with Portugal, becoming an important part of Portuguese policy in Angola.[2]

Sometime around this time, Kalunga adopted as his son Ngonga a Mbande, an Ambundu captured during a raid.[1] His bravery, strength and cruelty made him popular among the Imbangala.[1] He was known to kill animals by tearing their hind legs with his bare hands, and in Imbangala fashion engaged in human sacrifice and cannibalism.[1] Kalunga was strangled in his old age in 1655 by Ngonga a Mbande, took the throne and his name, and sacrificed 300 people in his funeral.[1] He would later convert to Catholicism and adopt the name Pascoal Machado.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Ralph Delgado: História de Angola, volume III, Banco de Angola, 1973-1978, pp. 157-158.
  2. ^ a b c d e f John Thornton: "Kasanje" in Anthony Appiah, Henry Louis Gates (Jr.): Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, 2005, Oxford University Press, pp. 435-436.
  3. ^ a b Alberto Oliveira Pinto: História de Angola: Da Pré-História ao Início do Séc. XXI, 2019, Mercado de Letras Editores, pp. 316-330.
  4. ^ Alec Ichiro Ito: "O Combate ao Jaga Casanze Na Angola Portuguesa de João Correia de Sousa (1620-1623)" in XVI Encontro Estadual de História ANPUH-RS, 2022.
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