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Bembe people
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Bembe people
The Bembe people (Babembe in the plural) are an ethnic group based in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and western Kigoma Region of Tanzania. They live mainly in the territory of Fizi in South Kivu. The Bembe are also in the province of Tanganyika in the city of Kalemie. In 1991, the Bembe population of the DRC was estimated to number 252,000 and around 1.5 million in 2005.
They are representative of many ethnic traditions, including pre-Lega, Boyo-Kunda, Hemba and Bemba.
The Bembe cultural region, historically and ethnographically known as Ubembe, is situated to the west of Lake Tanganyika, encompassing the present-day Fizi Territory and the Itombwe Mountains. The term Ubembe literally denotes "land of the Bembe", and its historic motto, Esse, Ebalo ("The Land, The Earth"). In the precolonial period, such territorial designations in the Great Lakes region typically began with the prefix U, as seen in names like Uvira, Urega, Ugoma, Ubwari, Ukaramba, Ujiji, and Urundi. In 1883, Captain Edward Coode Hore, a British explorer and the first collector of two of Lake Tanganyika's most notable endemic species, such as Chytra kirkii and Tiphobia horei, applied similar linguistic conventions when studying the "twelve tribes" of the lake. In his work On the Twelve Tribes of Tanganyika, Hore identified Ubembe on his ethnographic map as a territory bordering Umassanze, Uvira, Ukaramba, Ugoma, and Uzige. According to Hore's cartographic observations, Uzige corresponds to modern Bushi, while Uvira aligns with the contemporary Uvira Territory, extending from Ruvenga (modern Luvungi), Kavimba (modern Kavimvira), and Ruhanga (modern Luanga) to Bemba (modern Pemba). Ubemba (Ubembe) stretched from Bemba (Pemba) through Mkabondo's (Abondoki), Ngofi (Ngobi), Kabogi (Aboke or Mboko), Mgawezi (Mkweci), and up to the Ruwewa River (modern Lweba). Msamsi (Umasanzi) likely referred to the area extending from the Ruwewa River (modern Lweba) through Mgamazi (Mkemakye River) to the Mutambara River (Mtambala). Ukaramba appears to correspond to Nemba, Ubwari to Kirira or Mizimu (the present-day Ubwari Peninsula), and Ugoma to Mkanganja (today's Ngandja Sector). Languages were linguistically classified by prefixing the noun class marker Ki to the root of the respective place names. Thus, Kikongo, Kibembe, Kivira, and Kirundi denoted the languages of the Kongo, Bembe, Vira, and Rundi peoples, respectively. For instance, the Bembe speak Kibembe, the Vira speak Kivira, and the Fuliiru speak Kifuliiru.
Before the full consolidation of the Bembe settlement, Ubembe was already home to several distinct ethnic groups. The Belgian scholar of Central African art Daniel P. Biebuyck identified among its earliest inhabitants the Babuyu, Basanze, Babwari, Banyindu, Bazoba, Bagoma, Bakalangwa, Bakeci, and Basikamanya. These groups were established long before the arrival of the Bembe and were primarily concentrated along the shores of Lake Tanganyika and its surrounding hinterland. Gradually, as part of the southward Bantu migrations, the Bembe came to dominate the highland and mid-altitude regions of what became known as Ubembe. Scholarly debates arose concerning their origins; Alfred Moeller de Laddersous advanced the claim that Ubembe had originally belonged to the Masanze, alleging that the Babembe were immigrant invaders from Umassanze who had entered from the east. However, subsequent researchers have largely rejected this hypothesis as historically unfounded and ethnologically flawed. The Babembe are of Bantu stock, and both Umasanze and Ubembe were distinct polities, albeit neighbors. Evidence from the Bulletin No. 91 (January–February 1892) of the Missionaries of Africa supports this distinction, stating:
"After having ravaged and depopulated Masanze, the Ubwari Peninsula, part of Ubembe, and Ubujue, the Wangwana of Rumaliza came to establish posts near the missionaries of Kibanga".
Such testimony demonstrates that Umassanze and Ubembe were separate entities. The Belgian Society of Engineers and Industrialists (Société Belge des Ingénieurs et des Industriels, 1912) also noted:
"On the western shore [of Lake Tanganyika], there are two clearly distinct races: the Wabembe, southwest of Uvira, who are divided into two groups, the lake Wabembe and the mountain Wabembe, and, at the level and to the west of the Uvira post, the small industrious tribe of the Wavira. All of Bantu blood".
This also confirmed that Bembe migration followed the north–south Bantu route, not an east–west movement, and that their ancestry is shared with neighboring Lega and other Bantu-speaking peoples. Since the east of Fizi-Itombwe borders Lake Tanganyika, it would be illogical to view the Babembe as migrants "from the East", especially given their traditional mountain-dwelling, agricultural, and hunting-based way of life. Le Monde Colonial Illustré (No. 35, July 1926) described the Wabembe as a people of the "mountains and high plateaus of eastern Congo, who have preserved a more independent and fierce character". Similarly, Father Moinet (1881) observed: "The Wayova [Wazyoba, inhabitants along the Massanze coast], quickly became familiar with us, but the Wabembe still keep their distance. The latter form a formidable population living a little further west, in the mountains".
