 Mbunda
Language Location Map in Zambia
In Zambia Mbundas are mainly found in
Western Province and few in North Western Province and Itezhi Tezhi
of Southern Province.
First Mbunda People Voluntary Migration To Barotseland
In 1795, some Mbunda started
migrating to Barotseland.1 These Mbunda did not run away from
any wars in Mbundaland. The boundary between Mbundaland to
the west and Barotseland to the east then was Zambezi river.
In the first immigration, some of the Mbunda with their
Chiefs, Mwene Mundu, Mwene Kandala, and Mwene Chiyengele2
respectively, decided to move closer to Zambezi River under
a friendship pact with Lozi Litunga, Mulambwa Santulu. Mwene
Chitengi Chingumbe Chiyengele, the third Mbunda Chief to
immigrate to Zambia came with his royal regalia as the 15th
Monarch in frustration, after succeeding his father King
Chingumbe cha Chioola, the 14th Mbunda Monarch instead of a
nephew as per Mbunda custom. In his absence in Mbundaland,
the Mbunda replaced him with King Ngonga I Chiteta as the
16th Monarch and a rightful successor to the thrown as a
nephew.
Mongu
By the late 1800’s the British
began expanding their colonial territory northwards from
South Africa through Zimbabwe into Zambia. They became aware
of the Zambezi River when David Livingstone led his
expedition down the river in 1869. These Mbundas became part
of the Barotseland Protectorate which was recognized by the
British.
The Portuguese also were
expanding. They had established ports in Angola along the
Atlantic coast during the 1600’s. In the late 1800’s they
were extending their colonies inward toward the Zambezi
River. The British recognized and feared this expansion of
Portuguese territory. To counter it they established an
outpost at the confluence of the Luanginga and Lweti rivers.
These two rivers are tributaries of the Zambezi and lie west
of the Zambezi. This British outpost was called Kalabo and
it was the only British post west of the Zambezi.
Fall of The Mbunda Kingdom and Portuguese Occupation of
Mbundaland
In 1914, the Portuguese
colonialists abducted the twentieth (21st) Mbunda Monarch,
King Mbandu Lyondthi Kapova (Kathima Mishambo) and imposed
Prince (Munamwene) Kazungo Shanda as the 22nd Mbunda
Monarch. Little did King Mbandu Lyondthi Kapova (Kathima
Mishambo) know that his nephew was an ambitious traitor and
would not follow the King's instructions. King Mbandu
Lyondthi Kapova, his Prime Minister (Mwato wa Mwene) Shwana
Mbambale, his two personal physicians and special aides,
Mwata Kambalameko and Mwata Vitumbi, some important
courtiers as well as a number of his bodyguards were
kidnapped and taken away in 1914 by Portuguese colonial
troops mounted on horsebacks. This resulted in a war named
"The Kolongongo War". This is a war the Portuguese
Colonialists fought on horse backs against the Mbunda,3
.
The Mbunda waged a fierce
armed campaigns in their desperate bid to maintain their
independence of Portuguese subjugation. They new how to
fight. They were a fearless, strong and brave people.
However, as time elapsed, the Portuguese forces gained an
upper hand in the war because they were continuously
provisioned with gunpowder for their guns. The embattled
Mbunda, who did not posses the know-how essential to the
making of gunpowder eventually found the muzzle-loaders to
be absolutely useless. They had to increasingly rely on
their bows and arrows as well as a few other traditional
arms which were suited for warfare only at close quarters.
Superior Portuguese firepower took a heavy toll of the
increasingly dispirited Mbunda, some of whom began to throw
their muzzle-loaders in the rivers for lack of gunpowder.
The war lasted up to 1929 and dislodged the Mbunda Kingdom
and the Portuguese took over Mbundaland to be part of
Angola.
Mbunda People Flee To Barotseland and South-West Africa
(Namibia) - Second Migration
This caused some Mbundas to
migrate to Namibia and a second immigration of Mbundas to
Barotseland. However, many Mbundas in Namibia call
themselves Ngangelas.
The Mbunda who lived in
Barotseland prospered. They were welcomed and respected by
the Aluyi. The Aluyi and their leader, the Litunga
especially prized the Mbunda for their ability to fight.
