Chokwe warriors, armed with rifles, wreak havoc…

Chokwe warriors, armed with rifles, wreak havoc among the Lunda, looting and burning villages and either absorbing the local population or selling captives into slavery.

Originally a seminomadic, Bantu-speaking people living near the headwaters of the Kwango and Kasai rivers, the Chokwe are primarily hunters, although their movements permit them to trade successfully in such commodities as wax.

The Chokwe, still largely unknown by the start of the nineteenth century, have expanded dramatically in the second half of the century, largely at the expense of the Lunda, whose territories they have invaded and occupied.

After about 1885, the Chokwe begin to attack the Luba as well, but by the end of the century, the Lunda will have managed to defeat the Chokwe and to drive them back southward.