Lozi Kingdom
The Lozi Kingdom, or Barotseland, was a state located in modern-day western Zambia belonging to the Lozi people. In the late 19th century, the state covered around, and Lozi influence stretched to the Kwito River in the west, the Linyanti-Chobe and Zambezi rivers in the south, the Kafue River in the east, and the Luena-Zambezi confluence in the north.
The kingdom was likely founded in the 17th century in modern-day Kalabo District, following a migration from the Lunda Empire, with its first Litunga being Mboo Mwanasilundu Muyunda. During his reign, two royal relatives, Mwanambinyi and Mange, split from the kingdom to establish their own polities. The 4th Litunga, Ngalama, reconquered these polities and expanded the kingdom further to encompass the entire Bulozi Plain. The 6th Litunga, Ngombala, established a subordinate centre of power in the south to increase control over these new lands and he extended Lozi authority into surrounding territories.
Over time, power gradually shifted from the Litunga to the aristocratic bureaucracy as successive Litunga were compelled to make concessions. By the reign of the 10th Litunga, Mulambwa, the kingdom was in a state of severe instability and frequent warfare, culminating in an internecine civil war between his sons, Mubukwanu and Silumelume, to succeed him. Soon after the war concluded, the weakened kingdom was conquered around 1840 by the Makololo, a Sotho group fleeing the Mfecane. A rebellion in 1864 restored the kingdom, but it was followed by factional infighting among groups that held competing visions for how the state should be organised and governed.
Following two unstable reigns, Lewanika came to power in 1878 and was deposed in 1884. Supported by traditionalist factions, he returned to power in 1885 and consolidated his authority and revived pre-Kololo institutions. As the Scramble for Africa progressed, Lewanika sought protectorate status and an alliance with the British, and signed a series of concessions starting in 1889 until 1899. Despite treaty provisions that emphasised the protection of Lozi rights, over the following years, Lewanika and the Kuta gradually lost most of their powers and some territory. In 1911, the kingdom was incorporated into Northern Rhodesia and effectively reduced to a province.
Before Zambian independence, disputes between Lozi elites and nationalist leaders led to the Barotseland Agreement of 1964, which granted the kingdom a special status within the new Republic of Zambia. The new government reneged on the Agreement and abolished the kingdom amid calls for Lozi secession. After the restoration of multi-party democracy in 1990, Lozi activists called for restoration of the kingdom's powers under the 1964 Agreement; in 2012, after a drafted constitution omitted the Agreement and President Sata failed to implement it, the Kuta argued that the annulment of all prior treaties rendered Barotseland legally sovereign, and activists have since lobbied the African Union and United Nations with little success; as of 2019 they were pursuing a petition to the International Court of Justice.
Etymology
Some traditions attribute the origins of the name Lozi to the founders of the ruling dynasty, suggesting that it later spread to their subjects. Other traditions say that the present-day Lozi were originally called Aluyana, and that the Makololo termed them Malozi in the 19th century, which was subsequently adopted. Historian Mutumba Mainga considers the latter explanation more likely, given that the language of the king's court was Siluyana. The name Rotse is a European rendering of Lozi.In this article, Luyana is used to refer to the modern-day Lozi before the Kololo conquest and rule in the mid-19th century; Lozi is used after that point and in reference to the present.
Geography
Lozi territory encompasses southwestern Zambia, a region characterized by Kalahari sands and shrubland. The Zambezi River runs north to south, surrounded by the Bulozi Floodplain, which has an abundance of alluvial deposits. The northern Zambezi Valley is referred to as "Bulozi proper". The river floods annually between January and May, and the Plain is bordered on both sides by higher forested ground. Various tributaries of the Zambezi run across the Plain, forming small valleys. The Plain is made fertile by seepage areas below the steep surrounding embankment that channel water down the Plain and irrigate strips of land.History
Origins
holds that the Lozi were the first inhabitants of the Bulozi Floodplain, having always lived there since descending from Nyambe and Mbuyu, a female ancestor. Traditions of neighbouring groups, such as the Kazembe-Lunda, Ndembu-Lunda, and Nkoya, trace the roots of the Luyana/Lozi to the Mwata Yamvo dynasty of the Lunda Empire. Historians Mutumba Mainga, Bizeck Phiri, and Lawrence Flint support this, noting that many Zambian groups trace their origin to the Congo Basin. Mainga says that "Lozi tradition and available evidence suggest at least three successive waves of migration into Bulozi, the last of which comprised the founders of the present Lozi dynasty". Lozi traditions mention a small group of people called bo Mbonezi Kai, likely a reference to the Khoisan.According to Lozi tradition, the Plain was inhabited by two broad groups: northerners and southerners, both organised into chiefdoms. Northerners included the Muenyi, Imilangu, Ndundulu, Mbowe, Liuwa, Simaa, Makoma, and Nyengo, while southerners included the Subiya, Mbukushu, Toka, Totela, Shanjo, and Fwe. Both groups are linguistically and probably ethnically distinct: the southerners are linguistically similar to Tonga in Zambia's Southern Province, whose speakers arrived earlier, and the northerners are somewhat linguistically similar to Luba in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mainga says that the dynasty was Lunda in origin and arrived in the northern Plain, likely in the late-16th century according to Flint. She draws comparisons to groups within the Nkoya and Luvale who received their Lunda dynasties following Lunda prince Cinyama's departure after the Lunda-Luba merger, which happened in the late-15th or 16th centuries. Due to similarities Lunda states such as Kazembe share with the main Lunda state that are not found in the Lozi state, Mainga theorizes that the Lozi-Lunda left soon after the merger out of disillusionment, while the other states were founded later as part of a policy of expansion and maintained ties with the main state. Mainga also considers the dynasty to have spoken a similar language to Siluyana, which was native to earlier people on the northern Plain, or to have adopted Siluyana as their court language.
