the zambian kingdoms series: the lamba people
the word lamba means the act of humbling oneself. lambas are generally described as very humble people in nature — and that quality is embedded in the name by which they have been known for centuries.
from the time of the bantu expansion, both the congo's katanga and zambia's copperbelt regions have been called ilamba or lambaland, after the lamba people. the copperbelt is not the copperbelt. it is lambaland. that is its original name. the lamba settled at lake kashiba — the sacred black lake in mpongwe district, whose perfectly circular, dark, and mysterious waters are surrounded by indigenous forest and have been a site of lamba spiritual significance for centuries — and from there the lamba kingdom spread eastward, northward, southward and westward across the plateau.
the lamba have fifteen chiefs in zambia and eight in the katanga province of the DRC. among the DRC chiefs is chief katanga, based in lubumbashi. the name katanga itself comes from this lamba chief. the province whose mineral wealth has shaped the history of central africa takes its name from a lamba chief.
the great river that rises in the DRC near the copperbelt — the river the lamba call lweenge at its source near kipushi — is called ulufubu as it enters the copperbelt, and then becomes the kafue as it flows southward. the kafue river — which the rivers series described as the most economically important river in zambia — begins in lamba country and carries in its name the linguistic trace of its lamba origins.
mining activities in lambaland began long before the europeans arrived — confirmed by the ancient mining sites at bwana mukubwa near ndola. the lamba were smelting and trading copper centuries before frederick russell burnham led the northern territories BSA exploration company expedition in 1895 and determined that major copper deposits existed in the region.
the copper was always there. the lamba always knew.
the people who named the copperbelt before the copper was discovered by anyone outside lambaland. whose paramount chief's name became the name of a DRC province. whose river became the kafue. whose land is now zambia's most industrialised province.
and who are still here.
the zambian kingdoms series continues. 🇿🇲