Mangbetu
The Mangbetu are an ethnic group in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo , in the Orientale province . Their population is around 40,000. The Mangbetu language is the central Sudan Mangbetuti.
history
Linguistic evidence suggests that the Mangbetu immigrated from the northeast, possibly from what is now South Sudan . On their way south, they met Bantu , who were heading north. In the 19th century the Mangbetu settled in their present area. They mingled with the Mbuti and Bantu who had previously resided there . At the beginning of the 19th century, the political institutions of the Mangbetu were amalgamated at the instigation of King Nabiembali and a Mangbetu kingdom was founded, which dominated the region politically. However, as a result of permanent attacks by the neighboring Azande , the empire was so weakened that it fell apart around 1850. Around the same time, the Muslim Nubians involved the Azande and Mangbetu rulers in the ivory and slave trade, fragmenting the kingdom into sultanates led by Muslim sultans. The German botanist Georg Schweinfurth followed the Nile upstream through the area on the Gazelle River and, with the help of Arab slave traders, got to what is now northeastern Congo, where he was the first European to cross the Uelle River. At the end of March 1870, Schweinfurth reached the "Mangbattus wonderland", as he called the kingdom of King Mbunza. He fell in the fight against the Arab slave traders from Khartoum in 1873 by the bullet of a black soldier. In his place, the Abangba chief Niangara was installed under Egyptian military administration. Towards the end of the 19th century, the Europeans arrived (Belgians, French, English; the Belgian colonial power later ousted the slave hunters) and imposed their rule on the Mangbetu. In June 1906, the Englishman Boyd Alexander met the Abangba chief Okonda as lord of the country in the former residence of King Mbunza, in the Uel district of the Belgian Congo state.
Ruler of the Mangbetu
| Regency | King (title mkinyi kpokpo ) |
|---|---|
| ... - ... | Orua Ero |
| ... - ... | Mebula |
| ... –1815 | Manzika |
| 1815-1859 | Nabiembali |
| 1859-1867 | tuba |
| 1867-1873 | Mbunza |
| 1873-1879 | Nesogo |
| 1873 - December 27, 1895 | Niangara (establishes its own rule) |
| 1879-1881 | Mambanga |
| November 1881-1883 | Mbittima (under Egyptian occupation) |
| 1883-1883 | Mambanga (2nd reign) |
| 1883–… | Koi Mbunza |
Agriculture
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The Mangbetu live as hoe farmers, from fishing and some hunting. The most important crops are cassava and plantains, and cattle are also farmed. The cattle are considered a symbol of wealth and are often used to pay the bride price . Unlike other Sudanese peoples, the Mangbetu are only allowed to do the milking work with men.
religion
The creator god in the traditional Mangbetu religion is called Kilima or Noro . The Mangbetu also believe in other gods, evil spirits and witchcraft. Belief in reincarnation is also widespread among the people.
Body shaping
The Mangbetu carried pegs through the auricle as characteristic jewelry, corresponding to today's conch piercing . Pegs made of ivory or monkey bones were inserted into the perforated auricles. Today, however, this form of body modification is rarely found among the Mangbetu.
The Mangbetu wore tower skulls for several generations . As a cultural identity feature and sign of tribal affiliation, the babies, especially among higher-ranking tribal families, were deformed their skulls by tying them together with braided lianas. According to the Mangbetu, this should also improve the ability to think and learn. In the 1950s, however, the tradition slowly began to fade with increasing contact with Western culture.
See also
literature
- Ivan Bargna: Image dictionary of peoples and cultures. Africa: the black continent. Volume 6, Parthas, Berlin 2008, pp. 62-65, ISBN 978-3-936324-79-2
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Georg Schweinfurth "In the Heart of Africa", Chapter 15 .
- ^ Congo (Kinshasa) Traditional states .
- ↑ Mangbetu Information ( Memento of the original from March 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ About the conch piercing by Paul King
- ^ Angela Fischer: Africa Adorned , 1984, ISBN 978-0-81091823-8 , page 79
- ^ Johannes Hoops, Heinrich Beck, Dieter Geuenich, Heiko Steuer: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde, Volume 26 , Page 574
