Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T07:22:26.711Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Long Distance Trade and the Luba Lomami Empire1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

Ann Wilson
Ann Wilson
Affiliation:
School of Oriented and Africans Studies, University of London
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The kingdom of Luba Lomami was enlarged and strengthened by the conquest of Kalala Ilunga at an unknown date before the end of the sixteenth century. It became a large but not dominant state. The expansion of Luba Lomami is generally considered to have occurred in the early eighteenth century, as a delayed consequence of the Kalala Ilunga conquest. In this it is said to have been paralleled by the expansion of Lunda. Unlike Lunda, however, it is supposed to have suffered from severe structural deficiencies. These, it has been argued, inhibited its further expansion and, in the mid-nineteenth century, caused it to disintegrate.

It is suggested here, however, that the expansion of Luba Lomami did not occur until the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. This expansion coincided with the extension of the Bisa trading system into the chiefdoms south-east of Luba Lomami and was designed to capture this trade. Later conquests in the south may have been related to the development of Nyamwezi and Bihe trading systems. However, the principal motive for further expansion was the need to capture new sources of ivory and, to a lesser extent, slave-yielding lands. Luba Lomami's success can be attributed to its proximity to the Bisa trade route, its relatively centralized political structures, the availability of viable areas of expansion, and the existence of suitable mechanisms to incorporate the conquered chiefdoms. In the first half of the nineteenth century Luba Lomami subjected most of the area between the Lubilash and Lake Tanganyika and between the forest and the copper belt.

In about 1870 the terms of the long-distance trade turned against Luba Lomami. New traders arrived carrying guns. Luba Lomami could not match the new techniques for it no longer had the resources with which to purchase guns. Its own resources of ivory and slaves were exhausted. It could no longer obtain supplies by expansion, for the traders were carving out new states on its periphery, and it was itself becoming subject to slave raids and encroachment. This external pressure weakened the political structures. Rival brothers sought the aid of mercenary traders to promote their cause. The ideological basis of the state was undermined. In a desperate attempt to obtain guns the emperors began to raid for slaves amongst their own people. The empire disintegrated and, in about 1890, the rump of the state became tributary to the trader-state of Msiri.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 13 , Issue 4 , October 1972 , pp. 575 - 589
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1972

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

2 The term ‘Luba Lomami’ is used to refer to the largest of the Luba kingdoms founded by Kongolo and Kalala Ilunga.

3 Van Overbergh, C., Les Basongye (Brussels, 1908), 93.Google Scholar

4 Colle, R. P., ‘Généalogie et migrations du quelques grands chefs du Haut-Congo,’ La Revue congolaise, I, 2 (1910), 193;Google ScholarColle, R. P., ‘Origine et explication du pouvoir des chefs dims l'Uruwa,’ La Revue congolaise, I, 1 (1910), 59.Google Scholar

5 ‘Maniema’ was the term used by the Arabs to designate the populations north of Tumbwe, east of Tetela and south of the Lindi.

6 Burton, W. F. P., Luba Religion and Magic in Custom and Belief (Tervuren, 1961), 4–15;Google ScholarVerhulpen, E., Baluba et Balubaises du Katanga (Anvers, 1936), 88–9;Google Scholard'Orjo de Marchovelette, E., ‘Historique de la Chefferie Kabongo,’ Bulletin des jurisdictions indigènes et du droit coutumier congolais, XVIII (1950), 355–5;Google ScholarSendwe, J., ‘Traditions et coutumes ancestrales des Baluba Shankadji,’ Bulletin du centre d'etude desprobl`mes sociaux indigènes, XXIV (1954), 87–120;Google ScholarVan der Noot, A., ‘Quelques éléments historiques sur l'empire Luba, son organisation et sa direction,’ Bulletin des jurisdictions indignes et du droit coutumier congolais, VII (1936), 141–9.Google Scholar

