Mambo (title)

Mambo is a Bantu title roughly equivalent to "king".{{Cite book |last1=Sibanda |first1=F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hzdeEQAAQBAJ&dq=mambo+title+king&pg=PA348 |title=Law, Religion and Leadership in Africa |last2=Chitando |first2=E. |last3=Konyana |first3=E. G. |last4=Humbe |first4=B. P. |date=2025-05-16 |publisher=African Sun Media |isbn=978-1-991260-88-8 |language=en}}{{Rp|page=348}} It is most closely associated with the precolonial Shona states, such as the Rozvi and Mutapa empires. Mambo often also fulfilled religious duties as sacred kings.{{Cite book |last1=Lipschutz |first1=Mark R. |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofafri00lips/mode/2up?view=theater |title=Dictionary of African historical biography |last2=Rasmussen |first2=R. Kent |date=1986 |publisher=Berkeley : University of California Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-520-05179-9}}{{Rp|page=135}} In the Maravi Empire, mambo became a title for junior leaders.{{Cite book |last1=Chondoka |first1=Yizenge |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aR9NCwAAQBAJ&dq=mambo+title+king&pg=PT31 |title=A History of the Tumbuka from 1400 to 1900 |last2=Bota |first2=Frackson F. |date=2015-12-16 |publisher=Xlibris Corporation |isbn=978-1-4990-9628-6 |language=en}}{{page number needed|date=May 2025}}

Nowadays, in Shona mambo can be used as a respectful form of address.{{Cite book |last=Keppel-Jones |first=Arthur |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UxHpQWTCCA4C&dq=mambo+title+king&pg=PA637 |title=Rhodes and Rhodesia: The White Conquest of Zimbabwe 1884-1902 |date=1983 |publisher=McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP |isbn=978-0-7735-0534-6 |language=en}}{{Rp|page=637}}