- Ovimbundu
Infobox Language
name=Umbundu
nativename=Ovimbundu
states=ANG
speakers=4.6 million
familycolor=Niger-Congo
fam2=Atlantic-Congo
fam3=Volta-Congo
fam4=Benue-Congo
fam5=Bantoid
fam6=Southern
fam7=Narrow Bantu
fam8=Central
fam9='R'
fam10=South Mbundu (R.10)
iso1=|iso2=umb|iso3=umbThe Ovimbundu are an ethnic group consisting of traders, farmers, and herders who live on the
Bié Plateau of centralAngola . They speak both Portuguese and the Bantu language of Umbundu. As the largest ethnic group in Angola, they make up 37 percent of the country's population.cite web |url= https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ao.html |title= Angola|accessdate=2007-02-12 |format= |work= World Factbook Online|publisher=Central Intelligence Agency ] Many Ovimbundu followChristianity ; however, some still retain practices fromAfrican traditional religion s.The Ovimbundu once were traders with other African peoples and with the Portuguese. Each trading caravan had a professional leader and diviner. Trade agreements that had linked the independent chiefdoms led to the development of regional specialization; including metalwork and cornmeal production. Large-scale trading activities declined with the suppression of the slave trade and the construction of the Benguela Railway in 1904.
The Ovimbundu were a main force behind the
UNITA rebel army.Huambo andKuito , the two largest cities of Ovimbundu territory, were completely destroyed in the bloody Angolan Civil War between1992 and1994 .References
Further reading
* Heywood, Linda. (2000). "Contested Power in Angola, 1840s to the Present". (A scholarly political history of the Ovimbundu).
External links
* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=umb Ethnologue report]
* [http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/436083/Ovimbundu#tab=active~checked%2Citems~checked&title=Ovimbundu%20--%20Britannica%20Online%20Encyclopedia Ovimbundu Britannica Online]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