7 The problem is discussed in, Birmingham, D., ‘The Date and Significance of the Imbangala Invasions of Angola,’ J. Afr. Hist., VI, 4 (1965), 143–52;CrossRefGoogle ScholarVansina, J., ‘The Foundation of the Kingdom of Kassange,’ J. Aft. Hist. VII, 3 (1963);Google ScholarVansina, J., ‘More on the Invasions of Kongo and Angola by the Jagas and Lundas,’ J. Afr. Hist. VII, 3 (1966), 421–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar More recently, and after this article was written, the findings of both these authors have been challenged by Miller, J. C., ‘The Imbangala and the Chronology of Early Central African History,’ J. Afr. Hist., this issue, 549–74.Google Scholar

8 Vansina, J., Kingdoms of the Savannah (Wisconsin, 1966), chapters 3 and 6.Google Scholar

9 There were the Luba states of Kalundwe, Kaniok (part Lunda) and Kikondja. State structures probably existed amongst the Weydert, Songye—J., Les Balubas chez eux (Heffingen, 1938),Google Scholar and amongst the Luba Colle, Hemba—R. P., Les Baluba (Brussels, 1913);Google Scholar Verhulpen, 125. The copper states mentioned in the Lunda traditions may have existed at this date, Kazembe, Mwata XIV, My Ancestors and my People (translated by Cunnison, I.), Central Bantu Historical Texts (London, 1951), 15.Google Scholar

10 Vansina, J., Kingdoms of the Savannah, Appendix.Google Scholar

11 ‘Historique de la Chefferie Kabongo,’ D'Orjo de Marchovelette, 359–64; Sendwe, J., 116–17;Google ScholarVerhulpen, E., 97–168;Google ScholarVan der Noot, A., 141–9;Google ScholarBurton, W. F. P., 16.Google Scholar

12 There is considerable discrepancy for the earlier years between this and Vansina's account. This is because Vansina has miscalculated the dates for the reigns which preceeded Ilunga Sunga. He argues that the assumed date for the death of Ilunga Sunga is 1805, and then continues the argument on the assumption that 1805 was the date for the beginning of his reign. He thereby obtains a date of 1740 for the beginning of the reign of Kadio, rather than the accurate one by his own premises of 1715.

13 Gamitto, A. C. P., King Kazembe (trans. Cunnison, I.), (Lisbon, 1962), II, 53.Google Scholar

14 Livingstone, D., Last Journals (London, 1874), I, 335.Google Scholar

15 Cameron, V. I., Across Africa (London, 1873), II, 7.Google Scholar Cameron met Tippo Tip in 1874, ibid, II. Tippo Tip had met Kasongo Kalombo several years earlier. Tip, Tippo, Maisha ya bin Muhammed el Murjebi yaani Tippo Tip (translated Whiteley, W. H.),Google Scholar Supplement to the East African Swahili Committee Journals, XXVIII, 2 (1958), and XXIX, I (1959), Section 85.Google Scholar

16 See footnote II.

17 Vansina, J., Kingdoms of the Savannah, 162, 165;Google ScholarVerhulpen, E., 100.Google Scholar

18 This is implied in the Verhulpen tradition, op. cit., 100. The tradition in d'Orjo de Marchovelette, ‘Historique de La Chefferie, Kabongo,’ 362, mentioned below, states that the Bena Kibeshi lost two chiefs but would not submit. The traditions of the Bena Musola, one of the groups specifically mentioned by Verhulpen, state that they later preferred to move into the territory of the Benecki rather than accept the yoke of Ilunga Kalala. They moved south yet again with the proud boast that they were free people when the Benecki, in turn, demanded tribute. J. Weydert, 43.

19 d' Orjo de Marchovelette, ‘Historique de la Chefferie Kabongo,’ 362.

20 Verhulpen, E.100–68Google Scholar, together with the histories of the individual chiefdoms for the expansionist era.

21 This occurred before the 1831 visit of Gamitto, and is mentioned in the Kazembe traditions. Mwata Kazembe XIV, 70.

22 The Bena Musola and the Bena Budia both have traditions relating to an advance into their territory by Ilunga Kalala. Weydert, J., 43, 6.Google Scholar Livingstone noted that the Luba were advancing further into Maniema in the late 1860s and early 1870s. Last Journals, II, 553.

