The Lozi comprise several tribes, including the Bamakoma, Kwanda, Lukolwe, Bafwe, Batotela, Bayeyi, Mbowe (Mamboe), Bambukushu, Mishulundu, Muenyi (Mwenyi), Mwanga, Ndundulu, Nygengo, Shanjo, Simaa, Basubia, and Batonga. These tribes share common customs and traditions, with Silozi serving as the formal language for official, educational, and media purposes. Intermarriage among the tribes further strengthens their cultural bonds.[3]
The Lozi people refer to their land as Bulozi or Barotseland and are also known by various names such as Malozi, Nyambe, Makololo, Barotose, Rotse, Rozi, Rutse, Baloyi, Balobedu, and Tozvi.
Name
The word "Lozi" means "plain" in the Makololo language, referring to the Barotse Floodplain of the Zambezi River, on and around which most Lozi live.[4] It may also be spelled Lotse or Rotse, the spelling Lozi having originated with German missionaries in what is now Namibia. Mu- and Ba- are corresponding singular and plural prefixes for certain nouns in the Silozi language, so Murotse means "person of the plain" while Barotse means "people of the plain".[citation needed]
History
Harold Macmillan meets Paramount King Mwanawina III of the Barotse in Northern Rhodesia (1960).
Lozi tradition states that they have always inhabited Barotseland. In about 1830, an army that originated in the Sotho-speaking Bafokeng region of South Africa, known as the Makololo, led by a warrior called Sebetwane, invaded Barotseland and conquered the Lozi. They ruled until 1864, when the Sotho clique was overthrown following a Lozi revolt.
Portraits of Barotse people (1881)
The political organisation of the Lozi has long centred on a monarchy, whose reigning head, the Paramount King, is known as 'Litunga' which means 'keeper of the earth.' The renowned Litunga Lewanika, whose latter name was a nickname from the Mbunda[5] meaning "unifier" following the Lozi revolt, reigned from 1878 to 1916, with a short insurrectionist break in 1884–85. He requested that Queen Victoria bring Barotseland under protectorate status. Great Britain, however, was uninterested in acquiring the territory. The granting of a royal charter to the British South Africa Company by Cecil Rhodes allowed the company to acquire Barotseland under the guise of the British government. Although under protectorate status, Lewanika eventually realized that he had been tricked and petitioned for the protectorate status to be corrected. Yet the land remained under Rhodes's control, and when the territory failed to produce gold, copper, or other exports, the "British South Africa Company defaulted on every commitment it had made to Lewanika," and few developments in infrastructure and education were made.[6]
Although Barotseland was incorporated into Northern Rhodesia, it retained a large degree of autonomy, which was carried over when Northern Rhodesia became Zambia on its independence in 1964. In the run-up to independence, the Litunga, the Ngambela (Prime Minister), and about a dozen senior indunas went to London for talks with the Colonial Office, in an attempt to have Barotseland remain a Protectorate.[7]
Social Organisation
In Lozi society, the family is traditionally led by the eldest male, often the grandfather. Family relationships are formed through marriage, birth, or adoption. Marriage holds significant importance, serving as a crucial means of solidifying and extending family connections. A man who has reached adulthood is expected to have employment, establish his own homestead known as a "lapa", and find a wife "mufumahali". Upon marriage, the wife typically moves to her husband's homestead, integrating into his family and adopting their surname. The way a couple manages their lapa influences their social status. Although declining in modern times, polygamy remains common among the Lozi.
Lozi Culture and Attire
Traditional attire is an important aspect of Lozi culture, particularly for women. Lozi women wear the musisi, which means "skirt" in Silozi. This garment is usually made from satin and is often paired with a matching shawl called a "cali." Additionally, women wear a wrapper to cover themselves, particularly from the waist down, and always cover their hair with a headscarf. This attire is valued for the modesty, respect, and dignity it provides.
Lozi Food and Cuisine
The staple food of the Lozi is a maize meal porridge called buhobe. It is often served with Zambezi bream fish and vegetables, or eaten with a fermented milk "mabisi" dish. This cuisine reflects the Lozi's connection to their environment and traditional agricultural practices.
Lozi Music and Dance
Music and dance are integral to Lozi social life. "Sipelu" is a traditional Lozi dance performed by young men and women at various social events throughout the year. It is a vibrant expression of cultural identity, showcased during performances for the king at his palace, his visits to communities, weddings, and other celebrations, though it is not performed at funerals.[8]
Lozi society is highly stratified, with a monarch at the top and those of recent royal descent occupying high positions in society. The monarch, or Barotse Royal Establishment (BRE), is known as Mulonga, and Lozi society tolerates little criticism, even of an unpopular Litunga. Criticisms of a Litunga by a foreigner are treated as criticisms of the Lozi nation as a whole. The Lozi are not separated into clans, unlike most African ethnic groups.[9]
The Lozi people are closely related to the Balobedu and therefore also have rainmaking abilities. Lozi culture is strongly influenced by the flood cycle of the Zambezi River, with annual migrations taking place from the floodplain to higher ground at the start of the wet season. The most important of these festivals is the Kuomboka, in which the Litunga moves from Lealui in the flood plain to Limulunga on higher ground. The Kuomboka usually takes place in February or March. These annual floods displace hundreds of people every year.
Silozi is a Bantu language spoken by the Lozi people in Southern Africa. It belongs to the Niger-Congo language family, within the Sotho-Tswana branch of Zone S (S.30). Silozi is the endonym used by its native speakers, while Lozi is the exonym. The language is used formally in official, educational, and media contexts, and the Lozi population numbers approximately 1,561,900.
