What I know about the Mbunda People
The people of the Mbunda tribe are a Bantu people who once lived in West Africa. Around 1600 Most of southern and central Africa was sparsely populated . The Bantu tribes were agricultural people. They kept herds of domestic cattle and goats. They knew how to plant and cultivate crops like millet, sorghum and cassava.
Central and southern Africa were far more sparsely populated. The people here were not mostly Bantu but the San or bushmen. They lived as hunter/gatherers . They roamed in small groups over large areas of land in order to hunt game and collect the fruits, nuts, grains and plants which they needed for food.
The agricultural skills of the Bantu allowed them to live in larger villages and their population grew. Inevitably as populations grew disputes would arise between different groups of people within the same tribe. IF these disputes could not be resolved to the satisfaction of both sides then it was common that the disaffected group would decide to leave.
In the 1600’s a group of Bantu people left what is now Cameroun. They were the ancestors of the Mbunda. They traveled south and entered what is now called the Congo. They didn’t like the land there. The Congo with its rain forest seemed more suitable for the bushmen. They continued south and entered the drier area of Angola. This was a very sandy area with small rivers which were all tributaries of the Zambesi River. Like the Zambesi these smaller rivers had very wide flood plains which were wonderful areas for grazing cattle. Even better the higher lands adjacent to the flood plains were ideal for planting their favorite crop, cassava. It was along these tributaries to the Zambesi that the first Mbundas decided to settle in what is now Angola.
This land was also prized by the bushmen who lived there. They survived by hunting the wildebeest which lived on the flood plains. They gathered food from the trees and plants which grew along the edge of the plains. They were disturbed by the presence of these newcomers. The Mbunda also liked to hunt wildebeest . They also enjoyed the fruits nuts and grains they found growing along the plain.
The bushmen found the presence of the newcomers, the Mbunda, to be intolerable. It was plain to them that both groups could not remain there. The bushmen decided to attack the Mbunda . Their problem was that they were few in number. Their hunter gatherer methods never allowed them to live in groups larger than 15 to 20. The Mbunda were already establishing villages which were larger than that.
The bushmen were not warriors. Their energy was needed to hunt game. For them it had always been better to walk away from a fight. There was so much open land and their lives were dangerous enough without fighting other men. However this time they decided to fight. The Mbunda knew how to fight. They had fought with their neighbors in Cameroon before being forced to leave. They had fought skirmishes with bushmen all throughout their journey through the Congo. They expected they would have to fight to keep this new land in Angola. They were ready and confident. They had the bow and arrow and they were experts in its use.
The fighting did not last very long. The bushmen attacked the Mbunda in their village and were quickly driven off. The Mbunda chased the bushmen and killed all the men. They captured the women and children. The children were raised as Mbunda while the women were allocated out as wives. The women were very desired because of their large protruding buttocks and their yellow skin.
More Mbunda tribesmen arrived from Cameroon. The Mbunda prospered and the land along these western tributaries of the Zambesi was their home. By the late 1800’s the British became expanding their colonial territory northwards from South Africa through Zimbabwe into Zambia. They became aware of the Zambesi River when David Livingstone led his expedition down the river in 1869.
The Portugese 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 Zambesi River. The British recognized and feared this expansion of Portugese territory. To counter it they established an outpost at the confluence of the Luanginga and Lweta rivers. These two rivers are tributaries of the Zambesi and lie west of the Zambesi. This British outpost was called Kalabo and it was the only British post west of the Zambesi.
Some of the Mbunda decided to move closer to the Zambesi River and thus avoid contact with the Portugese. In order to do so they needed to accept the leadership of the Lozi tribe and its leader the Litunga. These Mbunda became part of the Barotseland Protecterate which was recognized by the British.
Those Mbunda who remained in Angola fought against the Portugese and were the last African tribesmen in Angola to be subjugated. They resisted the Portugese until 1921.
The Mbunda who lived in Barotseland prospered. They were welcomed and respected by the Lozi. The Lozi and their leader, the Litunga especially prized the Mbunda for their ability to fight. When the Luvale tribe invaded Barotseland from the north the Litunga instructed the Mbunda to counter the invasion. The battle was a complete victory for the Mbunda. 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 Lialui the capital of Barotseland and the home of the Litunga. When the Lozi saw this crowd of 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.
In the 1880’s the Litunga decided he wanted to grab the cattle which belonged to his neighbors to the east, the Tonga. He sent all his warriors eastward to chase off the Tonga and return with their cattle. The heart of his army were the Mbunda. 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.
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.
Independence came to neighboring Angola in 1974 and with independence came civil war. Again many Mbunda fled Angola to relocate in nearby western Zambia. These refugees were related to those Mbunda who were already living around Kalabo, 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 and girls. They still rely on cattle and caasava for their food. Men carry weapons such as 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.