23 Verhulpen, E., 502. In 1880 a large ‘Warua’ army was encountered by Thomson in Uguha (Tumbwe Holoholo). It was en route to fight with the Waguha against the Wagoma in the north.Google ScholarThomson, J., To the Central African Lakes (London, 1881), II, 101.Google Scholar

24 Birmingham, D., Trade and Conflict in Angola (Oxford, 1966), 149.Google Scholar

25 Alpers, E. A., ‘The Role of the Yao in the Development of Trade in East Central Africa, 1693–1850,’ Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis (London, 1966), 140, 213.Google Scholar

26 Gamitto, A. C. P., 11, 115.Google Scholar

27 Brasseur, Cmm., Le Mouvement Géographique, XIV (1897), 26.Google ScholarWhiteley, W. H., Bentha and Related Peoples of Northern Rhodesia, Ethnographic Survey of Africa, ed. Forde, Daryll (London, 1950), 13, 15.Google Scholar

28 Nenquin, J., Excavations at Sanga, 1957 (Tervuren, 1963), 194, 198, 200.Google Scholar

29 Roberts, A., ‘Nyamwezi Trade,’ in Gray, R. and Birmingham, D., eds., Pre-Colonial African Trade (London, 1970), 52.Google Scholar

30 Burton, W. F. P., ‘The Country of the Baluba,’ The Geographical Journal, LXX (1927), 322–42.Google Scholar For the trade of copper northwards from the copper region, Cameron, V. L., 11, 149;Google ScholarLivingstone, D., Last Journal, 11, 58.Google Scholar

31 Cameron, V. L., 11, 52;Google ScholarColic, R. P., Les Baluba (Brussels, 1913), 789.Google Scholar

32 Delvaux, H., L'Occupation du Katanga, 1891–1900, Supplement to L'Essor du Congo (Elizabethville, 1950), 29;Google ScholarBrasseur, Cmm, Le Mouvement Géographique, XIV (1897), 436.Google Scholar

33 Coile, R. P., Les Baluba, 789;Google ScholarLivingstone, D., Last Journals, II, 268.Google Scholar

34 Deduced from Schmitz, R., Les Baholoholo, 500Google Scholar and Cameron, V. L., I, 334 and 344.Google Scholar

35 Livingstone, D., Last Journals, II, 8.Google Scholar

36 Weydert, J., 62.Google Scholar

37 Gamitto, A. C. P., II, 43.Google Scholar

38 Alpers, E. A., 140 and 213 ff.Google Scholar

39 Verbeken, A. and Waelraet, M., La Première Traversée du Katanga en 1806 (Brussels, 1953), 101.Google Scholar

40 Gamitto, A. C. P., II, 41.Google Scholar

41 Ibid. I, 205.

42 Ibid. II, 27, 28, 52, 75, 98.

43 Burton, R. F., The Lake Regions of Central Africa (London, 1860), II, 149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

44 Tip, Tippo, Section 18.Google Scholar

45 Burton, R. F., The Lake Region, II, 149.Google Scholar

46 Stanley, H. M., Through the Dark Continent (London, 1878), II, 40.Google Scholar

47 Gamitto, A. C., I, 203.Google Scholar

48 Livingstone, D., Last Journals, II, 58.Google Scholar

49 Livingstone later speaks of Babisa who lived three days north of Nyangwe. After the arrival of the Arabs they began to kill elephants in order to sell the tusks very cheaply and in great quantities to the Arabs. Ibid, 119, 120, 121, 125. These people were probably Babinja (Wazimba) a local group who lived beyond the northernmost province of Luba Lomanii. See Vansina, J., Introduction a l'Ethnographie du Congo (Kinshasa, 1965),Google Scholar chapter 7, and Boone, O., Carte Ethnique du Congo Quart Sud-Est (Tervuren, 1961), 23–26.Google Scholar These were not the Babisa who traded beads for ivory at Bambarre, for they lived about one hundred miles to the north-west of Bainbarre, remote from any source of beads and with enormous quantities of ivory in their own lands.