Lozi tradition says that members of the familial dynasty rose to power among groups in the northwestern modern-day Kalabo District, whether by overthrowing local leaders or by negotiating local political systems. A leader named Mboo Mwanasilundu Muyunda became paramount and is regarded as the first Litunga, dated to the 17th century. According to tradition, Mboo conquered the Mishulundu, Namale, Imulangu, Upangoma, Liuwa, Muenyi, and Mambowe, though his expansion was halted at the Luena Flats by "Sihokanalinanga" and his people. Tradition says that Mboo's "brothers" and "sisters" administered their own provinces autonomously, and created their own Makolo. Disputes within the royal dynasty caused two groups to leave and found their own polities. One of these was led by Mwanambinyi, Mboo's younger brother. Traditions represent his power struggle with Mboo as a series of contests, during which he uses supernatural powers to best Mboo, provoking Mboo's hatred and jealousy. After Mwanambinyi survives a murder attempt by Mboo, he flees with his followers and cattle to Imatongo in modern-day Senanga District, and conquers the Mbukushu and Subiya. The second group to leave was led by Mange, Mboo's nephew, who is said to have left because he was excluded from government. Accordingly, they went east across the Zambezi, and then southwards once nearer the Luena River until reaching a forest in modern-day Mongu District. Mange was said to have been a skilled hunter.
Expansion
Over the course of the next few generations, royal prestige and power strengthened, and a royal cult developed. Institutions were borrowed from other groups and created by certain Litunga. During the reign of Yeta I, all Makolo came under his control, and new ones could only be created by the monarch. Lozi tradition credits Ngalama with expanding the state and conquering the polities of Mwanambinyi and Mange. Tradition represents Mwanambinyi as hiding in mist or creating floods or droughts which hamper Ngalama's forces, until attrition by war causes him and his followers to "disappear into the ground" at Imatongo. The conquest of Mange happens after a series of defeats and Mange's dispute with his mother Nolea over a woman, which leads Nolea to surrender Mange's protective charms to Ngalama. Mange's followers were called Akangwa Mange, now the. Mutumba Mainga considers these narratives to refer to real historical events. This saw the Luyana overcome rival centres of secular and ritual power to gain control of the entire Plain.Following the conquests of Mwanambinyi and Mange, challenges arose in the administration of the newly-acquired land. The distance of Mwanambinyi's lands in the south from the capital proved the prior system of appointing commoners as Manduna to administer territories ineffective, and groups such as the Subiya gained autonomy. To address this, Ngombala established another centre of power in the south at Libumbu or Libumbwandinde. Tradition says that Notulu, Ngombala's daughter, was the first southern ruler, and details dynastic conflict between Notulu and her brother Mbanga; Mainga says that this may conceal revolts by the southern groups. Mbanga is said to have come to rule after Notulu's abdication. This southern 'kingdom' remained subordinate to the Litunga's rule. Having consolidated his control over the Plain, and with his capital at Nakaywe, Ngombala launched extensive military campaigns. The Plain was the economic heart of the region as it was linked to the wider region via the Zambezi's many tributaries, though the Luyana still relied on the forest communities for importing wood, canoes, beeswax, and various other goods. This incentivised the Luyana to conquer the surrounding communities, which were relatively decentralised and struggled to mount effective opposition. Ngombala first campaigned in the south to reconquer the Subiya and Mbukushu, and expanded further into modern-day Sesheke District to reach Victoria Falls. They then went west along the Chobe River to conquer the Mashi, then north to conquer the Makoma. Ngombala's forces met the Mbunda, conquering some of them and forming an alliance with an Mbunda leader named Yambayamba. In these newly-conquered lands, Ngombala established a system of tribute wherein people were obligated to send some of what they produced to the Plain, as well as young men and women for labour. This greatly increased the wealth of the Litunga.