Mangbetu | |
|---|---|
 Mangbetu woman, [1928-1938], photo by Kazimierz Zagórski | |
| Total population | |
| 1,807,000 [1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | |
| Languages | |
| Mangbetu language | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Other Central Sudanic peoples |
The Mangbetu are a Central Sudanic ethnic group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, living in the northeastern province of Haut-Uele.
The Mangbetu are known for their highly developed art and music. One instrument associated with and named after them is the Mangbetu harp or guitar. See the National Music Museum and the Hamill Gallery for images. One harp has sold for over $100,000. [2]
Musicologists have also sought out the Mangbetu to make video and audio recordings of their music. [3]
The Mangbetu stood out to European colonists because of their elongated heads. Traditionally, babies' heads were wrapped tightly with cloth in order to give them this distinctive appearance. The practice, called Lipombo, began dying out in the 1950s with the arrival of more Europeans and westernization. Because of this distinctive look, it is easy to recognize Mangbetu figures in African art.[ citation needed ]
The Mangbetu originally came from south Sudan and migrated south to their current location in CE 1000. When they arrived into their current location with its new climate and environment (which was different from the much drier lands in south Sudan) they came to be so heavily indebted to Bantu teachers that they borrowed almost their whole vocabulary relating to their new habitat from Bantu languages. [4]
By the early 18th century the Mangbetu had consisted of a number of small clans who, from southward migrations, had come in contact with a number of northward-migrating Bantu-speaking tribes among whom they lived interspersed. In the late 18th century a group of Mangbetu-speaking elites, mainly from the Mabiti clan, assumed control over other Mangbetu clans and many neighboring Bantu-speaking tribes. It is likely that their knowledge of iron and copper forging, by which they made weapons and fine ornaments, gave them a military and economic advantage over their neighbors. [5]
The history of Zambia experienced many stages from colonization to independence from Britain on October 24, 1964. Northern Rhodesia became a British sphere of influence in the present-day region of Zambia in 1888, and was officially proclaimed a British protectorate in 1924. After many years of suggested mergers, Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia, and Nyasaland were merged into the British Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
The Azande are an Ubangian ethnic group in Central Africa. They live in the south-central and southwestern part of South Sudan, southeastern Central African Republic, and northeastern parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Congolese Azande live in Orientale Province along the Uele River; Isiro, Dungu, Kisangani and Duruma. The Central African Azande live in the districts of Rafaï, Bangasu and Obo. The Azande of South Sudan live in Central, Western Equatoria and Western Bahr al-Ghazal States, Yei, Maridi, Yambio, Tombura, Deim Zubeir, Wau Town and Momoi.
The Mbuti people, or Bambuti, are one of several indigenous pygmy groups in the Congo region of Africa. Their languages are Central Sudanic languages and Bantu languages.
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In many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, the use of music is not limited to entertainment: it serves a purpose to the local community and helps in the conduct of daily routines. Traditional African music supplies appropriate music and dance for work and for religious ceremonies of birth, naming, rites of passage, marriage and funerals. The beats and sounds of the drum are used in communication as well as in cultural expression.
The Logo people or Logoa (plural) are an ethnic group of Nilotic origin who live predominantly in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo as well as parts of western Uganda and southern South Sudan. There are believed to be more than 200,000 people who identify as ethnically Logo of whom most live in the Congo's Faradje Territory, a remote region in Haut-Uélé Province, where they form the ethnic majority. Logo people also live in Watsa and Aba, both also in Haut-Uélé, and in Yei in South Sudan.
Keliko or Kaliko is an ethnic group from both South Sudan, and Democratic Republic of the Congo, and few Moved to Uganda. Most members of this ethnic group are Christians. In DRC, they are called kaliko umi, more especially from Laibo, Mado, awubha awuzi and so on. There is a slight pronousation between Kaliko people in South Sudan and those in DRC.
The Lunda are a Bantu ethnic group that originated in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo along the Kalanyi River and formed the Kingdom of Lunda in the 17th century under their ruler, Mwata Yamvo or Mwaant Yav, with their capital at Musumba. From there they spread widely through Katanga and into Eastern Angola, north-western Zambia and the Luapula valley of Zambia.
The Ngbandi are an ethnic group from the region of the upper Ubangi River; they inhabit the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and southern Central African Republic. They traditionally speak the Ngbandi language, which is part of the Ubangian language family. Historically the Ngbandi were subsistence farmers, and many still grow maize, manioc, and other food crops. Until recently, some of their subsistence depended on traditional hunting and gathering.
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Zaramo is a Niger-Congo language, formerly primary language of the Zaramo people of eastern Tanzania. Zaramo is also known as Zalamo, Kizaramo, Dzalamo, Zaramu, Saramo and, Myagatwa. The language is critically endangered. The ethnic population of the Zaramo people reaches about 200,000, yet there are only a few elderly speakers remaining.
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The Mangbetu is African tribe part of Democratic Republic of the Congo, living in the Orientale Province. The people of this tribe produced a large variety of highly developed art and music, such as harps, guitars, pots, and other crafts. Their pots are still prominent in today's art spectrum, and ones that have been constructed in the early days of the tribe are sold to collectors and people alike for high prices.
The Goma, who also refer to themselves as Al ghamawiyyun in Arabic, are a tribe in the Kigoma Region in western Tanzania. They are a contingent of the Bantu tribe who are more commonly found in Tanzania and present-day Democratic Republic of Congo who migrated from the western shore of the Lake Tanganyika in Democratic Republic of Congo with origins from Sudan. They are the first group of the Bantu tribe to ever cross the Lake Tanganyika and also the first group to reside in the Urban District of Kigoma as its inhabitants. Following the Wagoma were Niakaramba (Kwalumona) from Cape Karamba and then Wabwari from Ubwari peninsula. The Kwalumona merged within Wabwari, identified themselves as Bwaris and settled north of Wagoma in Kigoma before resettling in Ujiji and its environs, where they formed a tribal Confederacy in Ujiji known as Wamanyema. The Wagoma crossed the lake early due to their invention of dug-out canoes mitumbwi ya mti mmoja curved from Mivule trees of Ugoma mountains from western shore of the Lake.
The Makere are an ethnic group of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, living near the Bima River in the Northern part of the country. They speak the Mangbetu language.
The Zande, also known as Azande Kingdom was a kingdom predominantly dominated by the Zande people or tribe. It is located in the area of Western Equatoria State of South Sudan. Its royal seat or capital is based in Yambio which is also the state capital of Western Equatoria State.
Media related to Mangbetu people at Wikimedia Commons| National | |
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