the zambian kingdoms series: the lima people
the lima are a sub-group of the broader lamba family — the balamba, embracing the kindred lima, sewa, and swaka tribes, are a bantu people of the balunda or baluba group. the lima have a large lenje element: their territory and their social organisation reflect the frontier between the lamba world to the north and the lenje world to the south. the kingdoms series described the lamba in part 33 as the original people of the copperbelt — lambaland. and the lenje in part 32 as led to their territory by a founding mother. the lima sit between these two great peoples, inheriting something from each.
the lima are found primarily in the plateau country of central province — in areas of kabwe rural, chibombo, and the territory between the lamba country of the northern copperbelt and the lenje country around chisamba and kapiri mposhi. their territory is the agricultural heartland of central province — the red, loamy soils of the plateau that receive reliable rainfall and that have supported smallholder farming for generations.
the lima's agricultural identity is reflected in their relationship to the land and in their ceremonies. the plateau's red soils — the same soils the agriculture series described as supporting both subsistence maize and commercial soybean production in central province — are the lima's inheritance.
the lima, like the lamba and the swaka, are part of the broader lamba linguistic and cultural group — their language, cilamba with its lima dialect, connects them to the wider lamba world. the senior lamba chief mushili's authority extends across the lima territory as part of the wider lamba kingdom.
a people formed in the frontier between two great peoples. the farmers of the central province red soil.
the zambian kingdoms series continues. 🇿🇲
