Battle of the Cunene

In the Battle of the Cunene River, Portuguese Colonial forces were defeated by Angolan Ovambo warriors from Oukwanyama and Cuamato on 25 September 1904.

After having subdued the Nkhumbi people, Portuguese troops advanced from Huila southward into territories which were just claimed by Portugal but not yet under control.

At Cunene River they were confronted with the resistance of two Ovambo peoples, the Cuamato/Kwamato and Cuanhama/Kwanyama, led by their king Tchetekelo.

When an advanced unit composed of 500 Portuguese soldiers and Humbi auxiliaries under captain Luís Pinto de Almeida crossed the river, about 300 men were massacred in an ambush.

[1] The Portuguese defeat was followed by a punitive expedition in 1905 and 1907,[2] but not before 1916 Southern Angola was "pacified".

Portuguese colonial forces (around 1900).
The ambush of the Cuanhamas in the clearing of a forest, near the Cunene River (Angola) ( Angelo Agostini , O Malho , 1904).