Mbole people
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Orientale Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo | 100,000 |
| Languages | |
| Mbole language | |
The Mbole people are an ethnic group of about 100,000 people as of 1971 living in the Orientale Province, southwest of Kisangani in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Mbole language belongs to the Mongo group of Bantu languages. The Mbole culture is close to that of the Mongo people and related to those of the Yela and Pere peoples. They live in the equatorial forest on both sides of the Lomami River. They once lived to the north of the Congo River. They crossed this river upstream from the point where the Lomami joins the Congo, near present-day Basoko, and then moved south to their present location. They split into five smaller groups in the 18th century due to pressure from the Bombesa people.
During the colonial era of the Belgian Congo, the Mbole were active in attacking the colonial factories in Lokilo. They called the Belgians atama-atama, or slave traders, and made no distinction between the Belgians and the earlier Arab slave traders. The Lomami Company forced the Mbole to collect large amounts of rubber. They vividly described their view of the effect of this work with the phrase wando wo limolo, meaning "tax-caused loss of weight".
The Mbole women grow manioc, bananas and rice and raise ducks, chickens and goats. The men hunt or trap game, and use nets to catch fish in the river. Local weavers and blacksmiths provide most of artifacts needed for daily life. Both men and women practice weaving, men making fish traps and wall and roof mats, and women making sleeping mats, small rectangular mats and baskets.
Men typically move to their wife's village on marriage. Villages are headed by a chief who has reached a senior position in the Lilwa society, which educates young men and some women and conducts initiation ceremonies. A group of villages may elect an area chief to represent them in a matter of shared concern, but villages are otherwise autonomous.
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