As we saw in the previous chapter, the last, and the largest, of the conquering migrations from Bungu was that which was directed southwards across the lower Congo river and on to the iron-rich northern edge of the Angolan plateau. Here, the war-leader, using the title Nakongo or Manikongo, established his initial settlement, which was to become the permanent capital of the new kingdom, at Mbanza Kongo, the future São Salvador. All this was the country of the northern Mbundu, and the conquering settlers are said to have married the daughters of the Mbundu and to have recognised the spiritual authority of their chiefs (kitome). However, the Kongo asserted their own political predominance, and no doubt the centres of their excellent iron-working industry soon became the natural markets to which the Mbundu farmers of the surrounding area brought their produce for the purposes of trade and tribute. The numbers of the immigrants and their cultural impact were together strong enough to secure the prevalence of their Kongo language, in which the word ‘Mbundu’ came to denote only the unassimilated people of the remoter areas, who could lawfully be taken into slavery.

Meantime, the concentration of population around Mbanza Kongo soon resulted in a shortage of cultivable land. Famines occurred, and organised bands of colonists were sent out under Kongo chiefs to establish new settlements in the surrounding regions.