I immediately set about questioning senior members of the local Mfuwe village about their migration from the Congo into the Luangwa Valley (part of Northern Rhodesia prior to the 1960s) only to receive anecdotal stories of a migration in the 18th century. While the Kunda were a large majority of the people living in the districts surrounding the park, two other tribes, the Chikunda and Ngoni, were also present as minorities. I soon determined that it was enslavement and internecine warfare that caused large migrations into the Luangwa Valley. The valley had been unpopulated due to its inability to support livestock with a high density of carnivores and because of the sleeping sickness disease. In the absence of a colonial army, Portuguese landlords hired individuals who voluntary sold themselves for economic survival and collectively they became the Chikunda.

Source: The North Africa Journal November 21, 2023 02:39 UTC