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59-647: Mbuji-Mayi lies in Luba country on the Mbuji-Mayi River . The name Mbuji-Mayi comes from the local language, Tshiluba , and translates as "Goat-Water," a name deriving from the great number of goats in the region. Despite its large population, the city remains remote, having little connection to surrounding provinces or to Kinshasa and Lubumbashi. However, Mbuji-Mayi is the traditional centre of industrial diamond mining in Congo, with it being located on top of one of

118-673: A Nganga or Mfwintshi (healer) were in service who would perform Lubuko (divination). The religious thought did not limit itself to rituals, but included ideas of a good personhood, good heart, dignity for others and self-respect. The religious code of civil life and goodness affected the Luba social life. Christianity was introduced to the Luba people by colonizers who came with the Belgium colonial rule. Some of these missionaries, such as William Burton, performed ethnographic research, starting with an aggressive projective research and teaching

177-710: A Shakapanga or a Universal Creator, a Leza or the Supreme Being, a natural world and a supernatural world. The supernatural world was where Bankambo (ancestral spirits) and Bavidye (other spirits) lived, and what one joined the afterlife if one lived an Mwikadilo Muyampe (ethical life). The Luba religions accepts the possibility of communion between the living and the dead. The religious life included prayers, community singing, dances, offerings, rites of passage rituals and invocations. These rituals and services had intermediaries for rites such as Nsengha or Kitobo (priests). In addition, for anxiety and ailments,

236-541: A Bantu ethno-linguistic group indigenous to the south-central region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo . The majority of them live in this country, residing mainly in Katanga , Kasaï , Kasaï-Oriental , Kasaï-Central , Lomami and Maniema . The Baluba consist of many sub-groups or clans. The Baluba developed a society and culture by about the 400s CE, later developing a well-organised community in

295-580: A community, the Luba people constructed dams and dikes as high as 6 to 8 feet using mud, papyrus and other vegetation, to improve the marshy soil conditions for agriculture and stock fish during the long dry season. The metal working techniques in use by the early Luba people included drawing out thin wires, twisting them, laminating them, and plaiting them into items such as necklaces, bracelets and hooks for fishing, needles for sewing and such. These products attracted interest and demand from far off ethnic groups, creating trade opportunities and traders amongst

354-479: A friend of Tippu Tip, had entered into an agreement with one of the Ilunga Kabale's son and established the base of his elephant hunting and ivory trade operations in the heart of the Luba people's lands. The Arab-Swahili raids, such as those by Tippu Tip, into Luba people's lands were organized with Nyamwezi subordinates and slave armies. These raids and attacks by the outsiders also introduced smallpox into

413-410: A natural border; additionally, their neighbors blocked direct and regular contact with distant international traders in order to monopolize the profits. This originally shielded the Luba from the effects of the slave trade. Later, however, the Luba people became victims of the slave demand and trading, in some cases selling people from their own lands as slaves. By the 1850s, slavers began intruding into

472-413: A price, as Nzemba may have skimmed as much as $ 1.5 to $ 2 million a month to send to Mobutu's personal bank accounts. Although Nzemba and MIBA's largesse helped Mbuji-Mayi maintain some semblance of infrastructure and social services, at least by the standards of Zaïre, the city still struggled. Electricity was spotty, the university was broken down and the road system disintegrated with the rain. Outside of

531-568: A relationship and loyalty with the Luba Empire capital. The ivory and slave trade had grown to the east of the Luba Empire by the mid 19th-century; the natural supplies of ivory were exhausted whilst the international demand was increasing. The region under the Luba people had preserved herds of elephants. For example, the Kanyembo region had no ivory to sell. In 1840, after Kumwimbe Ngombe died of old age, king Ilunga Kabale succeeded to rule

590-508: A report in 2002 about dozens of people being shot dead in the diamond fields of Mbuji-Mayi, with most victims suspected of illegal mining . No state agents were known to have been prosecuted for the killings. Poverty lures in illegal miners to MIBA diamond concessions where they may be shot or detained in quarters with poor living conditions. Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as tropical wet and dry (Aw). Luba people The Luba people or Baluba are

649-505: A year, roughly 8 percent of its annual budget. This money went to repair infrastructure and to fund a new university. The investments and its position as largest employer made Jonas Mukamba Kadiata Nzemba the chief executive officer of MIBA one of the most powerful men in the region, and the de facto governor of Mbuji-Mayi. Nzemba, who was appointed by Mobutu in 1986, was considered one of the more powerful players in Mobutu's political party,

