Lukuga River - Early Years

Early Years

The Lukuga in the north, Lake Tanganyika, the Luvua River to the south and the Lualaba form a territory that was once occupied by the Hemba people in the western part and the Tumbwe people in the more mountainous east. Kasangas of the Tumbwe lineage ruled various small states in this region. The lower Lukuga and tbe Lualaba were natural lines of communication, and the river valleys were densely populated. Around 1800, in the second half of the rule of the Luba Emperor Ilunga Sungu, Luba forces launched raids over the Lualaba that at one point reached as far as Kalemie. Some of the Luba settled in the region, and the people around Kalemie were subject to the Luba in the following reigns of Kumwimbe Ngombe and Ilunga Kabale.

The Luba evolved the concept of the "fire king" to rule the peripheral areas of their empire such as the Luvua-Lukuga corridor, with the local ruler being a near-equal of the Luba emperor, sending only occasional tributes. The bamdudye and bakasandji secret societies were introduced into the area, providing genesis myths that helped legitimize the fire kings' position. These myths had been adopted and adapted by the Holoholo people of Kalemie by the late nineteenth century. The Hemba state of Kyombo Mkubwa became the main client state of the Luba Empire. However, by the time Europeans started to penetrate the region, Msiri's son Simbi, advancing from the south and forming alliances with the Hemba rulers against incursions from Tippu Tip, had detached Kyombo Mkubwa from the Luba heartland.