North-Western Rhodesia, in south central Africa, was a territory administered from 1891 until 1899 under charter by the British South Africa Company. In 1890 the British South Africa Company signed a treaty with King Lewanika of the Barotse, one of the most powerful traditional rulers in the territory. The treaty did not confer protectorate status on the territory, as only the British government could confer that status. Nonetheless, the charter gave the territory protection.
Western Province is one of the 10 provinces in Zambia and encompasses most of the area formerly known as Barotseland. The capital is Mongu, and together with the neighbouring town of Limulunga, Mongu is treated as the capital of Barotseland.
Barotseland is a region between Namibia, Angola, Botswana, Zimbabwe including half of north-western province, southern province, and parts of Lusaka, Central, and Copperbelt provinces of Zambia and the whole of Democratic Republic of Congo's Katanga Province. It is the homeland of the Lozi people or Barotse, or Malozi, who are a unified group of over 46 individual formerly diverse tribes related through kinship, whose original branch are the Luyi (Maluyi), and also assimilated Southern Sotho tribe of South Africa known as the Makololo.
Kuomboka is a word in the Lozi language; it literally means ‘to get out of water’. In today's Zambia it is applied to a traditional ceremony that takes place at the end of the rain season, when the upper Zambezi River floods the plains of the Western Province. The festival celebrates the move of the Litunga, king of the Lozi people, from his compound at Lealui in the Barotse Floodplain of the Zambezi River to Limulunga on higher ground. The return trip is usually held in August with a less publicized journey called the Kufuluhela.
Lealui or Lialui is the dry season residence on the Barotse Floodplain of the Litunga, king of the Lozi people of western Zambia. It is located about 14 km west of the town of Mongu and about 10 km east of the river's main channel. At the end of the rainy season, generally in March as the Upper Zambezi flood waters encroach on the compound, the Litunga moves to Limulunga on higher ground. The move is celebrated in the Kuomboka festival, one of Zambia's most important and popular.
The Kololo or Makololo are a subgroup of the Sotho-Tswana people native to Southern Africa. In the early 19th century, they were displaced by the Zulu, migrating north to Barotseland, Zambia. They conquered the territory of the Luyana people and imposed their own language. The combination of Luyana and Kololo languages gave rise to the current Lozi language spoken by the Lozi people, descendants of the Luyana and nearby tribes. In 1864, the Kololo kingdom was overthrown and some chiefs moved to Chikwawa District, Malawi, with David Livingstone.
Mongu is the capital of Western Province in Zambia and was the capital of the formerly-named province and historic state of Barotseland. Its population is 179,585, and it is also the headquarters of Mongu District. Mongu is the home of the Litunga, King of the Lozi people.
Limulunga is one of the two compounds of the Litunga, king of the Lozi people of western Zambia. It lies on high ground at the edge of the Barotse Floodplain of the Zambezi river, about 15 km north of the town of Mongu and 21 km east of the main channel of the river. The Litunga's other compound at Lealui is used during the dry season, with Limulunga being used during the rainy season. The annual move between the two compounds is celebrated in the Kuomboka festival.
Kalabo is an urban centre and the seat of Kalabo District, in the Western Province of Zambia.
Liuwa Plain National Park is a 3,369-square-kilometre (1,301 sq mi) national park in Zambia's Western Province. "Liuwa" means "plain" in the local Liuwa language, a dialect of Lozi language, and the plains originally served as a hunting ground for Lubosi Lewanika, the Litunga of the Lozi people. The area was designated as a protected area by Lubosi Lewanika in the early 1880s, and as a national park in 1972, when Zambia's government took over management. The nonprofit conservation organization African Parks has managed Liuwa in partnership with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife and the Barotse Royal Establishment since 2003.
François Coillard was a French missionary who worked for the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society in southern Africa.
The Litunga of Barotseland is the King of the Barotse people. The Litunga resides near the Zambezi River and the town of Mongu, at Lealui on the floodplain in the dry season, and on higher ground at Limulunga on the edge of the floodplain in the wet season. The Litunga moves between these locations in what is known as the Kuomboka ceremony.
The Luvale people, also spelled Lovale, Balovale, Lubale, as well as Lwena or Luena in Angola, are a Bantu ethnic group found in northwestern Zambia and southeastern Angola. They are closely related to the Lunda and Ndembu to the northeast, but they also share cultural similarities to the Kaonde to the east, and to the Chokwe and Luchazi, important groups of eastern Angola.
The Zambezian flooded grasslands is an ecoregion of southern and eastern Africa that is rich in wildlife.
The Barotse Floodplain, also known as the Bulozi Plain, Lyondo or the Zambezi Floodplain, is one of Africa's great wetlands, on the Zambezi River in the Western Province of Zambia. It is a designated Ramsar site, regarded as being of high conservation value.
The Ikuhane people, also known as the Subiya or Subia, are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group native to Southern Africa. They are part of the larger Lozi ethnic group and have significant populations in Botswana, Namibia, and Zambia. Their language is known as the Kuhane language (Chikuhane) or the Subia language (Chisubia), but Silozi is used as the formal language in official, educational, and media contexts.
Mulena Yomuhulu Mbumu wa LitungaMubukwanu was a High Chief of the Lozi people, King of Barotseland in Africa. He quarrelled with his brother Silumelume.
Barotziland–North-Western Rhodesia was a British protectorate in south central Africa formed in 1899. It encompassed North-Western Rhodesia and Barotseland.
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