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'''Chikunda''', sometimes '''Achikunda''', was the name given from the 18th century to the armed retainers of the Afro-Portuguese owners of estates known as “prazos” in [[Zambezia Province|Zambezia]] in [[Mozambique]]. They were used to defend the prazos and police their inhabitants. The chikunda of that period are often described as slaves, and originally some were chattel slaves, although the status of those that were soldiers, traders or administrators of parts of the prazo was that of a client or unfree dependent.

The prazo system based on agriculture broke down as a result of drought and disease in the early 19th century and was replaced by a small number of virtually independent states in the [[Zambezi]] valley based on the trade in slaves and ivory. The name ‘’’Achikunda’’’ was then applied to groups of professional soldiers in these minor states, who were rewarded with a share of the profits of those trades. Although these minor states were mainly in Mozambique, a small number extended their influence into what are now parts of [[Zimbabwe]], [[Zambia]] and [[Malawi]].

The minor states in and around the [[Zambezi River]] valley were brought under closer Portuguese control as a result of the [[Scramble for Africa]], which required colonial powers to bring territories claimed under their jurisdiction. Between 1891 and 1902, the [[Mozambique Company]] took control of this area and the former roles of the chikunda in securing slaves and ivory and providing internal and external security for those states became redundant, although many ex-chikunda were involved in the Barue revolt of 1917 to 1918 against the Portuguese government. A few communities along the Zambezi and [[Luangwa River| Luangwa river]] valleys preserve their chikunda heritage, although most former chikunda merged into their host communities.

==Chikunda origins==    
===The prazos===    
Since the 16th century, the Portuguese Crown, which claimed ownership of the land in [[Mozambique]], had leased crown lands in the Zambezi valley to Portuguese subjects under grants termed “prazos da coroa” (crown leases), nominally for three lives, with the aim of promoting development and enabling possible European settlement. In theory, a [[prazo]] grant could be cancelled if the lessee (or prazero) did not occupy and develop the land or deserted it, although in practice the prazo grants were renewed and became hereditary.<ref>Newitt (1973), Portuguese Settlement on the Zambesi, p. 111. </ref> The prazo holder was responsible for administering justice in the land comprised in his grant and also collecting taxes from its inhabitants, out of which he was supposed to pay an annual rent to the crown, and to maintain sufficient armed retainers to keep the peace.<ref>Newitt (1973), Portuguese Settlement on the Zambesi, p. 121.</ref> The prazeros only rarely removed local chiefs on their estates, preferring to retain them as subordinates, and few attempted to start commercial agriculture, but took the surplus products of their peasants and also profited from the trade in ivory and slaves.<ref>Isaacman and Peterson (2003), Making the Chikunda, p. 260.</ref> The prazos varied greatly in size and number, but in 1763 there were 22 in the captaincy of [[Vila de Sena|Sena]] and 54 in the captaincy of [[Tete]], of which three extended over hundreds of square miles but others included only a few villages.<ref>Newitt (1973), Portuguese Settlement on the Zambesi, pp. 87-90. </ref>
    
The Afro-Portuguese prazo holders, known locally from at least the early 17th century as “muzungos”, signifying a white man, boss or patron,<ref> Dicionário Online de Português</ref>  were of diverse origin and, although most claimed at least some connection with metropolitan Portugal, many had original links with Portuguese India and all, after many generations of intermarriage with African women, were African in appearance and culture.<ref>Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 127-9. </ref> By the mid-18th century, as the largely African prazo owners followed local customs of matrilineal inheritance, a number of women, known as the Zambezi donas, became owners of prazos and were succeeded by their daughters rather than their sons.<ref>Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique pp. 228-30. </ref><ref>Rodrigues (2006), As donas de prazos do Zambeze, pp 18-19, 25.</ref>

===The early chikunda===    
In the 17th and early 18th centuries, the term “chikunda” was not in use for the armed retainers of a prazero, who could include chattel slaves.<ref>Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, p. 143. </ref> However, although many chattel slaves were acquired by capture or purchase to undertake agricultural work, mining or as house-servants or craftsmen on the prazos, it was normal from the mid-18th century for the retainers who became soldiers or administrators to offer themselves as voluntary unfree dependents in return for protection and a prospect of advancement and enrichment. By the mid-18th century, the term chikunda, which probably derives from the [[Shona language| Shona]] verb meaning “to conquer”,<ref>Isaacman and Peterson (2003), Making the Chikunda p. 268.</ref>  was reserved for the armed clients of the prazo owners, and other designations were used for personal or household slaves.<ref>Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique pp. 233-4. </ref> The chikunda of each prazo came from diverse backgrounds, because prazeros preferred recruits without local ties, but they developed a loyalty to the group to which they belonged. They were often recruited from areas of conflict or famine, offering themselves voluntarily or, in some cases, coming as captives.<ref>Isaacman and Peterson (2003), Making the Chikunda pp. 261, 263.</ref>
   