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708-423: Is compassionate, keeps his distance, one with self control. Mbidi marries the sister of Nkongolo, and they have a son named Kalala. Nkongolo gets jealous and fearful of Kalala, and schemes to murder him. The guardian spirits, knowing the scheme, protect Kalala by (...) The Luba people were a part of a large state in the 16th and 17th centuries, ruled by a Balopwe through delegation to regional chiefs. According to

767-584: The Popular Movement of the Revolution (MPR), but he also called himself a "brother" of Étienne Tshisekedi , a popular local political figure and Mobutu's most significant political opposition. Nzemba is credited with creating the Conference pour le Developpement Economique de Kasai Oriental (CDEKO), a regional economic development group in the early 1990s. Nzemba also backed the creation of

826-531: The Swahili . The Luba people tended to cluster in single street villages, with homes with rectangular thatched roofs on both sides of the street whose lineage is usually related. The homes were in the savanna and forests. They hunted, fished in abundant waters near them, gathered food such as fruits from the wild and had mastered agriculture. In contemporary era, they grow cassava , corn, raise livestock. Some Luba carve wood and produce artist handicrafts. Art

885-538: The University of Kasai , which was jointly sponsored by MIBA and the local Catholic Church, and which became the home base of CDEKO. The new organization spearheaded economic growth in Mbuji-Mayi, helped support the development of new agricultural and beer industry expansion around the city and launched Wetrafa , a locally owned airline. Mobutu's willingness to let Nzemba control the province through MIBA came at

944-656: The Upemba Depression known as the Baluba in Katanga confederation. Luba society consisted of miners, smiths, woodworkers, potters, crafters, and people of various other professions. They found relative success over time, but this eventually caused their gradual decline with the Portuguese and Omani empires led or influenced invasions . Archaeological evidence suggests that the Baluba had settlements around

1003-422: The 1980s and 1990s, Zaïre and Mobutu paid little attention to Mbuji-Mayi, offering almost no money to build roads, schools or hospitals. In the political vacuum, MIBA stepped in. In the place of the federal government, MIBA invested heavily in the region by repairing roads, paying soldiers and supplying water and electricity to the city from its own power station. The company set up a social fund of $ 5 to $ 6 million

1062-472: The Angolan traders from regular contact with the Luba people. Around the start of the 19th-century, the oral traditions of both the Luba and Kanyok people suggest a major conflict, led by mutual raids. This conflict helped the Luba Empire grow, as its king Ilunga Sungu entered into new territories and formed marriage alliances. By 1810 when he died, his fame and reverence among the Luba people had peaked and

1121-474: The Arab-Swahili chiefs such as Tippu Tip and Msiri , states Thomas Reefe. A prominent sociopolitical system of the Luba Empire was the adoption of two layers of power, one of Balopwe (hereditary kingship) and another a council of royals or elders. These provided governmental stability through mutual balancing, when there were disputes of succession from death or other causes. This idea was adopted by

1180-610: The Democratic Republic of the Congo. That same year, Katanga Province , which was home to a considerable number of Luba, attempted to secede under Moise Tshombe as the State of Katanga . The Luba were divided, with one faction under Ndaye Emanuel supporting the secession, and another under Kisula Ngoye supporting the central government. United Nations peacekeepers in Congo, as part of the ONUC force came into conflict with

1239-418: The Luba Empire has been derived from foreign documents. The later written texts suggest that the Luba people had developed sophisticated literary traditions around their concepts of good and evil, and integrated these concepts and their religious ideas into their legends about morality and people with power. For example, one legend relates to two kings, one called the red king Nkongolo Mwamba and other called

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1298-542: The Luba Empire rapidly between 1860 and 1880s, and accelerated its demise. In parallel, the news of disarray and confusion from many corners of the Luba Empire, led to internal disputes on succession and strategy when the Luba king Ilunga Kabale died in 1870. By 1868, Said bin Habib el-Afifi had raided Luba operations and with force taken 10,500 pounds of copper. By 1874, another Arab-Swahili trader Juma bin Salum wad Rakad, and

1357-544: The Luba people began to coalesce into a single, unified state which historians now call the Kingdom of Luba or Luba Empire . The kingdom grew and became more sophisticated over time, reaching its peak between 18th to 19th-century. "...[I]ntegration into the forward edges of the expanding frontiers of international trade tore the Empire apart" in tandem with the advances of the 19th-century slave and ivory trade from Belgium and

