Ngoyo was an
Iron Age kingdom state of the
Woyo tribe, located in the south of
Cabinda (present-day
Democratic Republic of the Congo and
Angola). Located on the
Atlantic coast of
Central Africa, just north of the
Congo River, it was founded by
Bantu-speaking people around the 15th century. Ngoyo tradition held that the kingdom's ancestors were among the earliest settlers in the area, leading their chiefs to title themselves the
nfumu nsi ("lords of the earth"). The capital was Mbanza Ngoyo. By 1700, Cabinda had become the leading
slave port north of
Luanda, and Ngoyo's economy rested heavily on the sale of slaves.