The Jaga or Jagas were terms applied by the
Portuguese to
tribes
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...
such as Yaka, Suku, Teke, Luba, Kuba and Hungaan invading bands of African warriors east and south of the
Kingdom of Kongo
The Kingdom of Kongo ( or ''Wene wa Kongo;'' ) was a kingdom in Central Africa. It was located in present-day northern Angola, the western portion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, southern Gabon and the Republic of the Congo. At its gre ...
. The use of the phrase took on different connotations depending on where it was applied. There were two groups of people, both known as fierce warriors, who were dubbed ''jagas'' or ''the jaga''. Unbeknownst to the Portuguese who encountered these warriors, the two groups were practically unrelated.
The "Jaga" Question
In the 17th century there were a number of theories proposed by missionaries and geographers that connected these two groups to other marauding groups operating as far afield as
Somalia
Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...
,
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...
and
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...
and ultimately to some great "Jaga homeland" somewhere in central Africa. While more recent scholarship dismissed these earlier claims, in the 1960 a number of scholars proposed that oral traditions of the
Lunda Empire, when compared with those of some Angolan groups, suggested that the Jaga invasion of Kongo and the Jagas of Angola were in fact groups of conquerors fleeing from Lunda in the 16th century.
In 1972
Joseph C. Miller presented a review of the available evidence and argued that the group that invaded Kongo was completely distinct from the group that invaded Angola, so that the second group should properly be called "
Imbangala". This distinction is now widely accepted among scholars operating in this field. The invaders of Kongo are thought to have originated from a province of
Mwene Muji
Mwene Muji was a polity around Lake Mai-Ndombe in the Congo Basin, likely stretching south to Idiofa. It bordered the Tio Kingdom among others to its southwest. Mwene Muji dominated the region of the Lower Kasai. It was ruled by the BaNunu, ho ...
.
Yaka Jagas
The Portuguese first learned about a people they called "jagas" during Kongo's 1556 war with the
Mbundu kingdom of
Ndongo
The Kingdom of Ndongo (formerly known as Angola or Dongo, also Kimbundu: ) was an early-modern African state located in the highlands between the Lukala and Kwanza Rivers, in what is now Angola.
The Kingdom of Ndongo is first recorded in t ...
. Among Ndongo's regular forces were mercenary warriors of the
Yaka ethnic group. The Yaka had a reputation for ferocity and were said to come from the far interior. They inhabited the middle reaches of the Kwango valley, making them the eastern neighbors to the Mbundu and BaKongo. These particular "jagas" were constant victims of the Kongo slave trade and eventually invaded their western neighbor in 1568. This forced the Portuguese to intervene with some 600 matchlockmen on behalf of then king
Alvaro I. Though forced completely out of Kongo by the mid-1570s, they continued to be a force on the border. They later supplied many mercenary troops to Kongo during its
civil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
.
The Portuguese intervention in the war with the Jaga increased their power in the Kingdom of Kongo. This led to increased trade in favor of Portugal and a seat for priests on the Kongo electoral council.
Imbangala Jagas
The Portuguese also encountered another fierce warrior people, this time further south beyond the
Kwanza River. The actual name of these people was
Imbangala. The origins of these people is still debated, but they are also believed to have immigrated from the
Lunda Empire, rejecting that state's political changes. The Imbangala were known to be notoriously cruel and also ritually
cannibalistic. They were used to good effect as mercenary elements in the Portuguese army during its conquest of Angola. Once introduced into central Angola, the Imbangala settled there, forming the kingdom of
Kasanje on the Kwango River.
See also
*
History of Angola
Angola was first settled by San people, San hunter-gatherer societies before the northern domains came under the rule of Bantu peoples, Bantu states such as Kingdom of Kongo, Kongo and Ndongo. In the 15th century, Portuguese Empire, Portuguese ...
*
Kasanze Kingdom
*
Lunda Empire
*
Portuguese Angola
In southwestern Africa, Portuguese Angola was a historical Evolution of the Portuguese Empire, colony of the Portuguese Empire (1575–1951), the overseas province Portuguese West Africa of Estado Novo (Portugal), Estado Novo Portugal (1951–1 ...
*
Yaka people
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaga Peoples
16th century in Angola
History of Central Africa
Kingdom of Kongo
Portuguese Angola