In a survey of 1766, the two largest prazos were said to have around 700 and 500 chikunda. In early times, the chikunda were usually armed with bows and spears but, by the mid-18th century, some were armed with muskets.<ref>Isaacman and Peterson (2003), Making the Chikunda pp. 266-7.</ref> The chikunda usually lived in small fortified villages, often near the margins of the larger prazos. Each chikunda village was headed by the owner’s deputy called a capitão, or headman. These villages generally produced food to support the chikunda and also made a contribution in cash or goods to their master. If the prazo owner was strong, the chikunda acted as a defence and police force, keeping order and collecting tribute, but under a weak owner or in times of famine, they could become little more than bandits, preying on local communities and disregarding their nominal patron.<ref>Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique pp. 235-6, 240. </ref>
 
Individuals were incorporated into the ranks of the chikunda through a ritual under which they swore lifelong loyalty to the prazero. However prosperous or anarchic they might become, the chikunda could hardly ever become completely free of their patron, who guaranteed their status as warriors and their security.<ref>Isaacman, Mulwafu and Mulwafu (1999), From Slaves to Freedmen, p. 2.</ref> <ref>Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, p. 237.</ref> Some chikunda did manage to break away from their masters, leave their prazo and hunt for ivory in the Shire valley, where they competed with [[Yao people (East Africa)| Yao]]traders in the mid-18th century <ref>McCracken (2012), A History of Malawi, p. 18.</ref>

===Decline of the prazos===    
The great Mozambique drought of 1794 to 1802 and subsequent droughts and smallpox epidemics lasting into the 1830s destroyed the agricultural economy of the Zambezia prazos, as the cultivators could not feed themselves, let alone produce surpluses to maintain the chikunda and prazeros. Many chikunda deserted their prazos and some formed armed bands seeking any means to survive, so worsening the situation created by drought.<ref> Lovejoy (2011), Transformations in Slavery,  p. 138.</ref><ref>Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 253-4.</ref> Other former chikunda returned, or attempted to return, to their homelands and resume their old lives, or merged into the local peoples as peasants. A few used their military skills to become elephant hunters and, in the time of [[Northern Ndebele people|Ndebele]] incursions, they used their guns against the invaders.<ref>Isaacman (2003), Chikunda: Transfrontiersmen and Transnational Migrations, pp. 117-8, 121.</ref> Some bands of chikunda elephant hunters travelled as far north as the area around [[Nkhotakota]] and the Luangwa valley in search of new herds to exploit. They married women from the local [[Chewa people|Chewa]] and [[Tumbuka people| Tumbuka]] peoples and their offspring soon lost their identity as chikunda.<ref>Isaacman, Mulwafu and Mulwafu (1999), From Slaves to Freedmen, p. 16.</ref>

==The 19th century chikunda==
===The Afro-Goan statelets===    
By the 1840s, many of the former prazo owners that had survived the droughts and epidemics had left Zambezia and were replaced by five powerful families along the middle Zambezi, the da Cruz, Caetano Pereira, Vas dos Anjos, Ferrão and Alves da Silva, who were joined in the 1860s by a sixth family, the de Sousa. There were also several less prominent Afro-Portuguese families in this area and on the fringes of Portuguese influence. Most of theses families were of Indian origin, although the original Alves da Silva were from Portugal, and all based their economy on the slave trade, despite its legal abolition in 1830, or hunting for ivory, rather than agriculture. Through intermarriage with the families of leading African chiefs, they were recognised as the legitimate holders of several chieftaincies by their African subjects and they adopted African titles and the indigenous symbols of kingship and patronised local religious cults, yet also received Portuguese offices or military ranks that gave them an official status.<ref>Isaacman and Isaacman (1976), The Tradition of Resistance in Mozambique, pp. 29-30.</ref><ref>Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 306-7.</ref>
  
