Congo-Brazzaville - Ethnic Groups
All of the ethnic groups in the country, except the Binga (Ba-binga) Pygmies belong to the Bantu-speaking population of tropical Africa, but their migrations and the evolution of their societies removed most of their cultural unity. There are four principal ethnic groups, divided into more than seventy subgroups: the Kongo group occupies the area between Brazzaville and the Atlantic coast ; the Teke live in the plateau country north of Brazzaville; the Mboshi are situated in the river area west of Mossaka ; and the Sangha and Binga inhabit the regions of Sangha and Likouala in the far north.
The Kongo ethnic cluster, making up 45 percent of the population, was the largest separate group, occupying much of the southern area of the country. Other major groups were the Teke (Bateke), Sangha, and Mboshi.
The largest ethnic group in the Pool region are the Bakongo, also known as the Kongo. The Lari are the largest sub-group of the Bakongo. The Vili are also a sub-group of the Bakongo and are mainly found on the Atlantic coast and in Brazzaville. In the past the Vili have been known to form alliances with the Nibolek, of the Bouenza, Niari and Lekoumou regions. In 2002, the security forces arrested “southern” men on suspicion of involvement with the Ninjas.
The Batéké are the second largest ethnic group accounting for 21 percent of the population. They are found mainly north of Brazzaville, stretching over the Gabonese border. The Boulangui are the third largest of the main ethnic groups.
The M'Bochi are the largest sub-group of the Boulangui, accounting for 14 percent of the country's population. Former head of state Yhombi-Opango is of the Kouyou sub-group of the Boulangui, and the current President, Sassou-Nguesso is M'Bochi.
A small number of Pygmies, or Bambenga, live in Congo, comprising just 1.5 percent of the population. They are marginalised in most areas of society, partly by their geographic isolation, usually living amongst the heavily rainforested areas, and partly due to societal attitudes of the majority Bantu tribes. Historically, the pygmies have been exploited by other more powerful tribes, and this is still evident today. Poor access to basic amenities, educational facilities and health care are problems which UNICEF are trying to help address by providing local schools, health centres and funding micro-agricultural projects.
Kongo
At least as early as the sixteenth century, travelers and missionaries kept records on the Kongo people of the coastal and western areas. Missionaries and administrators continued to write about the coastal peoples during the colonial period, and similar works have been published in the years after independence. Information concerning other ethnic groups, however, is still minimal in amount and scope.
Many of the migrations of recent centuries resulted in the gradual displacement of one ethnic group by another. As the incoming group Settled in a new territory the original inhabitants departed in search of another homeland or were assimilated. For example, the ethnic groups of the Kongo family that inhabit the land between Brazzaville and the Atlantic coast migrated from the east and probably reached the Atlantic Ocean along the Congo River during the last part of the fourteenth century.
Later they moved northward, crossing the Congo River, and scattered throughout what is now the southern area of the country. A series of migrations ensued, in which the Vili pushed northward along the coastal plain until their advance was stalled by the Fang invasion early in the nineteenth century. The Yombe followed the low mountain chain that now bears their name and eventually divided into several groups. One stopped near Ncesse and Chimpeze, another near Kakamocka, and a final group at Mvouti. The Kougni, Kamba, and Bembe occupied the Niari Valley, which is midway between Pointe-Noire and Brazzaville.
The various ethnic groups constituting the Kongo family numbered over 350,000 persons by 1970, yet they inhabit only 15 percent of the country. The approximately 37,000 Vili and 15,000 Yombe, both ancient subjects of the king of Loango, were found in the coastal area around Pointe-Noire and the district of Mvouti, respectively. The largest single group within the Kongo family was a group consisting of 180,000 Sundi (Basundi), Congo (Bacongo), and Lali (Balali), sometimes referred to collectively as the Bakongo. Other members of the Kongo family included 21,000 Kougni in the environs of Doli-sie and Loudima; 40,000 Bembe near Mouyondzi in the Bouenza (southwest-central) region; 18,000 Kamba near Madingou in the Niari Valley on the southern border; and 13,000 Dondo (Badondo) in the Mindouli district.
Mboshi
Historically, the Mboshi, also called Boubangui, migrated from the west bank of the Congo River. They occupied the fluvial basins Surrounding Mossaka, near the confluence of the Sangha, Likouala, and Congo rivers along the east-central border, then continued to push toward the northwest. The numerous ethnic groups of the Mboshi family were located in the Cuvette and Likoula regions.