When the Luvale also known as Lovale
invaded Barotseland from the north the Litunga instructed
the Mbunda to counter the invasion.4 The
battle was a complete victory for the Mbundas They killed
all of the Luvale warriors except for a few. These few were
left alive so they could return to the Luvale villages and
report about what happens when you do battle with the Mbunda.
The rejoicing Mbunda warriors
then cut off the heads of their victims and carried them on
top of sticks. They ran singing all the way to Lilundu, the
capital of Barotseland and the home of the Litunga Mulambwa.
When the Aluyi saw this crowd of the Mbunda warriors
carrying sticks with the heads on top they panicked and ran
away. They didn’t realize the Mbunda were coming to
celebrate with them. They thought they were the next
victims.
After this defeat the Luvale
never attacked the Aluyi for their cattle. King Mulambwa now
knew of the fighting ability of the Mbunda and confirmed
Mwene Chitengi Chiyengele's right to stay in Bulozi as the
Senior Mbunda Chief. King Mulambwa decided to cement the
bond of friendship between the Aluyi and the Mbunda.
The Mulambwa/Chiyengele Treaty In Barotseland
On a specially appointed
occasion, in the presence of King Mulambwa, Aluyana and
Mbunda royalty, Aluyana and Mbunda elders and Aluyana and
Mbunda public, Mwene Chitengi Chiyengele was ceremonially
given a sharp pointed pole called mulombwe while the
following ten points were explained orally, forming
the famous Mulambwa/Chiyengele Treaty:
1). We give you this
sharp-pointed pole to replace those poles with rounded tops
for your royal palace. It is only your palace which will be
built with sharp poles called milombwe.
2).
Your royal drum (Kenda na Vafwa) and royal xylophone (Kamuyongole)
should be played in your palace, when you visit others and
whenever you come to this capital.
3).
It is only you who will use a royal flywistch of the eland.
4).
You are free to continue to teach your people your language
and culture; you will not be forced to take our language and
culture.
5).
There shall never be an Aluyi person who enslaves a Mbunda
and no Mbunda shall enslave an Aluyi.
6). You are not forced
to live on the Barotse plain but free to live in the
forests.
7). You are free to
cultivate cassava, yams and millet in the multitude that you
wish.
8). In military and
political matters you should be allied with the Aluyi.
9). Never fight among
one another, but love one another. Finally.
10). Respect
chieftainship and the elders.
In this way the relationship
between the Aluyi and the Mbunda was defined and developed
and continues to this day. The views of King Mulambwa
recognized the Mbunda contribution to the historical
development of Bulozi.5
This and
other factors earned Mbunda to be represented on the Barotse
National Council.6
Secondly,
the Mbunda fought alongside Aluyi7 in the Aluyi/Makololo war
in 1830, which ousted the Makololo rule on the Aluyi.8 This
led to the establishment of the Mbunda Chieftainship at
Lukwakwa under Senior Chief Sikufele9 now in Kabompo
District, being a descendant of Mulambwa and a Mbunda wife.
The Makololo from the south introduced the Lozi language
spoken not only in Western Province today but also Botswana,
Lesotho, South Africa and Caprivi Strip.
In the 1880’s the Litunga
decided he wanted to grab the cattle which belonged to his
neighbors to the east, the Tonga.10 He sent all his warriors
eastward to chase off the Tonga and return with their
cattle. The heart of his army were the Mbunda.11 Again the Mbunda were successful as the Tonga could not compete. The
Tonga had no defense against the Mbunda‘s skill with a bow
and arrow. The Tonga fought only briefly before they ran
away. The Lozi’s with the Mbunda in the lead returned to
Barotseland to present the Litunga with over one million
cattle. This is where the Lozi/Mbunda and Tonga Cousinship
originates from.
Later the
Kaonde/Lozi war which Lozis lost in the first battle, but
warn with the help of the Mbunda war machinery, where Mbunda
Chief Kasimba of Kalumwange played a major role resulting in
the Mbunda Chieftainship having firmly been established
there at the confluence of the Lalafuta and Kyamenge in
1893, opposite Chief Mushima Njivumina of the Kaonde.[12][13]
All this
proved the fighting supremacy of the Mbunda in fighting
alongside the Aluyi14 and in honoring the Mulambwa/Chiyengele
Treaty, Mbundas remained the true allies of the Aluyi both
in military and political matters.
