Babembe
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | 252,000 (1991) |
| Tanzania | 360,000 |
| Republic of the Congo | 50,000 |
| Languages | |
| Bembe language, Swahili. Lingala, English, French | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity, Islam, Malkia Waubembe | |
The Bembe are an ethnic and linguistic group based in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and western Tanzania. In 1991 the Bembe population of the DRC was estimated to number 252,000, with no estimate available for the number of Bembe in Tanzania
The Bembe (Babembe, Beembe, Cuabembe, Wabembe) originate from northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and western Tanzania. They are representative of numerous ethnic traditions including Lega, pre-Lega, Boyo-Kunda, and Bemba. They are a tough and proud people who absorbed other populations and their systems of thought in the process of carving out their current homeland in a time of widespread conflict and under economic pressure from European invaders and slave traders during the 19th century.
The Bembe in Congo-Brazzaville number 60 to 80,000, mostly living on the plateaus situated to the north of the Congo River, as well as on the shores of Stanley Pool and in the cities of Brazzaville, Dolisie, and Pointe-Noire. The Bembe traditionally had close contacts with their neighbors the Teke, but influence from the Kongo Kingdom was essential to their culture and traditions. In Tanzania, some of the Bembe people have become a part of Manyema, and Swahili people due to culture and language loss. Originally natives of Kigoma region, the Bembe people of Tanzania have stretched throughout the country from their home land of Kigoma to the island of Zanzibar.
Their social organisation was based on the matrimonial clan, whose members could live in several villages. The family unit generally included three generations. The chief in charge of the village, the nga-bula, mediated with the ancestors.
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Wikipedia