The areas controlled by the main families far exceeded those of earlier prazos, and they maintained large numbers of armed chikunda, each numbering several thousand, although estimates vary. Their military strength was based on a combination of strong defensive fortifications and European firearms, including breech-loading rifles later in the 19th century. Their centres were fortified towns, called “aringas”, which were a development of the traditional stockaded village. The aringa consisted of a wooden stockade, supported by earthworks in the form of a ditch and bank, often with inner walls protecting the more important sections of the town. One large aringa, Massangano, had fortifications 1,300 metres long and 150 to 180 metres wide.<ref>Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 253-4.</ref>

These mainly Afro-Goan families formed what were in effect small independent states, giving at best token allegiance to the Portuguese crown.<ref> Lovejoy (2011), Transformations in Slavery,  p. 163.</ref><ref>Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 266, 276.</ref>. From the 1840s, their leaders attempted to extend their influence, either by forcing neighbouring African chiefs to acknowledge their sovereignty or driving out those that resisted.<ref>Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, p. 306.</ref> The several less prominent families included the Rosário Andrade, whose head was known as Kanyembe and who operated along the Upper Zambezi west of [[Zumbo]], now the westernmost town in Mozambique, and the Arujo Lobo, whose head was called Matakenya and who operated in the [[Luangwa River| Luangwa]] and Lower [[Shire River| Shire]] valleys.<ref>Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, p. 286.</ref> Their chikunda had a reputation for exceptional savagery, never trading with local peoples but taking slaves and ivory by force, disrupting local agriculture and causing famine.<ref>Isaacman, Mulwafu and Mulwafu (1999), From Slaves to Freedmen, p. 1.</ref> One economic reason behind their expansion was the increasing demand for ivory, which led to the depletion of elephant herds in many areas nearer the coast and the search for new sources inland: in areas that could supply little ivory, slaves were taken instead<ref>Isaacman and Peterson (2003), Making the Chikunda, pp. 275-6.</ref>

===The chikunda revived===    
In this period, the term chikunda (or achikunda with the collective prefix) was applied exclusively to the professional soldiers of the Afro-Goan or Afro-Portuguese families. These families maintained large numbers of chikunda, each having several thousand armed men at their disposal.<ref>Isaacman and Isaacman (1976), The Tradition of Resistance in Mozambique, p. 29.</ref> The chikunda had ceased to be clients of the prazeros when the Zambezia agricultural system had collapsed, and they were now recruited through gifts of modern weapons, land or wives, and retained by being allowed to share of the profits of slave raiding.<ref>Isaacman and Isaacman (1976), The Tradition of Resistance in Mozambique, pp. 22, 27-8.</ref> Some physically fit slaves were also selected, mostly from those areas north of the Zambezi which were the focus of raiding for slaves.<ref>Isaacman, Mulwafu and Mulwafu (1999), From Slaves to Freedmen, pp. 5-6.</ref> Each of the Zambezia states had a significant force of chikunda divided into regiments, usually based near the borders of its territory to facilitate slave raiding and as protection against external threats.<ref>Isaacman and Isaacman (1976), The Tradition of Resistance in Mozambique, pp. 28-9.</ref><ref>McCracken (2012), A History of Malawi, p. 29.</ref>

The 19th century chikunda set themselves apart from the populations among which they were quartered by living in separate villages and using a [[mixed language]] among themselves, containing elements from the chikundas’ Shona and [[Mang'anja]] home languages, [[Sena language |Sena]] and [[Tonga language (Zambia and Zimbabwe)| Tonga]] terms from the local people and some Portuguese phrases.<ref>Isaacman and Peterson (2003), Making the Chikunda, pp. 264, 269-70.</ref> They disdained agriculture but took part in tax collection, trading, slave raiding and ivory hunting, as well as military duties and, although many came from [[Matrilineality| matrilineal societies]], the chikunda observed [[Patrilineality| patrilineal descent]] and venerated the spirits of former chikunda, rather than their own ancestral spirits. To further distinguish themselves from local peasant farmers, chikunda had their own patterns of facial tattoos, filed their teeth and wore imported [[Calico]] cloth, whereas most local people wore [[Barkcloth]].<ref>Isaacman and Peterson (2003), Making the Chikunda, pp. 268-9.</ref>

===The Zambezi wars===
Attempts to co-opt the rulers of these minor Afro-Goan and Afro-Portuguese states into the colonial system by granting them full legal title to the land they occupied, tax exemptions and even sums of cash failed. Although they extended the area of nominal Portuguese influence westward and fought off invading [[Ngoni people| Ngoni]] incursions, their forces were used not only against indigenous African rulers but, from 1849, in fighting among themselves and even against any government forces sent against them.<ref>Isaacman and Isaacman (1976), The Tradition of Resistance in Mozambique, pp. 31-2.</ref><ref>Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 310-11.</ref>