50 See discussion in Roberts, A., ‘Nyamwezi Trade,’ 56.Google Scholar

51 Burton, R. F., The Lake Region, II, 147.Google Scholar

52 Deduced from, Munongo, A., ‘Une Lettre de Mwanda II au Roi Albert’, Bulletin des jurisdictions indigenes et du droit coutumier congolais, 1938, 233;Google ScholarKazembe, Mwata XIV, 82;Google ScholarLivingstone, D., Last Journals, II, 49, 119;Google ScholarVerbeken, A., Msiri (Brussels, 1956), 48.Google Scholar

53 Livingstone, D., Last Journals, I, 308, 310, 312;Google ScholarThomson, J., To the Central African Lakes, II, 46;Google ScholarMunongo, A., 232;Google ScholarRoberts, A., ‘Nyarnwezi Trade’, 57.Google Scholar

54 Verhulpen, E., 137.Google Scholar

55 See below.Google Scholar

56 Oliver, R. and Matthew, G., eds. History of East Africa (Oxford, 1963), vol. I, 267.Google Scholar

57 Burton, R. F., The Lake Regions, II, 147, 148.Google Scholar

58 Tip, Tippo, Section 90–101 refers to Arab trading with Kimwimba (c. 1810–c. 1840). This, however, was part of a ruse to gain power in Tetera. The requisite information had been obtained in Songye, and cannot be taken as evidence for early Arab trade.Google Scholar

59 Livingstone, , Last Journals, II, 58.Google Scholar

60 An account of this journey is given in Verbeken, A. and Walraet, M., La Première Traversée du Katanga.Google Scholar

61 Cameron, V. L., II, 157;Google ScholarLivingstone, D., African Journals, 1853–1856 (ed. Shapera, I.) (London, 1963), 42, 50, 80, 82.Google Scholar

62 The first to arrive were the Cokwe, in 1850–1860, according to Vervaecke, R. P., ‘Lea Bena Lulua’, La Revue congolaise (1910), 69.Google Scholarvon Wissmann, H., in Le Congo Illustré, XIV (1893), 130, suggests 1870.Google Scholar In 1875 Cameron, then on the Lomami, heard that there were traders on the Sankuru. Cameron, V. L., II, 58.Google Scholar

63 See discussion in Miller, J. C., ‘Cokwe Trade and Conquest in the Nineteenth Century,’ in Gray, R. and Birmingham, D., eds., Pre-Colonial African Trade, 177 ff.Google Scholar

64 von Wissmann, H., My Second Journey through Equatorial Africa from the Congo to the Zambesi in 1886 and 1887 (trans. by Bergmann, M. J. A.) (London, 1891), 42;Google ScholarDelcommune, A., Vingt année ses de vie africaine, 1874–1893 (Brussels, 1922), I, 242.Google Scholar

65 Felner, A., Angola, Apontamentos sôbre a colonizaçāo das planaltos e litoral do sul de Angola (Lisbon, 1940), II, 24.Google Scholar

66 Livingstone, D., African Journals, 42, 50, 80, 82.Google Scholar

67 Verhulpen, E., 137.Google Scholar

68 Verbeken, A. and Walraet, M., 75, 101.Google Scholar

69 Livingstone, D., Last Journals, II, 58.Google Scholar

70 Gamitto, A. C. P., II, 115.Google Scholar

71 Munongo, A., 233;Google ScholarKazembe, Mwata, 82;Google ScholarVerbeken, A., Msiri, 49 ff.Google Scholar

72 Brode, H., Tippo Tip (London, 1907), 78.Google Scholar

73 Tip, Tippo, Sections 93–4.Google Scholar

74 Oliver, R. and Mathew, G., 276.Google Scholar

75 Verhulpen, E., 101.Google Scholar

76 d'Orjo de Marchovelette, ‘Historique de Ia Cheiferie Kabongo’, 365;Google ScholarVerhulpen, E., 102.Google Scholar

