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BALUBA
The Baluba are one of the largest ethnic groups in
the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Their
number is estimated at around 10 million people.
They are widely known for four major achieve-
ments: their art, whose numerous objects popu-
late, among others, the Tervuren Museum; their
religion; their philosophy; and their political
thought, which is manifested in Pax Luba.
Luba philosophy and religious thought played a
crucial role in the development of African philoso-
phy and the Negritude Movement in the 20th cen-
tury. Luba religion was revealed to the outside
world by the publication of Placide Tempels’Bantu
Philosophyin 1945. The controversy generated by
this book in the international community placed
Luba religion and thought at the center of the vast
intellectual debate that led to the birth of contem-
porary African philosophy and African encultura-
tion theology. It should be noted in that regard that
Bantu Philosophywas the first book published by
the nascentPresence Africaine. This means that
Luba religion and worldview remain deeply inter-
twined with the development of the Negritude
Movement, as well as the Panafrican Movement.
This entry describes the history, culture, and reli-
gious beliefs and practices of the Baluba, along with
the impact of religious beliefs on government.
Historical BackgroundThe Luba empire is one of the most renowned
African states, along with the Mali empire,
Songhai empire, the kingdom of Asante, Zulu
empire, Kongo kingdom, Mongo kingdom,
Lunda empire, the kingdom of Buganda, the
kingdom of the Mwami of Kivu or Rwanda, or
the empire of the Shona people of Zimbabwe.
Archaeologists have shown that the origins of the
Luba state goes back to the 5th century AD and
spanned almost 1,500 years.
After flourishing from 500 AD to 1900 AD, it
was fragmented by Belgian colonization between
1880 and 1960. However, it survives today in a
variety of polities. Today, Lubaland is divided into
the kingdoms of Kabongo, Kasong’wa Nyembo,
Kinkondja, Kabondo-Dianda, Malemba-Nkulu,
and Mwanza, among the most prominent.
Although these administrative entities are inte-
grated in the modern Republic, traditional
“Chiefs” are recognized by the government. They
administer their territories with a standing police
force and levy taxes.
The Baluba, 1 of the 200 ethnic groups of the
Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo), are a
branch of the Bantu people and thus share a com-
mon worldview with many other people from
the Equator to South Africa. They live principally
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in the
Katanga province. But the Luba empire included a
large number of people living in various countries,
including Zambia and Angola.
The original location of the Baluba is the region
between Lualaba (or the Congo River) and Lake
Tanganika. This location in the Great Lakes
region provided the Baluba with sufficient means
of subsistence necessary for the development of a
powerful civilization: water, abundant food, fish,
and raw material necessary for a technology
needed for protection and agriculture. Some
scholars think that the Baluba are one of the pro-
tobantu groups and that their territory constitutes
one of the main centers from which the Bantu
spread across Central and Southern Africa.Language and Culture
It is not surprising that languages such as Shona
and Zulu share striking similarities with the
Kiluba language, as do the names of people
and names of God. Typically, Luba names such as
Nkulu and Tambo can be found in Zimbabwe
and South Africa, where the name of God
(Unkulunkulu in Zulu) is well related to the Vidye
Mukulu of the Baluba. Leza, another Luba name
of God, is found in Resa and Lesa variants among
various ethnic groups from the northern Kalahari
into Congo and across into Zambia and Tanzania.
The Baluba are patrilinear; however, in most
cases, men and women carry the same names,
such as Ilunga, Mutombo, Nsengha, Sungu, Seya,Baluba 97