1416-478: The Luba people lands. Despite a ban on slave trading in the Western world, the eastern and northern parts of Africa, led by Arab-Swahili slave and ivory traders entered into the eastern and northeastern regions of the Luba Empire. These intruders came with guns, experience of running caravans, and other tools of war. Although the weapons of the Luba people were not primitive (with implements such as blades and bows),

1475-475: The Luba people lived in villages, in homes made of reeds and wattle , around the shores of numerous streams and lakes found in the Upemba Depression of Central Africa. This Depression has been historically flooded from the water runoff from southern Shaba highlands for parts of the year, its water bodies filled with papyrus islands and floating vegetation, the region drying out after rains ended. As

1534-464: The Luba people until his death in 1870. By then, the region of Luba people and their empire covered much of what is now the southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, extending for hundreds of kilometers from their early 19th-century heartland. The success and wealth of Luba people grew in relative isolation because they were far from the eastern and western coasts of Africa, living in comparatively inaccessible terrain. The forests and mountains provided

1593-769: The Luba people was swift." Msiri , a Tanzanian operator supplying ivory and slaves to the Sultan of Zanzibar, raided and took over the southeastern Shaba region of Luba people. Its other side, the southwestern borders were breached by the Ovimbundu ivory and slave hunters operating with the Portuguese. While slaves could no longer be exported to the Americas, they were used for work and caravan operations within Africa. Breaches from all sides, by better equipped armies, weakened

1652-520: The Luba people were mnemonic devices, a form of symbolic coded script to aid preserving information and recalling the history and knowledge of the Luba. The Luba people, according to Mary Roberts, developed "one [of] the most complex and brilliant mnemonic systems in Africa for recording royal history, king lists, migrations, initiation esoterica and family genealogies", such as the Lukasa memory board . This artwork are now found in numerous museums of

1711-616: The Luba people. Luba Catholics would later produce the famed Missa Luba , a form of the Latin Mass inculturated in the Luba arts and expression. This would lay the groundwork for the Zaire Use , a full-on rite of the Mass based on (and used primarily in) the Congo. According to a 2011 source, an estimated 12% of Luba are adherents of Islam. Islam spread among the Luba during the 19th and 20th century due to increasing contact with

1770-460: The Luba people. This trade and all economic activity in the villages of Luba people had a tribute system, where a portion of the hunt, fish or produce was given to the lineage head or the people guarding the borders. These were natural borders, such as that created by waters of Lake Upemba, where passage across required channels and bridges. The movement into and out of the Luba people lands was thus controlled and taxed. Around 1500, possibly earlier,

1829-407: The Luba population. In 1885 Leopold II , king of Belgium , secured European recognition of his right over the territories that became what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The first Belgian expedition into the Luba people's region arrived in 1891. The king of Belgium, impressed with the accomplishments of Tippu Tip in getting resources from central Africa, appointed him the governor of

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1888-461: The Luba. On 8 November 1960, an Irish Army patrol was ambushed outside Niemba . In the fighting, the Irish soldiers killed 25 Baluba with their firearms, and 9 of the 11 Irish were killed. When Tshombe's breakaway regime collapsed in 1965, Kisula Ngoye became the liaison between the Luba people and the central government. The traditional religious beliefs of the Luba people included the concept of

1947-446: The Mbuji-Mayi area had the world's most important industrial diamond deposits, containing at least 300 million karats of diamonds. The city was constructed on top of the diamond deposits, and while the city's reputation as a company town under tight control of Belgian economic interests meant it was neat and orderly, it also meant that the city's buildings and homes, including those of top MIBA executives, were sometimes demolished to access

2006-552: The area. As the First Congo War broke out, Nzemba initially sided with Mobutu against the rebels led by Laurent-Désiré Kabila , but as Kabila's Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (AFDL or ADFLC) approached the city, Nzemba quickly switched sides. When the city fell to the rebels on April 4, 1997, looting by both sides took a toll on the city, particularly MIBA's mining operations. Nzemba

2065-552: The area. The city had always been a major source of the world's diamonds and that did not change after independence, nor did the age-old tradition of diamond smuggling. But after independence, that ability of the government to control the diamond smuggling quickly eroded and diamond smuggling dramatically increased. The black market quickly eclipsed the official business, and in 1963, MIBA officially recorded producing 1.4 million karats of diamonds, while smugglers exported between 4 million and 6 million more karats. The city lacks much of

