The Tumbwe people are a Bantu ethnic group living mostly in

Tanganyika District Tanganika District was a district of the pre-2015 Katanga Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The district dates back to the days of the Belgian Congo. At its greatest extent it roughly corresponded to the present Tanganyika Provin ...

of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Tumbwe are a small group of about 100,000 people whose homeland is on the west shore of

Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika ( ; ) is an African Great Lakes, African Great Lake. It is the world's List of lakes by volume, second-largest freshwater lake by volume and the List of lakes by depth, second deepest, in both cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. ...

. They take their name from a hereditary chief of the Sanga people. Other people in the region include the related

Luba Luba may refer to: Geography *Kingdom of Luba, a pre-colonial Central African empire *Ľubá, a village and municipality in the Nitra region of south-west Slovakia * Luba, Abra, a municipality in the Philippines *Luba, Equatorial Guinea, a town ...

, Tabwa and

Hemba The Hemba people or Luba-Hemba people (or ''Eastern Luba, Bahemba'') are a Bantu ethnic group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). History The Hemba language belongs to a group of related languages spoken by people in a belt that runs ...

. The Tumbwe Chiefdom is an administrative area around the port of

Kalemie Kalemie, formerly Albertville or Albertstad, is a city on the western shore of Lake Tanganyika in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Lukuga River, that drains Lake Tanganyika to the Lualaba River, runs through the city. Kalemie is the capi ...

, on Lake Tanganyika, where the

Lukuga River The Lukuga River () is a tributary of the Lualaba River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that drains Lake Tanganyika. It is unusual in that its flow varies not just seasonally but also due to longer term climate fluctuations. Location ...

leaves the lake. The Tumbwe, who live between the road leading south from

and the lake, may be the oldest settled group in the area. Traditionally the Tumbwe made their living by small-scale farming and by fishing on the lake. Today, growing numbers of Tumbwes work for wages in urban areas. A Tumbwe chief will own a ceremonial staff, kept hidden when not in use, which indicates his rank and status. The staff is decorated with abstract design that tell of the chief's ancestry and is a residence for their spirits.

References

{{authority control Bantu peoples Ethnic groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo