In an effort to avoid an embrace of this cultural relativism, the "western" categories of Europeans and mesticos will not be discussed as the ethnolinguistic categories, and will only be analyzed through the appropriate perspective, which involves an analysis of the level of exploitation that these ethnic groups imposed upon the indigenous population of Angola.
The largest ethnolinguistic category is most commonly referred to as the Ovimbundu. This group makes up 37% of the Angolan population (The World Factbook). The language spoken by this group is usually referred to as Umbundu, although it has eight alternate names as well. The Ovimbundu migrated from the north and east of Angola to the west-central part of Angola. Little is known of the Ovimbundu prior to the seventeenth century, due to the fact that the Portuguese made little effort at recording the background of any of the indigenous ethnic groups of Angola, but were more interested in recording their own history. The Ovimbundu were formed from varying groups of mixed origin, like most African groups of any substantial size. By the eighteenth century the Ovimbundu had established twenty-two kingdoms. This group was well known for its success in trade in the Angolan interior; they traded slaves and ivory for goods, and later traded rubber for goods. The Portuguese conquered the Ovimbundu in the late nineteenth century (Collelo).
The Mbundu lived north of the Ovimbundu kingdom. This group is the second largest ethnolinguistic category of Angola; it makes up 25% of the population. The Mbundu speak Kimbundu, and this language has eleven alternate names and six dialects (The World Factbook). This group lived near the Kwanzaa River. The Mbundu are culturally related to the Bakongo (another ethnolinguistic group that constitutes the third largest portion of Angolan population). The Bakongo dominated the Mbundu, which led to the formation of a ruler position called the ngola a kiluanje (ngola).