2124-538: The black king Ilunga Mbidi Kiluwe . According to the Luba people's oral history, There are two kings, the Nkongolo Mwamba or red king, and Mbidi Kiluwe or black king. Nkongolo Mwamba is the violent, cruel and drunken despot; Mbidi Kiluwe is the gentle, just and refined one. Nkongolo is one who gets drunk, is ruthless, mocking, raping, robbing other, seen without manners. Mbidi Kiluwe is the opposite, one obsessed with good manners, thoughtful, who speaks carefully,

2183-515: The city of Mbuji-Mayi now stands was once a cluster of villages on land owned by the Bakwanga clan. Diamonds were first discovered in the area as early as 1907, but the true value of the find was not recognised until 1913. Following the discovery, a mining camp designed to house miners and company officials of the Societé minière de Bakwanga (MIBA) was developed in the area. The young city, known at

2242-656: The city's main business remains the diamond trade. In January 2015 there was an outbreak of tuberculosis (TB), including multi-drug-resistant TB in the Mbuji-Mayi Central Prison. The CDC investigated and found the prison was filled to six times its capacity giving each prisoner a fixed spot less than about 0.25 square meters (2.7 square feet) in a cell. About half of the inmates were malnourished . These conditions, combined with poor ventilation, lack of sunshine, and lack of TB screening, had allowed TB to spread for years. Amnesty International published

2301-419: The city's water crisis. The Pan China company doing the work will rehabilitate the city's pumping station , extend the distribution network, construct water towers , and add metering and administrative buildings. As a commercial center, Mbuji-Mayi handles most diamond mining , panning , and production in the Congo. Societé minière de Bakwanga and Diamant International are the major diamond producers in

2360-457: The country to back up Kabila as the First Congo War began to grow. As of 2019 some residents were obtaining water from local rivers which contributed to local outbreaks of water-borne diseases such as cholera . In 2020 the DRC government launched a project to improve drinking water expected to cost at least $ 26.2 million. This investment was expected to help, but not be enough to substantially solve

2419-467: The diamonds. In the earlier years, most of the diamonds mined in the area came from one large MIBA-controlled mine on the city's outskirts, but diamonds could also be easily found in the area's streams and waterways, making it possible for anyone to collect them. As of 1963, Mbuji-Mayi-based MIBA was the source of 80 percent of the world's industrial diamonds and 57 percent of all diamonds. Mbuji-Mayi grew rapidly upon Congolese independence in 1960 with

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2478-458: The immigration of members of the Luba ethnic group from different parts of the country. Shortly after independence, Albert Kalonji , a Luba tribal chief, declared himself ruler of the secessionist Mining State of South Kasai on Aug. 8, 1960 and established the city, then still known as Bakwanga, as his capital. In April 1961, Kalonji declared himself as emperor of the region in a traditional tribal ceremony and then returned to Bakwanga, where he

2537-431: The independent state was launched in the summer of 1962, with ANC government troops fighting poorly armed tribesmen outside of the city. Kalonji was captured again on 4 October 1962 when ANC forces retook Bakwanga, effectively ending the region's independence. Soon after the end of the secession, Bakwanga was renamed Mbuji-Mayi after the local river in an attempt to signify a Luba intra-ethnicity reconciliation. Throughout

2596-635: The lakes and marshes of the Upemba Depression by the 5th century CE. The evidence suggesting an advanced Iron Age society came from multiple sites. The Kamilambian , Kisalian and Kabambian series of evidence has been dated to be from 5th to 14th-century, suggesting a settled stable Luba culture over many centuries. Of these, the Kisalian period (8th to 11th century) pottery and utensils found. The finds dated to pre-8th century by modern dating methods are iron objects or pottery, thereafter copper objects appear. The archaeological studies suggest that

2655-585: The largest known deposits in the world. Air travel is provided through the Mbuji Mayi Airport . Mbuji-Mayi is made up of five communes (municipalities), each headed by a burgomaster : Bipemba , Dibindi , Diulu , Kanshi and Muya . This division into communes has been in effect since Ministerial (Departmental) Order No. 83 of March 4, 1968 of the Minister of the Interior . The region where

2714-400: The late 1950s. As the city grew, more and more infrastructure needs required investment in roads, public works and hospitals. While several primary schools were developed for workers, until independence, there was no higher education available for the native population. The area around Mbuji-Mayi is one of the richest sources of mineral wealth in the world. In the 1950s, it was estimated that

2773-441: The neighboring Lunda people and other ethnic groups. The development and evolution of the Luba Empire, and the life of Luba people therein, has been unclear. This is in part because the Luba people were an entirely oral tradition culture where knowledge and records were held verbally without the use of a script. The orthography for the Luba language, called kiLuba , was invented in the 19th century; thus, early information about

