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The Lari (alternatively Ladi, Laari, Laadi,, Baladi, Balaadi, Balari or Balaari) is an
ethnic group An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...
of the
Republic of the 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 ...
and the name of the
language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...
they speak. A subgroup of the
Kongo people The Kongo people (also , singular: or ''M'kongo; , , singular: '') are a Bantu ethnic group primarily defined as the speakers of Kikongo. Subgroups include the Beembe, Bwende, Vili, Sundi, Yombe, Dondo, Lari, and others. They have li ...
, the Lari live in the communes of
Brazzaville Brazzaville () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Republic of the Congo. Administratively, it is a Departments of the Republic of the Congo, department and a Communes of the Republic of the Congo, commune. Constituting t ...
, the capital; and
Pointe-Noire Pointe-Noire (; , with the letter d following French spelling standards) is the second largest city in the Republic of the Congo, following the capital of Brazzaville, and an autonomous department and a commune since the 2002 Constitution. B ...
, and within the surrounding
Pool Department Pool () is a Departments of the Republic of the Congo, department of the Republic of the Congo in the southeastern part of the country. It borders the departments of Bouenza Department, Bouenza, Lékoumou Department, Lékoumou, and Plateaux Depar ...
. This subgroup was born in the 19th century. where they constitute almost the entire population. There are an estimated 1.2 million Lari living in Congo.


History

The establishment of the capital Brazzaville by the French colonizer near the Kongo settlements led to the merging of several Kongo subgroups into a new group with a new identity. Indeed, towards the end of the nineteenth century, the Ladi (pronunciation: ''lari'' or ''ladi'') are people from different Kongo subgroups (subgroups originating from the former province of the Kongo Kingdom « ''Nsundi'' »): Sundi, Buende, Manianga, Gangala (or Hangala).Georges Balandier, ''Sociologie actuelle de l'Afrique noire'', Presses Universitaires de France, Paris, 1982.Côme Kinata, ''LES ETHNOCHEFFERIES DANS LE BAS-CONGO FRANÇAIS: collaboration et résistance, 1896-1960'', Paris, L'harmattan, 2001.Côme Manckasa, ''La société ba-Kongo et ses dynamiques politiques'', École pratique des Hautes études, 1968.J. Cuvelier, ''Nkutama a mvila za Makanda'', Impr. Mission Catholique, 1934. Abbé Emile Biayenda, ''Coutumes et développement chez les Bakongo du Congo-Brazzaville'', Faculé Catholique, Lyon, 1968R. P. J. VAN WING, S.J., ''Études Bakongo – Religion et magie'', Bruxelles, Librairie Falk fils, GEORGES VAN CAMPENHOUT, Successeur, 1938, page 155.Bruce Mateso and Talongokeno, ''QUI SONT BALADI (BALARI)'', WordPress, 2021.Auguste Miabeto, ''Témoignages oraux'', République du Congo. Vincent Jeanne-Françoise, Le travail des femmes à Tonkama, village lari Dans: Annales du Centre d’Enseignement Supérieurde Brazzaville 2 : 17-31, Orstom, 1966Alain AUGER, KINKALA: ETUDE D’UN CENTRE URBAIN SECONDAIRE AU CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE, Orstom, 1973MARCEL SORET, LES KONGO NORD-OCCIDENTAU, Orstom, 1959 With the rapid commercial and demographic expansion, Ladi became the Kongo vernacular between the different branches (Sundi, Manianga, Kongo (or Koongo) ba Nseke), reshaping the Kongo identity, following the colonial railroad. The clear delimitations between these branches are thus defined not by language but by and region of origin (Mpangala, Mvula Ntangu or Mbula Ntangu, Manianga). In addition, there is old neighborhood with the
Teke people The Teke people or Bateke, also known as the Tyo or Tio, are a Bantu Central African ethnic group that speak the Teke languages and that mainly inhabit the south, north, and center of the Republic of the Congo, the west of the Democratic Repub ...
, which is materialized by matrimonial alliances. Several hypotheses have been put forward for the origin of the word ladi or lari, but it seems to be taken from the word Nladi, Muladi, M'ladi (translation: He or she who disappears (or loses), a word derived from the verb Lala disappear/lose in
Kikongo Kongo or Kikongo is one of the Bantu languages spoken by the Kongo people living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Republic of the Congo, Gabon, and Angola. It is a tonal language. The vast majority of present-day speakers li ...
, more specifically in Kimbata and Kitsotso) or from the Luladi or Lulari river (called Lelali by the Téké-Yaka), a river near Kimpanzu, the village of Malonga Mi Mpanzu alias Bueta Mbongo or Bweta Mbongo; Boueta Mbongo in French (about 1860–1898). He was a ''mfumu kanda'' and ''mfumu tsi/nsi'' (clan chief and land chief), of the ''Mpanzu'' and ''Buende''; his people and allies were thus designated ''bisi Buende'', ''baBuende'' (in reference to the ''Buende/Bwende''). Him and Mabiala ma Nganga (''Nsundi'', ''Sundi'' or ''Suundi'') organized armed resistance against the French colonial settlement from the late 1880s, and then he became the leading figure of the resistance after the death of Mabiala ma Nganga in 1896. After the death of Bueta Mbongo in 1898, the mfumu (chiefs) signed a surrender in 1899, accepting French authority in the region. In these years, the Buende ethnonym gradually disappeared, giving way to that of Ladi. Thus the Ladis are originally the bisi Buende or baBuende, a Sundi stictosensu and lato sensu subgroup. Later, other Kongos (Haangala, Sundi/Nsundi, etc.) from Nsundi were added and some Tékés who remained in the
Pool Pool may refer to: Bodies of water * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a roc ...
became part of it.


References

• Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at :fr:Lari (peuple)


External links


Laari language
Ethnologue report {{authority control Kongo Ethnic groups in the Republic of the Congo Languages of the Republic of the Congo Languages of Angola