ABSTRACT
The available evidence regarding origins and migrations of the Ovimbundu is mainly of five sorts: linguistic; legendary, whether of the several groups of the Ovimbundu or of the tribes from which they seem to have sprung; historical; evidence from place-names; and evidence of comparative attitudes and culture-traits as between the Ovimbundu and their neighbours. Turning from tribal traditions to the solid ground of historical evidence, regarding the migrations in question, it is immediately evident that there is no lack of witnesses. The origins of the principal groups of the Ovimbundu have been traced in outline from both native and European sources. It remains to sketch the main lines of their historical development. There are many books about Angola and several histories of Angola, so-called, but the History of Angola, in the proper sense of the term, remains to be written. Most of the historical treatises on Angola are little more than chronological lists of battles and expeditions.