77 The expansion is described by Verhulpen, E., 99–102, and in the histories of the individual chiefdoms.Google Scholar

78 Tip, Tippo, Section 156;Google ScholarBrode, H., 161;Google ScholarVerhulpen, E., 128–9, 178.Google Scholar

79 Colle, R. P., Les Baluba, 173, 178, 180, 773, 823.Google Scholar

80 Vansina, J., Introduction a l'Ethnographie du Congo, Chapter 7 for Maniema.Google ScholarVansina, J., Kingdoms of the Savannah, Map B for clan structures to the south.Google Scholar

81 Verhulpen, E., 37;Google Scholarvon Wissmann, H., My Second Journey, 121.Google Scholar

82 Verhulpen, E., 332.Google Scholar

83 See below.Google Scholar

84 The following discussion is based upon, Verhulpen, E., 181–95,Google Scholard'Orjo de Marchovelette, , ‘Notes sur lea Funerailles des Chefs Ilunga Kabale and Kabongo Kumwimba’, Bulletin des jurisdictions indigènes et du droit coutoumier congolaise, XVIII (1950), 350–5,Google ScholarBurton, W. F. P., Luba Religion and Magic, 19ff.Google Scholar

85 Verhulpen, E., 136, 207.Google Scholar

86 Colle, R. P., Les Baluba, 567.Google Scholar

87 Colle, R. P., Les Baluba, 567.Google Scholar

88 Verhulpen, E., 99–102;Google ScholarBurton, W. F. P., Luba Religion and Magic, 16;Google Scholard'Orjo de Marchovelette, ‘Historique de la Chefferie Kabongo’, 359–64;Google ScholarSendwe, J., 116–17;Google ScholarVan der Nobt, A., 141–9.Google Scholar

89 Oliver, R. and Mathew, G., 276.Google Scholar

90 Vansina, J., Kingdoms of the Savannah, 188. By the 1850s the western ivory frontier had reached Cokwe and Lunda.Google ScholarMiller, J. C., ‘Cokwe Trade’, 179.Google Scholar

91 Cameron, V. L., II, 56 and 59.Google Scholar

92 Tippo, Tip, Section 147.Google Scholar

93 Livingstone, D., Last Journals, II, 188.Google Scholar

94 Cameron, V. L., II, 128.Google Scholar

95 See above.Google Scholar

96 Livingstone, D., Last Journals, Chapter 10;Google ScholarVerbeken, , Msiri, 49 and 63.Google Scholar

97 Munongo, A., 233;Google ScholarCameron, V. L., II, 140;Google ScholarArnot, F. S., Garanganze: or Seven Years Pioneer Mission Work in Central Africa (London, 1902), 230;Google ScholarVerbeken, A., Msiri, 49 ff.Google Scholar

98 Arnot, F. S., Garanganre, 235.Google Scholar

99 Cameron, V. L., II, 140;Google ScholarCrawford, D., Thinking Black (London, 1912), 192;Google ScholarArnot, F. S., Garanganze, 205 and 242.Google Scholar

100 Arnot, F. S.Proc. R. Geog. Soc. (1889), 65;Google ScholarMunongo, A., p. 199.Google Scholar

101 Arnot, F. S., Garanganze, 194, 220, 242;Google ScholarLe Congo Illustré, XVI (1891), 106, based on Reichards visit of 1883.Google ScholarCrawford, D., 192;Google ScholarSharpe, A., ‘Journey from Karanaga to Katanga, 1890,’ Prco. R. Geog. Soc. (1887), 423.Google Scholar

102 Tip, Tippo, Section 97 ff.Google Scholar

103 Tip, Tippo, Section 97;Google ScholarVan Overbergh, C., 530;Google ScholarMichaux, O. I. S., Carnets de Campagne (Brussels, 1907), 146.Google Scholar

104 Tip, Tippo, Section 157, 175;Google Scholarvan Overbergh, C., 431;Google ScholarGillain, C., Belgique Coloniale, III (1897), 91;Google ScholarDiedench, N., Le Mouvement Géographique, x (1893), 107;Google ScholarBriart, P., Le Mouvement Géographique, IX (1892), 149, VII (1891), 124.Google Scholar

