Kuba Kingdom
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (November 2016) |
Kingdom of Bakuba Kuba | |||||||||
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1625–1884 | |||||||||
Official languages | Bushong | ||||||||
Government | Monarchy | ||||||||
Nyim | |||||||||
• 1625 | Shyaam a-Mbul a Ngoong | ||||||||
History | |||||||||
• Established | 1625 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 1884 | ||||||||
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Today part of | Democratic Republic of Congo |
History of the Democratic Republic of the Congo | ||||||||||||||||
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See also: Years | ||||||||||||||||
DRC Portal | ||||||||||||||||
The Kuba Kingdom, also known as the Kingdom of the Bakuba or Bushongo, is a traditional kingdom in Central Africa. The Kuba Kingdom flourished between the 17th and 19th centuries in the region bordered by the Sankuru, Lulua, and Kasai rivers in the heart of the modern-day Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Kuba Kingdom was a conglomerate of several smaller
History
Shyaam a-Mbul
The kingdom began as a conglomeration of several chiefdoms of various
A new government
The Kuba government was reorganized toward a merit-based title system, but power still remained firmly in the hands of the aristocracy. The Kuba government was controlled by a king called the nyim who belonged to the Bushoong clan. The king was responsible to a court council of all the Kuba subgroups, who were represented equally before the king by their elites. The kingdom had an unwritten constitution, elected political offices, separation of political powers, a judicial system with courts and juries, a police force, a military, taxation, a significant public goods provision and socially supporting movements.[1][2]
Growth
As the kingdom matured, it benefited from advanced techniques adopted from neighboring peoples as well as New World crops introduced from the Americas, such as maize, tobacco, cassava and beans. Kuba became very wealthy, which resulted in great artistic works commissioned by the Kuba nobility. The Kuba kings retained the most fanciful works for court ceremony and were also buried with these artifacts.
Apex
The Kuba Kingdom reached its apex during the mid 19th century. Europeans first reached the area in 1884. Because of the kingdom's relative isolation, it was not as affected by the slave trade as were the
The current reigning monarch, Kot-a-Mbweeky III, has been on the throne since 1968.
Kuba culture
Kuba art
The Kuba are known for their
The boxes, known as Kuba Boxes and called ngedi mu ntey by the Kuba, are generally used to hold tukula powder and paste. The boxes are usually in the shape of a square with a faceted lid, a semicircle (sometimes referred to as "half moon"), a rectangle or the shape of a mask. Sometimes they were used for holding razors for cutting raffia, hairpins or ritual objects.
Tukula (called twool by the Kuba) is a red powder made of ground cam wood. The color red is essential to the Kuba concept of beauty and was therefore used to ornament the face, hair and chest during dances and important ceremonies, as well as to anoint bodies for burial. Tukula was also mixed with other pigments to dye raffia cloth.
After 1700, King Misha mi-Shyaang a-Mbul introduced wooden sculptures called ndop figures that were carved to resemble the king and represent his individual reign. These figures always included the king's ibol or personal symbol, akin to a personal standard.
The carved palm-wine drinking cups and ornately carved boxes are identified with competition between titled court members among the Kuba. With half of all Bushoong men holding titles in the 1880s, competition for influence was sometimes fierce, and it found expression in the elaboration of these essentially commonplace household objects into works of extraordinary beauty.
Kuba religion and mythos
The Kuba believed in
See also
- List of kings of Kuba
- Lunda Kingdom
- Luba Kingdom
- William Henry Sheppard
References
- S2CID 62774348.
- ^ "BBC Inside Science Clean Air Strategy, Fast Radio Bursts and Kuba Kingdom". Retrieved 20 January 2019.
- ^ Swarthmore article
- ISBN 978-1-904832-77-5.
- ^ University of Kansas Anthropology site[dead link]
Further reading
- ISBN 9780299074906.
- Vansina, Jan (2010). Being colonized: the Kuba experience in rural Congo, 1880-1960. Univ of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-23644-1.