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Bemba
AbaBemba
Flag of the Bemba people
Total population
4,100,000[1]
Regions with significant populations
Zambia (Northern and Luapula
Tshopo (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Languages
Bemba language
Religion
Christianity, traditional African religions
Related ethnic groups
Lungu and other Bantu peoples
Person
UmuBemba
People
AbaBemba, Awemba, BaWemba
Language
IchiBemba
Country
Kulubemba
The Bemba belong to a large group of Bantu peoples, primarily in the Northern, Luapula, Muchinga and the northern Central Province of Zambia. The Bemba entered Zambia before 1740 by crossing the Luapula River from Kola. Several other ethnic groups in the northern and Luapula regions of Zambia speak languages which are similar to Bemba, but have different origins. The Bemba people are not indigenous to Copperbelt Province; they arrived there during the 1930s due to employment opportunities in copper mining.
Living in villages of 100 to 200 people, they numbered 250,000 in 1963. The ethnicities known today as the Bemba have a ruling clan known as Abena Ng'andu. This clan traces its ancestry to Mbemba Nshinga who ruled the Kingdom of Kongo from 1509 to 1543.[citation needed] The traditional ruler of ethnic Bemba is Chitimukulu. The Bemba are one of the larger ethnic groups in Zambia, and their history illustrates the development of chieftainship in a large and culturally-homogeneous region of Central Africa. The word Bemba originally meant a great expanse, like the sea.
A distinction exists between Bemba-speaking peoples and ethnic Bemba. There are 18 Bemba clans. These clans stopped the northward march of the Nguni and Sotho-Tswana-descended Ngoni people through Chief Chileshe Chitapankwa Muluba.
Bemba history is more aligned with that of East African tribes than the other tribes of Zambia. The reported Bemba arrival from Kola was misinterpreted by the Europeans to mean Angola. Oral Bemba folklore says that the Bemba originated from Mumbi Mukasa, a long-eared woman who fell from heaven. The Kikuyu of Kenya have the same folklore and similar traditions, including the way traditional huts were built. Bemba vocabulary includes deserts and camels, about which they would not have known if they were from Angola.
^"Bemba | Joshua Project". Joshua Project. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
Bemba belong to a large group of Bantu peoples, primarily in the Northern, Luapula, Muchinga and the northern Central Province of Zambia. The Bemba entered...
Bemba language, ChiBemba (also Cibemba, Ichibemba, Icibemba and Chiwemba), is a Bantu language spoken primarily in north-eastern Zambia by the Bemba people...
Suzy Bemba (French: [syzi bɛmba]; born 22 June 2000 in Diou, Allier) is a French actress known for her appearances in Poor Things, Homecoming, and Kandisha...
(Chibemba), a Bantu language spoken in Zambia Bembapeople (AbaBemba), an ethnic group of central Africa Bemba, or bembe, a Caribbean drum used in the music...
journey, the Nsenga people had an intimate encounter with the Bembapeople. Under the instruction of their leader Chitimukulu, the Bemba fighters ambushed...
majority of modern Zambians. While there is some evidence that the Bembapeople or AbaBemba have a strong ancient connection to the Kongo Kingdom through BaKongo...
President Ange-Félix Patassé sought Bemba's assistance in suppressing a rebellion led by François Bozizé. Bemba was accused of being criminally responsible...
different largely Bantu peoples such as the Bembapeople, Lozi people, Yao people, Luvale people, Shona people, and Luba people. Despite the relatively...
common people and that of their Chiefs. The common people of the Mambwe and the Lungu of Tafuna (but not those of Mukupa-Kaoma who are essentially bemba speakers)...
of Mukupa Kaoma are all matrilineal and have far more in common with the Bemba. The two main groups of Lungu have been distinct and separate throughout...
took place as far as the region to the south of Lake Tanganyika. The Bembapeople of Northern Zambia descended from Luba migrants who arrived in Zambia...
mainly to the Bembapeople, and to their Senior Chief Nkula who is eligible to ascend to the throne of Paramount Chief of the BembaPeople based in Mungwi...
20th century. The Bembapeople, who live in what is now Zambia, traditionally ate what was available depending on weather patterns. Bemba meals included...
Luba descent were the Lunda Empire and Maravi Empire. The Bembapeople and Basimba people of northern Zambia were descended from Luba migrants who arrived...
majority of modern Zambians. While there is some evidence that the Bembapeople or AbaBemba have a strong ancient connection to the Kongo Kingdom through BaKongo...
Jeannot Bemba Saolona (3 September 1942 - 1 July 2009) was a Congolese businessman, Minister of the Economy and Industry, and Senator for Équateur. He...
The Bantu peoples are an ethnolinguistic grouping of approximately 400 distinct native African ethnic groups who speak Bantu languages. The languages...
Africa, including southern Africa (Mozambique, Mbunda people and Bembapeople in Zambia, Khoisan peoples including Tshwa San). L2a1e is defined by the mutations...
breakup in 1995 and since then tours regularly with his live band, Radio Bemba. Chao's mother, Felisa Ortega, is from Bilbao, Basque Country, and his father...
closely related to people in surrounding regions such as the Tumbuka and Nsenga. They are historically also related to the Bemba, with whom they share...
the middle of five children. Her mother, a dancer, Theresa is from the Bembapeople while her father, an insurance broker and some-time DJ, is from the Tumbuka...
Sillitoe had had a relationship with Mary Museba, a local woman of the Bembapeople, from the Abercorn District of Northern Rhodesia; they had a son, John...
to live among the Taabwa. The former is reported to be the territory of Bemba-speaking Twa. Pygmies Classification of Pygmy languages A local variant...
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