Very little has been written about the history and social organi¬zation of the Mboshi. The most recent information indicates that they entered the Alima Basin, south of the equator in the central Congo, sometime during the eighteenth century, having migrated southwestward from the Lake Tumba region. They continued to move southward until they reached a point midway between the Alima and Nkeni rivers.
Traditional Mboshi social structure was based on a group of vary¬ing size, but usually including about fourteen families or lineages. The headman of this group was known as the kani, and his position resembled that of a Kongo clan chief. He was chosen by certain privileged families and ruled for life. The kani watched over the land and allocated plots for hunting, farming, and burials. Disputes between individuals were settled by a specially designated arbiter, and another individual was responsible for religious and spiritual matters.
The group totalled 80,000 people by 1970, including the Makoua, Kouyou, Mboshi, Likouala, Bangala, and Bonga tribal elements. These people practice some agriculture, but their primary occupations are fishing and trading. The Mboshi are organized into clans consisting of about fourteen families or lineages under the direction of a clan chief (kani). Kinship and descent are patrilineally determined, and the society is hierarchically structured.
The Likouala, a subgroup of the Mboshi, are a riverine people living on the banks of the Congo River near Mossaka and on the banks of the Likouala and Kouyou rivers. Their villages are placed on elevated ground to protect them from flooding. Main occupations are trading, boatbuilding, and fishing. Each family is given the use of a certain section of the river for fishing, and these fishing rights are maintained by the family through hereditary relationships. Fish that are not sold in Fort-Rousset or Brazzaville are either smoked or eaten fresh.
The Likouala population was in decline because of high mortality and low fertility rates, which was partly caused by local marriage customs, migration to the city, and extremely high marriage payments. Polygyny was common, and a study showed that 43 percent of the men had more than one wife. The heads of extended families and clans usually marry the younger girls, thereby forcing young men to look elsewhere for wives. By age twenty-two, all the women were or had been married. About 80 percent of the men aged eighteen to thirty years were single.
Teke
The Teke people migrated from the northwest, probably before the fifteenth century and settled on the plateau that now has their name. Some shifted southwestward and eventually entered the Niari Valley, engaging in wars with the Sundi and Boubangui early in the nineteenth century. The Teke first came into contact with the French in 1879. Their king, the Makoko, signed a treaty in 1880 with Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza that opened the Stanley Pool area of the Congo River to the French.
Most of the more than 80,000 Teke people [as of 1970] inhabit the Teke plateau, a 300-by-200-mile stretch of sandy country north of Brazzaville. Their southern neighbors are the La Buendi, and Kongo peoples ; to the west are the Kota and Mbeti; and to the north, the Mboshi.
Traditionally the Teke were hunters and warriors. They controlled the copper mines of Boko-Songo, dealt in slaves, monopolized trade along the Congo River from the interior to Stanley Pool and overland to the Atlantic coast, and directed market activities in the area. When the French and Belgians initiated commercial activities near Stanley Pool, members of other ethnic groups migrated to the area and soon outnumbered the Teke. In spite of strong local opposition, the French burned many Teke villages and rebuilt them closer to the major transportation routes. This facilitated the recruitment of African labor, the collection of taxes, and the supervision of markets.
Colonial policies disrupted the Teke economy and adversely affected their social institutions. A few Teke grew wealthy under the French system and could make higher marriage payments than their kinsmen. As a consequence, marriage payments increased to the point where many young men could not afford to get married. The authority of the chiefs declined, and traditional leaders were unable to enforce their demands for ending polygynous marriages.
Teke villages in the mid-1900s usually contained five to thirty huts and had become unimportant. The people were primarily agriculturalists, although the men sometimes hunted antelopes, gazelles, and other animals. Each family tended a plot of ground near the village, growing manioc and bananas. The men usually prepared the fields, but crops were harvested by the women.
Sangha and Binga
Little was known of the approximately 30,000 Sangha people who occupy the region of Likouala, a wet forest area in northeastern Congo between the Sangha and Oubangui rivers. They are said to have entered the region round the middle of the 18th Century, accompanied by Pygmies who acted as hunters and guides. The Pygmy groups still exchanged their game for the agricultural produce of the Sangha. The Sangha included several subgroups, such as the Bondongo, Bondjo, Mondjombo, Bandza, Babole, Kabongo, Bonguili, and Bomitaba.
The northern provinces of Sangha and Likouala wre the home of 12,000 to 15,000 Binga (Babinga) Pygmies, whose ancestors are considered by many to have been the original inhabitants of the area. The small Pygmy bands have adjusted to the existence of their Bantu neighbors and in many instances have established a symbiotic relationship with them. A few Pygmies in the Ouesso area even work as laborers on the large plantations.
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