Until 1868, the governors of Mozambique and [[Tete]] had few troops of their own and preferred to use the chikunda of any prazeros loyal to the Portuguese government or from any minor state opposed to whatever ruler they targeted, rather than using soldiers from metropolitan Portugal or Goa. These chikunda had been used with some success in the 1850s against slave trading by the Sultan of [[Angoche]] and the Pereira family, but two families continued to give trouble: the Vas dos Anjos in the Lower Shire and the da Cruz, who ruled a section of the middle Zambezi in [[Manica Province| Manica]] and Tete provinces, centred on the aringa of Massangano. The Vas dos Anjos were forced out of their aringa at Shamo, near the junction of the Shire and Zambezi in 1858, but were allowed to regroup further north up the Shire, near its confluence with the [[Ruo River]]; the da Cruz posed more of a problem.<ref>Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 311-13.</ref>

After successes against Angoche and the Pereira and Vas dos Anjos families, the governor of Tete, Miguel Gouveia, assembled a force of chikunda from the prazos around Tete in July 1867 to attack Massangano, which was only a few days march away. Gouveia’s force was ambushed on route to Massangan, most of its chikunda were massacred and Gouveia himself was executed by the da Cruz forces. Between November 1867 and May 1869, three more expeditions were sent against Massangano, with increasing numbers of troops from Portugal and Goa, artillery and assistance from the chikunda of the de Sousa state of Gorongosa. Each failed because of poor organisation, the effects of malaria on European soldiers and the desertion of local forces.<ref>Isaacman and Isaacman (1976), The Tradition of Resistance in Mozambique, p. 33.</ref><ref>Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 314-15.</ref>

The expedition of November 1867, mounted in the rainy season, managed to blockade the Massangano aringa, but it ran out of supplies and ammunition, managing, however, to withdraw in good order. The next expedition of May 1868 managed to besiege Massangano and caused significant casualties among its defenders. However, the da Cruz chikunda counterattacked and routed the government forces, causing heavy casualties. The last and largest expedition of May 1869 was partly defeated by its own size as there was insufficient river transport for the troops or their supplies. Da Cruz chikunda harassed the Portuguese forces that had to march to Massangano and their supply lines to such an extent that they could not invest the aringa. Once the Portuguese began to retreat, the chikunda made night attacks that caused the Portuguese forces to scatter with heavy losses. Although the da Cruz were subsequently left in peace for about 20 years, and recognised as effectively autonomous, they made little use of their military successes and never became more than a bandit state, based on the slave trade and the tolls it could impose on river traffic, as they occupied a sparsely-populated and infertile area.<ref>Isaacman and Isaacman (1976), The Tradition of Resistance in Mozambique, p. 33.</ref><ref>Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 315-6.</ref>

The formal abolition of the institution of slavery in Mozambique 1875 and of the prazo system in 1878 had little immediate effect on the Afro-Goan and Afro-Portuguese families. Just as the formal abolition of the slave trade in 1830 had simply promoted a clandestine trade that lasted into the 20th century, so the abolition of slavery made no immediate change to the situation of the peasants in the minor states.<ref>Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 337, 399.</ref>

==The end of the chikunda==
===The Scramble for Africa===    
In the second half of the 19th century, several European powers had increasing interests in Africa that could challenge Portugal's territorial claims, as it had no effective presence in the area between [[Angola]] and Mozambique, and little in many areas within their present borders.<ref>Newitt, (1995). A History of Mozambique, pp. 324–6.</ref> Although the Portuguese Minister of Marine, Andrade Corvo, who also had responsibility for the overseas territories, attempted bi-lateral negotiations with Britain in 1879, 1882 and 1884 to fix the [[Ruo River]] (now the south-eastern border of Malawi) as the northern limit of Portuguese rule, these talks were overtaken by the [[Berlin Conference]] of 1884-85 and its requirement for effective occupation rather than claims based on early discovery or more recent exploration.<ref>McCracken (2012), A History of Malawi, 1859–1966, p. 51.</ref><ref>Newitt, (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 330-2, 341.</ref>

