Mangbetu, peoples of Central Africa living to the south of the Zande in northeastern Congo (Kinshasa). They speak a Central Sudanic language of the Nilo-Saharan language family. The Mangbetu are a cluster of peoples who penetrated and now occupy the formerly Pygmy territory and who, in turn, subsequently absorbed waves of eastern peoples. They thus comprise a host of diverse cultural and linguistic strains.
The name Mangbetu refers, strictly speaking, only to the aristocracy, which in the 19th century established a number of powerful kingdoms; in looser usage it denotes the whole amalgam of peoples they ruled. The Mangbetu subsist by hoe cultivation, with some fishing, hunting, and gathering. They also raise cattle; in contrast to other Sudanic peoples, among the Mangbetu only the men do the milking. Yams and plantains are the staple crops.
Bride-price includes a substantial gift of livestock. Polygynous marriage is everywhere accepted. Descent is patrilineal. Most settlements are composed of extended families that include several generations. Political organization today is simple, usually limited to local headmen and councils of elders.
The Mangbetu impressed early travelers with their political institutions and their arts, especially their remarkable skill as builders, potters, and sculptors. They became renowned also for their supposed cannibalism and for their practice of deforming the heads of babies by binding them tightly so that they retained through life a curiously elongated form. Contemporary Mangbetu continue to attract artistic interest with their exquisitely carved knives, wooden containers for honey, statues, musical instruments, and jars.