Tribal warfare was discouraged
during the colonial rule by the British. The Mbunda lived
peacefully. They tended their cattle and grew cassava, maize
and rice. Many of the men left their homes to work in the
mines of South Africa. When independence from British rule
came in 1964 this practice was discouraged. The men were
then recruited to work on the sugar plantations of Zambia.
They were much sought after due to their reputation as
reliable workers.
Under Portuguese Colonial Persecution Mbunda People Join
MPLA In Liberation War - The Third Mbunda Migration
The Mbunda that remained in
Mbundaland which was now part of Angola continued with
hardship of the Portuguese colonialists. In 1961 an
upraising against forced cotton cultivation, culminated into
liberation war. With encouragement from Agostinho Neto,
leader of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola
(MPLA), the Mbunda were determined to avenge the persecution
they experienced at the hands of the Portuguese
colonialists. Most of the Mbunda joined the ranks of the
MPLA and gave up their lives for the liberation of Angola
and their Mbundaland which was mainly fought in their home
territory. The liberation war caused the second wave of the
Mbunda fleeing to other Provinces of Angola, Zambia and
Namibia.
Mbunda People Fight Alongside MPLA In Angola Civil War In
Their Territory - Fourth Mbunda Migration
Independence came to Angola in
November 1975 and with independence came civil war
Angolan Civil War. Again many Mbundas
fled Angola to relocate in nearby western Zambia, this
marked the third and fourth wave of Mbunda immigration to
the now Western Province of Zambia. These refugees were
related to those Mbundas who were already living around
Kalabo, Senanga, Mongu, Kaoma, Lukulu and Kabompo in Zambia.
They were welcomed there and fit in easily.
The Mbunda have maintained
most of their old traditions. They still respect their
ancestors. They have “coming of age” rituals for both boys (Mukanda
and their not less than fifty (50) Makishi artifacts)
Read…..
and girls (Litungu or Bwali)
Read…..
They still rely on cattle and cassava for their food. Men
carry weapons such as bow and arrows, spears or machetes
when they travel away from their villages. Women still
create baskets from the root of the makenge bush and of
course these baskets are the finest in the world.
See…..
Read More.......
References
1
The elites of
Barotseland, 1878-1969: a political history of Zambia's Western
Province: a. Gerald L. Caplan ISBN 0-
900966-38-6 Publisher: C. Hurst & Co
Publishers Ltd, 1970
2
Bantu-Languages.com
3
René Pélissier, La révolte des
Bunda (1916-1917), pp. 408 - 412 (French for "the Mbunda
revolt"), section footnotes
citing sources: Luís Figueira,
Princesa Negra: O preço da civilização em África, Coimbra
Edição do
autor, 1932
4
Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and Middle
East, Facts On File library of world history, Facts
On File,
Incorporated, Social Science, Infobase Publishing,
2009, ISBN: 143812676X, 9781438126760.
5
Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and Middle East, Facts
On File library of world history,
Facts On File,
Incorporated, Social Science, Infobase
Publishing, 2009, ISBN: 143812676X, 9781438126760
6
Mupatu, Y. Mulambwa Santulu Uamuhela Bo Mwene, London,
1954
7
Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and Middle East, Facts
On File library of world history,
Facts On File,
Incorporated, Social Science, Infobase
Publishing, 2009, ISBN: 143812676X, 9781438126760
8
Bull M.M., Bulozi Under The
Luyana Kings, London 1973
9
White, C.M.N. "Notes on
the Political Organization of the Kabompo District and its
Inhabitants,"
African Studies, IX,
(1950), pp. 185-93
10
Bull M.M., Bulozi Under The Luyana Kings, London 1973
11
Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and Middle East, Facts
On File library of world history,
Facts On File,
Incorporated, Social Science, Infobase
Publishing, 2009, ISBN: 143812676X, 9781438126760
12
Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and Middle East, Facts
On File library of world history,
Facts On File,
Incorporated, Social Science, Infobase
Publishing, 2009, ISBN: 143812676X, 9781438126760
13
Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and Middle East, Facts
On File library of world history,
Facts On File,
Incorporated, Social Science, Infobase
Publishing, 2009, ISBN: 143812676X, 9781438126760
14
Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and Middle East, Facts
On File library of world history,
Facts On File,
Incorporated, Social Science, Infobase
Publishing, 2009, ISBN: 143812676X, 9781438126760
Further Reading
Mbunda
Origin, |