MOVEMENTS OF THE BANTU-SPEAKING PEOPLE INTO ZAMBIA:THE LUBA- LUNDA MIGRATION

In this post we shall explore the movement of the Bantu-speaking people into Zambia, with the main focus on the Famous Luba-Lunda Migration.

Bantu speaking people started moving into Zambia during 300 AD, that’s when the movement of the Bantu-speaking people into Zambia started, with more groups arriving around the 12th to 13th centuries. Some groups also came to Zambia during the 19th century.

From the 16th to 19th century(1500 to 1800 AD), groups of people from the powerful Luba and Lunda empires in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC) started moving south-east towards Zambia and other areas in southern Africa in search of fertile farmland

• They included groups such as the Bemba, Lunda and Lozi.
• Later in the 19th century, any groups migrated from Southern Africa to escape the Mfecane wars between the Zulu and other ethnic groups in southern Africa.
• The Bantu speaking people moved into what is now Zambia from Katanga.

They moved into Zambia in three stages:

Movements of Bantu-speaking people into Zambia from the great lakes region

• Based on the archaeological evidence found at the sites such as ing’ombe illede historians believe the first Bantu-speaker into Zambia from the Great lakes regions in East Africa from about 300 AD.
• The Tonga settled in what is now southern province.
• The Tonga were pastoralists, farmers and iron smelters. Smaller groups such as the Tabwa and Lungu settled near Tanganyika in the northeast

Movements from the Luba and Lunda empires

• Most Zambian groups can trace their roots ethic groups that arrived during the second migration.
• Similarities in cultures of ethnic groups in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) led historians to work out that certain Zambia groups came from the Luba and Lunda in what is now DRC during the 16th to early 19th centuries (1500-1800 AD).
• This stage includes the arrival of larger groups such as the Bemba and the Lunda, as well as smaller groups such as the Lamba that settled in central province.
• Other groups such as the Tumbuka and the Chewa settled in eastern province.
• The Lozi also migrated from the Barotseland in western Zambia. Later their culture was influenced the kololo.

The Ngoni and Sotho from southern Africa

• Later, in the 18th to 19th century, the Ngoni and Sotho people came into Zambia from the south to escape the Mfecane.
• The Mfecane was the wide spread of chaos and wars in the southern that developed from the expansion for the Zulu kingdom under Shaka and the Matabele kingdom under mzilikazi.
• The Ngoni Bantu-Nguni speaking people in northern Zulu and southeast Africa.
• They were originally ndwandwe people under the leadership of zwide, one part of his group, the Ngoni, fled northwards and settled in eastern Zambia.
• The Sotho lived in what is now Lesotho, were king mosheshe gathered them gathered in mountain kingdom.
• The Sotho defended itself against Zulu expansion, but some Sotho groups moved northwards during the mfecane.
• The Kololo moved into Barotseland, were their culture influenced the culture of the lozi who had already settled there.