In 1532 King Joao III of Portugal gave the Bijago Islands to his brother Dom Luis, ordering the Bijago's to submit to his brother's authority. Threatening war if they refused.

However, the Bijagos, confident in their military superiority on their turf, turned a deaf ear to such demands, & were waiting for them to come & die. So in 1535, conquistadors were sent against them, but they were beaten, broken, scattered & slaughtered with few survivors.

Henceforth, the Bijagos made life uncomfortable for the Portuguese in the area, causing them in 1607 to seek the assistance of the spanish potentate to fight the Bijagos. Still, in 1609 the Portuguese settlement in Guinela was greeted with a Bijago raid & their chapel was burnt.

Three years after helping the Portuguese crush the Ottomans & smoke them out of Mombasa at the 1589 battle of Mombasa, the special military unit of the Lundu Maravi people, "the Zimba", would clash with Portuguese forces on different occasions.

In the first encounter, the Portuguese force was ambushed & killed to a man. They were coming to the aid of a local ally (they had successfully helped before) & numbered over 100, armed with guns, led by Pedro Fernandez de Chaves (a captain) & were aided by African auxiliaries.

The next day, the Zimbas showed the decapitated head of de Chaves & the limbs of the slain Portuguese men to Andre de Santiago, the armed commander of the Portuguese community in Sena. The Zimbas promised him & his men the same fate.

Later, while Andre de Santiago & his men in Sena were retreating in the night, they were ambushed & obliterated by the Zimbas.

This was a severe blow to the Portuguese presence in the Zambezi, & in 1593 Dom Pedro de Sousa, commander of the Portuguese in Mozambique decided to put an end to the Zimba who were dreaded.

200 Portuguese men & 1500 African auxiliaries were assembled-along with artillery guns. De Sousa led them to the Zimba positions. After the artillery guns proved useless when tried to be used to bring down Zimba fortifications-they stormed the fortifications-but were kept at bay.

The fighting ensued & the Zimbas kept de Sousa & his men at bay for 2 months. Unable to achieve their objective, de Sousa & his men started to retreat to Sena, & the Zimba in pursuit caught up with some of his forces, killed them & seized much of their baggage & artillery.

After handing the Portuguese another defeat, the Zimba military commander Tundu, decided to make peace with the new Portuguese commander's in the area.