105 Michaux, O. I. S., 190;Google ScholarHinde, S. L., The Fall of the Congo Arabs (London, 1897).Google Scholar

106 There is conflicting evidence regarding this process. Compare Hinde, S. L., 128;Google Scholarvan Overbergh, C., 40, 413, 457, 489;Google Scholarle Marinel, P., Le Mouvement Géographique, VIII (1891), 39;Google ScholarSamian, A., ‘Lea Basongye,’ Le Congo, I (1924), 48–52;Google ScholarWeydert, J., 43, 65, 119;Google ScholarGillain, C., Belgique Coloniale, II (1897), 91b.Google Scholar

107 Tip, Tippo, Section 105;Google Scholarvan Overbergh, C., 217 and 218.Google Scholar

108 von Wissmann, H., My Second Journey, 140;Google ScholarBateman, G. S. L., The First Ascent of the Kasal Under the Lone Star (London, 1889), 156.Google Scholar

109 le Marinel, P., Le Mouvement Géographique VIII (1891), 39;Google ScholarMichaux, O. I. S., 163;Google ScholarWeydert, J., 43 and 65;Google Scholarvan Overbergh, C., 489.Google Scholar

110 von Wissmann, H., My Second Journey, 115;Google ScholarTip, Tippo, Section 110;Google ScholarCameron, V. L., II, 46.Google Scholar

111 Bateman, G. S. L., 156;Google Scholarvon Wissmann, H., My Second Journey, 140 and 146;Google ScholarDelvaux, H., 23.Google Scholar

112 See footnote 58 and Miller, J. C., ‘Cokwe Trade,’ 182.Google Scholar

113 Kalundwe defeated the Cokwe three times. Verhulpen, 231.Google Scholar

114 von Wissmann, H., My Second Journey, 140 and 145;Google ScholarBateman, G. S. L., 156.Google Scholar

115 Duysters, L., ‘Histoire des Aluunda,’ Problèmes de l'Afrique Centrale, XII (1958), 75;Google ScholarVerhulpen, E., 291 ff.;Google ScholarBrohez, M., ‘Ethnographic Katangaise,’ Bulletin de la Société Royale Beige de Géographie, XXIX (1905), 313 and 461;Google ScholarBateman, G. S. L., 81.Google Scholar

116 Verhulpen, 231 ff.Google Scholar

117 Arnot, F. S., Garanganre East and West (London 1902), 100;Google ScholarMichaux, O. I. S., 154;Google ScholarMalfeyt, , Le Mouvement Géographique, v (1881), 54.Google Scholar

118 The Sappo Sap were a group of the Benecki (Songye) who had refused to accept the overlordship of Lumpungu, and settled first on the Lubilash and later at various European stations near and at Luluabourg. For their involvement in the raiding areas, see Verner, S., Pioneering in Central Africa (Richmond, 1903).Google Scholar

119 Burton, W. F. P., 12;Google ScholarVerhulpen, E. 94;Google Scholar and Sendwe, J., 116,Google Scholard'Orjo de Marchovellette, ‘Historique de la Chefferie Kabongo’, 59–63.Google Scholar

120 Simba had 100 guns and the help of a Bihe caravan in his conflict with Mussega. Briart, P., Le Mouvement Géographique IX (1892), 149.Google Scholar Kasongo Niemba used Bihe traders against Kabongo. d'Orjo de Marchovelette, ‘Historique de is Chefferie Kabongo, 366.

121 Kabongo used Tetela against Kasongo Niembo who had himself sought the aid of le Marinel, Verhulpen, E., 104;Google Scholard'Orjo de Marchovelette, ‘Historique de la Chefferie Kabongo’, 367.Google Scholar

122 Kasongo Kalombo sought the assistance of Msiri against Dai Mande. Verhulpen, E., 100.Google Scholar

123 Verhulpen, E., 104;Google Scholard'Orjo de Marchovelette, ‘Historique de la Chefferie Kabongo’, 367.Google Scholar

124 Verhulpen, E., 100.Google Scholar

125 Cameron, V. L., 11, 58 and 136.Google Scholar

126 Verhulpen, E., 291.Google Scholar