In 1880 Manuel António de Sousa, who has previously married a member of the royal family of Barue, which was adjacent to his statelet in Gorongosa, occupied Barue after the death of its ruler. As Barue lay close to both the land route from Sena to Tete and the territory of the da Cruz family, the existence of an unfriendly ruler in Barue, particularly one in alliance with the da Cruz, could block any Portuguese attempts to link Angola and Mozambique. The de Sousa family had been allied with the Portuguese forces attacking Massangano, and the Portuguese government approved of Manuel António’s occupation of Barue, although de Sousa did not recognise Barue as part of Mozambique. De Sousa built around thirty aringas in Barue and manned them with his chikunda. In 1884, he again made himself valuable to the government in helping to put down a revolt by supporters the Vas dos Anjos, reportedly sending 10,000 of his chikunda against these rebels<ref>Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 338-9.</ref>

The activities of the Rosário Andrade and Arujo Lobo families along the Upper Zambezi prompted the Portuguese government to lay claim to the Upper Zambezi valley as far as the [[Munyati River |Sanyati River]], now within Zimbabwe. By the late 1870s, both these families had pledged a vague loyalty to the Portuguese Crown and the Vas dos Anjos had been forced to submit in 1884, leaving the da Cruz family at Massangano as the most prominent minor state in the area claimed by Portugal to insist on its complete independence from Portugal. Following the Berlin Conference, this could leave the da Cruz territory open to a British takeover, if it accepted British protection, and there were indications it might do so.<ref>Isaacman and Isaacman (1976), The Tradition of Resistance in Mozambique, pp. 33-5.</ref><ref>Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, p. 344.</ref>

Manuel António de Sousa did not formally claim to be king of Barue but did attempt to extend his territory into the high [[Veld| veldt]] of [[Mashonaland]] in 1886, absorbing the Shona chieftainship of Rupire in the area of the former [[Mazoe River| Mazoe]] goldfields, which had been productive in the 17th century. However, his chikunda failed to defeat the Mtoko chieftainship in the same area at the start of 1887.<ref>Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, p. 339-40.</ref> De Sousa was distracted from attempting a further attack on Mtoko by a renewal of the war against the da Cruz, who reacted to being virtually surrounded by de Sousa territory by forming an alliance with the exiled relatives of the last Barue king. In 1887, the governor of Manica province and de Sousa agreed to attack Massangano for a fifth time, with an army that mainly consisted of de Sousa’s chikunda. Its swift attack led to the rapid fall of Massangano and the subjugation of the da Cruz, whose territory became an integral part of Mozambique. De Sousa then left for Lisbon where, in March 1888, he participated in arrangements that later led to the formation of the [[Mozambique Company]]. However, his plans for expansion were soon frustrated by the [[British South Africa Company]], which also laid claim to the Mazoe area.<ref>Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 340-1.</ref>

===Colonialism established=== 
De Sousa’s failure to secure more of northern Mashonaland in 1887 allowed Rhodes to contest Portuguese claims in that area, and his troops even arrested de Sousa in 1890 and drove his chikunda out of parts of Barue and Rupire. A definitive [[Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1891]] assigned virtually all the contested areas to Portugal but, after being released, de Sousa was unable to re-establish his control of Barue before being killed in the attempt in 1892 and it reverted to being an African kingdom, and much of his original Gorongosa domain fell under the control of his former lieutenants.<ref>Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 352, 354-5.</ref>
 
The 1891 treaty prevented the chikunda of the Rosário Andrade and Arujo Lobo families from raiding in the areas of the [[Luangwa River| Luangwa]] and [[Kafue River| Kafue]] valleys that were now British territory or selling slaves to the [[Mthwakazi | Ndebele kingdom]] after it was overthrown in 1893. In Zambezia, the cipais, or armed police, of the Mozambique Company gradually asserted control of area comprised in the company’s charter, taking over the chikunda’s police and tax gathering roles, but it took until 1902 before the last of the chikunda states came completely under Portuguese control<ref>Isaacman and Peterson (2003), Making the Chikunda, pp. 280-1.</ref><ref>Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, p. 368.</ref> 

