The Lunda (''Balunda'', ''Luunda'', ''Ruund'') are a Bantu ethnic group that originated in what is now the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

along the Kalanyi River and formed the

Kingdom of Lunda The Lunda Empire or Kingdom of Lunda was a confederation of states in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, north-eastern Angola, and north-western Zambia. Its central state was in Katanga Province, Katanga. Origin Initially, the core of ...

in the 17th century under their ruler, Mwata Yamvo or Mwaant Yav, with their capital at Musumba.Pritchett, James Anthony: "Lunda".
World Culture Encyclopedia. Retrieved 15 May 2007. From there they spread widely through Katanga and into Eastern

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

, north-western

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

(the Kanongesha-Lunda and the Ishindi-Lunda,

Gabon Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and ...

Republic of Congo The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo), is a country located on the western coast of Central ...

)Allafrica.com
Mwati Yamv Preaches Peace At Lunda Lubanza Ceremony, 3 September 2009 and the Luapula valley of Zambia (the Eastern Lunda or Kazembe-Lunda).

History

The Lunda were allied to the Luba, and their migrations and conquests spawned a number of tribes such as the Luvale of the upper

Zambezi The Zambezi (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than half of t ...

and the Kasanje on the upper

Kwango River The Cuango or Kwango (; ; ) is a transboundary river of Angola and Democratic Republic of Congo. It is the largest left bank tributary of the Kasai River in the Congo River basin. It flows through Malanje in Angola. The Kwango River basin ha ...

of Angola. The Lunda people's heartland was rich in the natural resources of rivers, lakes, forests and savannah. Its people were fishermen and farmers, and they prospered. They grew

maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...

millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most millets belong to the tribe Paniceae. Millets are important crops in the Semi-arid climate, ...

, yams,

sorghum ''Sorghum bicolor'', commonly called sorghum () and also known as great millet, broomcorn, guinea corn, durra, imphee, jowar, or milo, is a species in the Poaceae, grass genus ''Sorghum (genus), Sorghum'' cultivated for its grain. The grain i ...

, squash,

bean A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are traditi ...

sweet potato The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant in the morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its sizeable, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable, which is a staple food in parts of ...

es,

oil palm ''Elaeis'' () is a genus of palms, called oil palms, containing two species, native to Africa and the Americas. They are used in commercial agriculture in the production of palm oil. Description Mature palms are single-stemmed, and can gro ...

s and

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

, and were

palm wine Palm wine, known by several #Names, local names, is an alcoholic beverage created from the sap of various species of palm trees such as the Borassus, palmyra, date palms, and coconut palms. It is known by various names in different regions and ...

drinkers. THOMAS, Hugh (1997). La trata de Esclavos: Historia de la trata de seres humanos desde 1440 a 1870. Planeta, p.165. Their traders came into contact with the Portuguese, and

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

and Swahili traders of

East Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...

. They played a large role in the slave and

ivory trade The ivory trade is the commercial, often illegal trade in the ivory tusks of the hippopotamus, walrus, narwhal, black and white rhinos, mammoth, and most commonly, African elephant, African and Asian elephants. Ivory has been traded for hundred ...

that moved goods and people from central Africa to the coasts for export. The people of the Lunda Kingdom believed in Nzambi or ''Nzamb Katang'' as a Supreme Creator of the world who created everything of existence on earth. Their religion did not address Nzambi directly, but through the spirits of their ancestors. Their kings had twenty to thirty wives. The Lunda captured adolescents from the peoples they defeated. These teenagers were turned into slaves and wore an iron necklace to symbolise their status. The slaves would only shed the collar when they had shown the king the severed head of one of the kingdom's enemies. After this, these former slaves were to be incorporated into Lunda society. After 1608 Lunda people launched several attacks against the Mbundu. This provoked a war between the kingdoms

Ndongo The Kingdom of Ndongo (formerly known as Angola or Dongo, also Kimbundu: ) was an early-modern African state located in the highlands between the Lukala and Kwanza Rivers, in what is now Angola. The Kingdom of Ndongo is first recorded in t ...

and Lunda. After the defeat of the Ndongo, Lunda people based their diet on the cows and pigs they had stolen from kingdom of Ndongo, while their income was based on the sale of Mbundu prisoners to Portuguese merchants. They subsequently became sedentary, migrated to other regions, developed a family system typical of most societies (they married and had children) and became a powerful empire that based part of its income on the sale of slaves, both on a small and large scale. The slave trade was abandoned in the 19th century when the European slave trade ceased.

Demography

Today the Lunda people comprise hundreds of subgroups such as the Akosa, Imbangala and Ndembu, and number approximately 800,000 in Angola, 1.1 million in the Congo, and 600,000 in Zambia. Most speak the Lunda language, Chilunda, except for the Kazembe-Lunda who have adopted the

Bemba language Bemba (natively known as ''Chibemba, Ichibemba'' and ''Chiwemba''), is a Bantu language spoken primarily in north-eastern Zambia by the Bemba people. History Bemba is spoken in rural and urban areas of the region, and is one of Zambia's sev ...

of their neighbours.

Notable members

Moïse Tshombe Moïse Kapenda Tshombe (sometimes written Tshombé; 10 November 1919 – 29 June 1969) was a List of people from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congolese businessman and politician. He served as the president of the secessionist State of ...

, President of the secessionist

State of Katanga The State of Katanga (; ), also known as the Republic of Katanga, was a breakaway state that proclaimed its independence from Republic of Congo (Léopoldville), Congo-Léopoldville on 11 July 1960 under Moïse Tshombe, leader of the local CO ...

and later

Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo The prime minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (, , ) is the head of government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Constitution of the Third Republic grants the prime minister a significant amount of power. The post i ...

Mujinga Kambundji Mujinga Kambundji (; born 17 June 1992) is a Swiss sprinter. She won the bronze medal in the 200 metres at the 2019 World Championships. Kambundji is the 2022 and 2025 World Indoor champion, becoming the joint fourth-fastest woman of all time ...

, Swiss athlete

Notes

References

;General references
"Lunda and Chokwe Kingdoms."
''Country Study: Angola''. Library of Congress (October 2005).
"Lunda"
''Art and Life in Africa Project''. University of Iowa Museum of Art

''Mwati Yamv Preaches Peace At Lunda Lubanza Ceremony'', 3 September 2009.
"A crown on the move: stylistic integration of the Luba-Lunda complex in Lunda-Kazembe performance"
''A crown on the move: stylistic integration of the Luba-Lunda complex in Lunda-Kazembe performance,'' 2006. Some of the information is based on the German Wikipedia article on the Lunda (Königreich), which gives two sources: :*Pogge (1880). ''Im Reich des Muata Jamwo.'' Berlin. :*Buchner (1883). "Das Reich des Muata Jamwo". ''Deutsche Geographische Blätter''. Bremen.

External links