Lunda people

The Lunda (Balunda, Ruund) rose along the Kalanyi River of today's Congo and in the 17th century founded the Kingdom of Lunda under Mwata Yamvo at Musumba, an empire of kinship that spread through Katanga into Angola, Zambia, Gabon, Congo and the Luapula Valley. Lunda expansion worked by marriage, not massacre: princesses carried the royal bracelet outward, and new chiefs, Kanongesha, Ishindi, Kazembe, ruled as perpetual kin of Musumba. Copper, salt, cassava and slaves moved along Lunda roads; the famous Chokwe broke away from Lunda tutelage to build their own art empire. Colonial borders cut the kingdom into five states, but Mwata Yamvo still reigns at Musumba, and Lunda masked makishi dancers still close the dry season from Luapula to Malanje. Musumba's court still receives tribute from Kanongesha and Kazembe chiefs. Gabon and Congo villages still dance the coming of the Lunda. Luapula fishermen still net the waters of the Eastern Lunda.