2832-463: The opposing forces had more advanced weapons. David Livingstone, in his memoir, wrote how amazed the Luba people were with the guns, as they thought they were tobacco pipes; the firearm was the primary tool used against large populations of the Luba. Slave and ivory trader, Tippu Tip for example wrote, "Luba had no guns, their weapons were bows and arrows; guns they did not know. The guns we have with us, they asked us, 'Are they pestles?' The conquest of

2891-487: The oral tradition by inabanza Kataba , the empire expanded over time, with a major consolidation in the 18th century, partly triggered by the desire by rivals to control the salt and iron mines in the south. The Luba Empire was shielded from Portuguese and other colonial interests by the Lunda Empire , which lay to their southeast. This shielding was noted by David Livingstone in his travel memoirs, and likely blocked

2950-582: The organization and classic European architecture that other major cities in the DRC inherited from the Belgian colonists. Journalist Michela Wrong, described Mbuji-Mayi as "a curiously soulless settlement, with no tangible centre ... It is purely functional conurbation, dedicated to making money, with little left over for less focused activities." Even today, much of the city revolves around the Avenue Inga, where diamond and mineral buyers have set up shop and

3009-445: The region and closely monitored who went in and out of the region. Every person in the region needed a permit allowing them to be there, and registration at a command post that monitored the population, which made indefinite residence in the area almost impossible to establish. There was limited economic activity besides the company-run mining, with even limited agriculture, and the city's population remained low, at approximately 39,830 by

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3068-512: The region that included the Luba people's territory. The Luba people were forced to work in the copper and gemstone mines of the Katanga province during the Belgian rule, causing numerous mining-related deaths. They rebelled in 1895, then again from 1905 to 1917, and these insurrections were subdued through military intervention. In 1960, the Belgians, faced with rising demand for independence and an end to colonial rule, granted independence to

3127-466: The sector of the city controlled by MIBA, the road network was virtually nonexistent, and in 1991, the entire city had only about 19.7 km of paved roads, all in poor condition. The state-run power plant went out of service in 1990, with an 11.8 mW hydroelectric plant run by MIBA as the only source of electricity, but frequent power outages led residents to other sources of heat and light, mainly wood and charcoal leading to widespread deforestation in

3186-430: The site of his royal court had become Kitenta (royal sacred village) where his spirit was venerated. After the death of Ilunga Sungu, Kumwimbe Ngombe came to power leading his warriors to expand southeast with contacts with traders from East Africa. After his victory, in accordance with Luba traditions, the conquered chiefs and rulers had to marry sisters or daughters from the Luba ruling family in order to tie them into

3245-475: The time as Bakwanga, grew quickly but around strict planning by MIBA, which divided the community into labor camps, mining areas and living quarters. The city's growth was not explosive, and planning was done with the needs of the mining company in mind, not the development of the region as a general population centre. In fact, fearing theft of the company's diamond resources, the MIBA actively discouraged building in

3304-546: The world. Mbuji-Mayi River 6°02′00″S 23°46′00″E  /  6.03333°S 23.76667°E  / -6.03333; 23.76667 The Mbuji-Mayi River , also spelt Bushmaie , Bushimaie , Bushimay or Mbushimaie , ( Swahili : Mto Mbuji-Maji ) is a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo , a major tributary of the Sankuru River . It flows northwards from the Kapanga Territory in

3363-428: Was "carried through crowds of chanting, singing and cheering Balubas," and dancing continued outside his royal palace there for four days. The celebration was short-lived, as the central government's Armée Nationale Congolaise (ANC) troops took control of the town and arrested Kalonji, by December 1961. After escaping from the jail in which he was being held, he briefly re-established his government. A second assault on

3422-427: Was also summoned to Goma to speak with Kabila, who held him for several days, prompting his family to purchase advertising in newspapers publicising their concerns for his safety. Nzemba was released shortly after, but MIBA began making "voluntary contributions" to Kabila's war, an estimated $ 5.5 million in 1997 and 1998. In October 1998, Mbuji-Mayi was occupied by both Zimbabwean and Chadian troops as they poured into

3481-476: Was well-developed in the Luba culture. Pottery, articles crafted from iron (such as axes, bows and spears), wooden staff and carvings and parts clad in sheets of copper were routinely produced. A notable artform of the Luba people was the Mwadi , where the male ancestors were represent in their female incarnations of the ancestral kings. According to scholars such as Daniel Kabozi, some of the intricate art works of

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