The state gets its name from the leader of the band, Kasanje, who settled his followers on the upper Kwango River.

The Kasanje people were ruled by the Jaga, a king who was elected from among the three clans who founded the kingdom.

[1] In the 1650s the intellectuals of Kasanje developed a largely fiction history that sought to give meaning and stability to the state.

These included Queen Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba, and also areas called Lubolo, Beebe, Haku and Sango.

Nbangu a Kutana kwa Mbuku, whose father was the King of Yaka, was for a time a prisoner in Kasanje but later was freed and established more peaceful relations between the states.