Luvale people
The Luvale people, also spelled Lovale, Balovale, Lubale, as well as Lwena or Luena in Angola, are a Bantu ethnic group found in northwestern Zambia and southeastern Angola. They are closely related to the Lunda and Ndembu to the northeast, but they also share cultural similarities to the Kaonde to the east, and to the Chokwe and Luchazi, important groups of eastern Angola.
Language
The Luvale language belongs to the larger Niger-Congo language phylum, and is considered a west central Bantu language. It is recognized as a regional language for educational and administrative purposes in Zambia, where 168,000 people speak it.History
Prior to settling in the Congo, the Luvale originally came from north of Lake Tanganyika in an area located between the Eastern Rift mountains and Lake Victoria. Oral tradition holds that the first leader among these migrants was Kenga Naweji. During the migration south, she became too old to move, and set up her first camp at Lake Tanganyika. The trek then continued on until they reached the present day Democratic Republic of Congo. This is where the Luvale dynasty originated from Konde Mateti, who had 6 children. The first was Chinguli, believed to be the founder of the tribes in the north of Namibia and south of Angola. The second was Chinyama cha Mukwamayi, the founder of the Luvale chieftainship. Then came Kalumbu, a girl who was followed by a boy called Ndonji, commonly associated with Chokwe. The fifth was another boy called Lukombo who died at an early age. Last to be born was Lueji, a girl- future queen of the Lunda. She would go on to fall in love with the adventurer hunter Tshibinda Ilunga, a Luba prince. This enraged her brothers Chinguli and Chinyama so much that they split from the Lunda. Chinguli was the first to leave and headed southwest, establishing his own chieftainship. He was later followed by his brothers, Chinyama cha Mukwamayi and Ndonji, and his sister, Kalumbu, who went on to found their tribes. Chinyama, still in pursuit of more land, established the Kakenge chieftainship around 1747 near the Lumbala stream in Angola.Atlantic slave trade
The Luvale were the first in the Upper Zambezi to receive Ovimbundu traders from Angola in the 18th century. The Ovimbundu were seeking slaves for the Portuguese and had been spurned by their Lozi partners. Generally, they were not interested in taking the slaves themselves, but preferred to buy them for guns, cloth, jewelry, and other goods. Through their participation, the Luvale became a force to reckon with, and raided nearby tribes to procure slaves for the Ovimbundu. By the mid 19th century, guns were widespread in both Luvale society and culture, and travellers' accounts noted that practically all the major chiefs were also important slave traders. Chiefs Nyakatolo and Kangombe Kayambi were two particular Luvale that became notorious for their involvement in the slave trade. The Luvale also augmented their wealth by exacting payments from caravans, in exchange for passing through their areas uninterrupted. The Luvale would continually expand their domain in search of new raiding targets, coming to clash with the Southern Lunda chieftainships in particular. The slave trade would reach its peak in the 1830s and 1840s, before slowly dying out by the turn of the century.Starting in the 1890s, Luvale slaving parties carried out a series of attacks against the Lunda, which came to be known as "the Wars of Ulamba." In an unprecedented move, the Lunda chief Ishinde appealed to the Barotse's leader, Lewanika, for aid against the Luvale. Lewanika, seeking to consolidate his grip over the region, sent a military contingent against the Luvale. The Luvale's slave raiding activities were only completely stopped by British conquest in the early 20th century. In 1907, the slaves in the part of the Upper Zambezi under British administration were officially freed, but a system of debt slavery continued on a limited scale for decades.
European rule
and its neighbors were brought under formal British influence with the signing of the Lochner Concession in 1890 between Lewanika and the British South Africa Company. Lewanika had made the claim that the Upper Zambezi was under his domain, a valid statement in the eyes of the Barotse, as it was supported by their intervention in the Wars of Ulamba. BSAC, which was anxious to counter Portuguese claims, accepted the claim. Because it was advantageous to the interests of the Barotse and the BSAC, Balovale was henceforth considered to be a part of Barotseland. The Lunda, and especially the Luvale, were vehemently opposed to Barotse influence, and complained vigorously to a succession of District Commissioners that the historical justification used for Barotse rule was mistaken. Nevertheless, colonial administrators continued to support Barotse rule, and this would be reflected in the administration of the Barotse Province. Each 'recognized' Lunda and Luvale chief was nominally placed under of a Barotse induna; the language of local administration was Lozi, and all major decisions were referred to the Barotse Province headquarters in Mongu.In 1941, Balovale was formally made independent from the rest of Barotseland. Years prior, Sir Hubert Young, the governor of Northern Rhodesia at the time, had signed a 1936 agreement with the Litunga and the Kuta, setting up Native Courts in Barotseland, including Balovale in it. The Luvale and Lunda opposed this, and refused to accept the jurisdiction of the Barotse courts. The two tribes argued that they should have been consulted for this agreement, and another meeting was held in Livingstone in 1937, attended by the Barotse, Lunda, and Luvale leaders. However, the opposing sides were unable to come to consensus, and it was decided that a commission should look at the claims of both sides. King George VI selected Philip MacDonell as the president of the commission for his prior experience as a judge in Northern Rhodesia and elsewhere. He visited the areas in question and interviewed witnesses, but upon MacDonell's return to England, the government became preoccupied with WWII, and a final decision took some years to be made. On July 9, 1941, the Northern Rhodesia Government Gazette announced the change, stating that the King's Commissioner found that the land in the Balovale district did not belong to the Barotse. In accordance with this finding, it was decided that the Lunda and Luvale were entitled to be free from Barotse influence, and will have their own Native Courts, Native Authorities, and Native Treasuries.
Post independence
Luvale and Lunda ethnic strife reached such an intensity that States of Emergency had to be declared in the Zambezi District in the 1940s and 1950s. On August 27, 1998, conflict between the Luvale and Lunda once again erupted in northwestern Zambia, leaving hundreds homeless. Zambian President Chiluba had appointed only Lunda to top positions in local government in the region, widening ethnic divisions.Society and culture
Society
The Luvale observe matrilineal descent and prefer cross cousin marriage. Commoner lineage groups play a bigger role than in other northwestern Zambian peoples, and are rather independent of the chiefs. Traditionally, the Luvale do not recognize a paramount leader, but instead pledge allegiance to local chiefs who inherit their positions matrilineally from the maternal uncle. Chiefs consult with a committee of elders and ritual specialists before making decisions. Villages are divided into manageable sections, which are governed by family headmen. All members of Luvale society are divided into two categories, those descended from the founding matrilineal lines and descended from former enslaved populations.With the advent of colonialism however, a senior chief became custom, referred to as Chief Ndungu. Of the thirteen clans that make up the Luvale tribe, only the 'NamaKungu' has members who can ascend to the throne. Only children of a female chief can rule. A child of a male chief is called Mwana Uta or 'child of the bow', and can never become a chief. All clans have totems or identifiers such as hawks, owls, and fish. According to C.M.N. White, a British civil servant who spent many years in the area, each clan has a legendary explanation of how it arose, and a clan recitation of which identifies a clan member. On July 28, 2020, the Luvale royal establishment selected Chinyama Ngundu as the new senior chief, as his predecessor died January of that year. However, his ascension remains disputed by other Luvale chiefs.