The Boma Kingdom, Ibar, or Giribuma was a polity in the Congo Basin of the Boma people, around Lake Mai-Ndombe.[1][2] It split from Mwene Muji in the early 17th century.[3]: 41 In the 1640s, the Boma Kingdom was said to control fifteen "kings" and to be one of the "mightiest kingdoms in Africa". By the end of the 19th century, Boma surpassed Mwene Muji to become the major power in the Lower Kasai region.[3]: 36
Boma Kingdom | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| c. 1600–c. 1900 | |||||||||
| Capital | Mbali | ||||||||
| Ngeliboma | |||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Established | c. 1600 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | c. 1900 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Boma oral traditions, collected in 1926, detail how the Boma people have inhabited the region, following a group of leaders south down the Kwango River to escape their elders forcing them to work in mines. They settled in three waves, creating subdivisions in the group. The tale then goes on to detail the conquest of the region by the Ngeli, one of the elders they had fled from, thus giving the leaders of the Boma Kingdom, ngeliboma, legitimacy by being elders of the original founders.[a][3]: 38
Notes
edit- ^ It may be unclear whether "original founders" refers to a previous Boma dynasty or to Mwene Muji.
References
edit- ^ Vansina, J. (1962). "Long-Distance Trade-Routes in Central Africa". The Journal of African History. 3 (3): 375–390. doi:10.1017/S0021853700003303. ISSN 1469-5138.
- ^ Koni Muluwa, Joseph; Bostoen, Koen (2015). Lexique comparé des langues bantu du Kwilu (République démocratique du Congo). Vol. 48. Rüdiger Köppe Verlag. ISBN 978-3-89645-564-2.
- ^ a b c Thornton, John (2024). "Mwene Muji: A Medieval Empire in Central Africa?". The Journal of African History. 65 (1): 30–46. doi:10.1017/S0021853724000161. ISSN 0021-8537.