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Bembe people
The Bembe people (Babembe in the plural) are an ethnic group based in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and western Kigoma Region of Tanzania. They live mainly in the territory of Fizi in South Kivu. The Bembe are also in the province of Tanganyika in the city of Kalemie. In 1991, the Bembe population of the DRC was estimated to number 252,000 and around 1.5 million in 2005.
They are representative of many ethnic traditions, including pre-Lega, Boyo-Kunda, Hemba and Bemba.
The Bembe cultural region, historically and ethnographically known as Ubembe, is situated to the west of Lake Tanganyika, encompassing the present-day Fizi Territory and the Itombwe Mountains. The term Ubembe literally denotes "land of the Bembe", and its historic motto, Esse, Ebalo ("The Land, The Earth"). In the precolonial period, such territorial designations in the Great Lakes region typically began with the prefix U, as seen in names like Uvira, Urega, Ugoma, Ubwari, Ukaramba, Ujiji, and Urundi. In 1883, Captain Edward Coode Hore, a British explorer and the first collector of two of Lake Tanganyika's most notable endemic species, such as Chytra kirkii and Tiphobia horei, applied similar linguistic conventions when studying the "twelve tribes" of the lake. In his work On the Twelve Tribes of Tanganyika, Hore identified Ubembe on his ethnographic map as a territory bordering Umassanze, Uvira, Ukaramba, Ugoma, and Uzige. According to Hore's cartographic observations, Uzige corresponds to modern Bushi, while Uvira aligns with the contemporary Uvira Territory, extending from Ruvenga (modern Luvungi), Kavimba (modern Kavimvira), and Ruhanga (modern Luanga) to Bemba (modern Pemba). Ubemba (Ubembe) stretched from Bemba (Pemba) through Mkabondo's (Abondoki), Ngofi (Ngobi), Kabogi (Aboke or Mboko), Mgawezi (Mkweci), and up to the Ruwewa River (modern Lweba). Msamsi (Umasanzi) likely referred to the area extending from the Ruwewa River (modern Lweba) through Mgamazi (Mkemakye River) to the Mutambara River (Mtambala). Ukaramba appears to correspond to Nemba, Ubwari to Kirira or Mizimu (the present-day Ubwari Peninsula), and Ugoma to Mkanganja (today's Ngandja Sector). Languages were linguistically classified by prefixing the noun class marker Ki to the root of the respective place names. Thus, Kikongo, Kibembe, Kivira, and Kirundi denoted the languages of the Kongo, Bembe, Vira, and Rundi peoples, respectively. For instance, the Bembe speak Kibembe, the Vira speak Kivira, and the Fuliiru speak Kifuliiru.
Before the full consolidation of the Bembe settlement, Ubembe was already home to several distinct ethnic groups. The Belgian scholar of Central African art Daniel P. Biebuyck identified among its earliest inhabitants the Babuyu, Basanze, Babwari, Banyindu, Bazoba, Bagoma, Bakalangwa, Bakeci, and Basikamanya. These groups were established long before the arrival of the Bembe and were primarily concentrated along the shores of Lake Tanganyika and its surrounding hinterland. Gradually, as part of the southward Bantu migrations, the Bembe came to dominate the highland and mid-altitude regions of what became known as Ubembe. Scholarly debates arose concerning their origins; Alfred Moeller de Laddersous advanced the claim that Ubembe had originally belonged to the Masanze, alleging that the Babembe were immigrant invaders from Umassanze who had entered from the east. However, subsequent researchers have largely rejected this hypothesis as historically unfounded and ethnologically flawed. The Babembe are of Bantu stock, and both Umasanze and Ubembe were distinct polities, albeit neighbors. Evidence from the Bulletin No. 91 (January–February 1892) of the Missionaries of Africa supports this distinction, stating:
"After having ravaged and depopulated Masanze, the Ubwari Peninsula, part of Ubembe, and Ubujue, the Wangwana of Rumaliza came to establish posts near the missionaries of Kibanga".
Such testimony demonstrates that Umassanze and Ubembe were separate entities. The Belgian Society of Engineers and Industrialists (Société Belge des Ingénieurs et des Industriels, 1912) also noted:
"On the western shore [of Lake Tanganyika], there are two clearly distinct races: the Wabembe, southwest of Uvira, who are divided into two groups, the lake Wabembe and the mountain Wabembe, and, at the level and to the west of the Uvira post, the small industrious tribe of the Wavira. All of Bantu blood".
This also confirmed that Bembe migration followed the north–south Bantu route, not an east–west movement, and that their ancestry is shared with neighboring Lega and other Bantu-speaking peoples. Since the east of Fizi-Itombwe borders Lake Tanganyika, it would be illogical to view the Babembe as migrants "from the East", especially given their traditional mountain-dwelling, agricultural, and hunting-based way of life. Le Monde Colonial Illustré (No. 35, July 1926) described the Wabembe as a people of the "mountains and high plateaus of eastern Congo, who have preserved a more independent and fierce character". Similarly, Father Moinet (1881) observed: "The Wayova [Wazyoba, inhabitants along the Massanze coast], quickly became familiar with us, but the Wabembe still keep their distance. The latter form a formidable population living a little further west, in the mountains".
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