The later tribal stage of the Ovawambo of southern Angola in the pre-colonial period

Abstract

The objective of this article is to show that Ovawambo people were in a period of disintegration of Communitarian Society when the Europeans arrived to their territory. However, they keep any characteristics of Primitive Society, example: private property did not appear, matrilineal succession still exist. But, states institutions had emerged. They were headed by ohamba. Classist’s differences had emerged too, but they did not signify a factor of social struggles yet. Slavery didn’t exist yet. The Ovawambo people practiced an equality distribution of wealth in order to satisfy the requirements of all families. Logically, the aristocratic families had primacy in the distribution of resources.