One of the last such states was the so-called the Military Republic of Maganja da Costa. The [[Maganja da Costa District]] had become the stronghold of the Afro-Portuguese Alves da Silva family after the final banning of the legal slave trade in 1830, and contained a number of aringas manned by the family's chikunda.<ref>Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 253-4, 306</ref> After the deaths of João Bonifacio Alves da Silva in 1861 and of his brother Victorino Romão in 1874, the territory they had controlled evolved into a form of chikuna republic, with effective power devolved to the captains of each aringa, although by the early 1890s, this chikunda statelet was in decline, following the suppression of the illicit slave trade. In 1897, the Portuguese raised an armed force from its chikunda to extend colonial rule in the Zambezi valley, after which Maganja da Costa was itself occupied by Portuguese forces in 1898 and its independence ended.<ref>Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 370-1</ref>. A chieftaincy established by the Caetano Pereira family was occupied in 1902 and Barue, which regained independence in 1891, was occupied by Portuguese forces in the same year.<ref>Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 367-8, 381.</ref> 
 
Some of the displaced chikunda resorted to banditry, favouring the areas on either side of the Mozambique borders with the Rhodesias. Although, Barue had returned to Portuguese rule in 1902, a succession dispute in broke out in 1917, when as many as 15,000 former chikunda revolted against the Portuguese and created aringas in Barue and the Zambezi valley. However, the Portuguese raised a much larger force, mainly of auxiliaries from the [[Nguni people|Nguni]] peoples that broke the back of the rebellion by the end of 1917, although fighting on a smaller scale continued through 1918.<ref>Newitt (1995), A History of Mozambique, pp. 417-9.</ref> Even before the Barue Revolt, the chikunda ceased to exist as an active institution, but their descendant’s identification as chikunda has been preserved in a number of communities  around the confluence of the Zambezi and Luangwa rivers.<ref>Isaacman and Peterson (2003), Making the Chikunda, p. 281.</ref>

Other former chikunda and many Sena people entered southern Nyasaland after the Portuguese invasion and conquest of Barue in 1901 to 1902 and the introduction by the Portuguese authorities of a system of forced labour.<ref>Isaacman, Mulwafu and Mulwafu (1999), From Slaves to Freedmen, pp. 18-19.</ref> The name chikunda or [[Kunda language| Kunda]] was mistakenly applied at that time as an ethnic designation to those people in the Zambezi valley of what is now [[Zimbabwe]], [[Zambia]], and the western Zambezia province of [[Mozambique]] who had migrated into the Lower Shire valley, regardless of whether they came from chikunda families. These were later more correctly called the Sena.<ref>McCracken (2012), A History of Malawi, p. 20.</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Sources== 
*Dicionário Online de Português. https://www.dicio.com.br/muzungo/
*A F Isaacman and B Isaacman, (1976). The Tradition of Resistance in Mozambique: The Zambezi Valley, 1850-1921, University of California Press.{{ISBN|978-0-52003-065-7}}. 
*A Isaacman, M Mulwafu and M Mulwafu (1999), From Slaves to Freedmen: The Impact of the Chikunda on Malawian Society,1850-1920, The Society of Malawi Journal, Vol. 52, No. 2, pp. 1.32.
*A Isaacman, (2000). Chikunda Transfrontiersmen and Transnational Migrations in Pre-Colonial South Central Africa, ca 1850-1900, Zambezia, Vol XXVII, ISSUE II, pp. 109-138.
*A Isaacman and D Peterson, (2003). Making the Chikunda: Military Slavery and Ethnicity in Southern Africa, 1750-1900, The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 36, No. 2, pp. 257- 281 
*P E Lovejoy, (2011). Transformations in Slavery: A History of Slavery in Africa (3rd edition), Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|978-1-10700-296-8}}.
*J McCraken, (2012). A History of Malawi, 1859–1966, Woodbridge, James Currey. {{ISBN|978-1-84701-050-6}}.
*M D D Newitt, (1973). Portuguese Settlement on the Zambesi: Exploration, Land Tenure, and Colonial Rule in East Africa, New York, Africana Publishing Co. {{ISBN|0-84190-132-5}}.
*M Newitt, (1995). A History of Mozambique, London, Hurst & Co. {{ISBN|1-85065-172-8}}.
*E Rodrigues (2006), As donas de prazos do Zambeze: Políticas imperiais e estratégias locais, VI Jornada Setecentista, pp. 15-34


{{Portuguese overseas empire}}

[[Category:Portuguese colonisation in Africa]]
[[Category:Former Portuguese colonies]]
[[Category:History of Mozambique]]
[[Category:British colonisation in Africa]]
[[Category:History of Malawi]]
[[Category:History of Zambia]]
[[Category:History of Zimbabwe]]
[[Category:Soldiers]]
[[Category:Soldiers by ethnicity]]
[[Category:Slave soldiers]]