Ilambi is a community in the Tshopo Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the Lomami River. It is 20 kilometres (12 mi) to the south of the point where the Lomani enters the Congo River.[1] Most of the inhabitants are Topoke people.[2]

Ilambi
Ilambi is located in Democratic Republic of the Congo
Ilambi
Ilambi
Coordinates: 0°38′22″N 24°11′02″E / 0.6394°N 24.1838°E / 0.6394; 24.1838
CountryDemocratic Republic of Congo
ProvinceTshopo

Colonial era

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In the colonial era, the Lomami Company forced the people of the Lomami River region from Opala and Lokilo down to Ilambi to collect large amounts of rubber. The Mbole people vividly described their view of the effect of this work with the phrase wando wo limolo, meaning "tax-caused loss of weight".[3] A 1903 account by a British traveler noted that the company was doing a large trade in rubber and ivory. It went on: "The natives are quite satisfied, work well and give very little trouble, although it is necessary to punish them sometimes, and as usual, the prisoners on the chain are given work to do outside the prison".[4]

References

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  1. ^ Revue de zoologie et de botanique africaines, Volume 35. 1942. p. 324.
  2. ^ Bilusa Baila Boingaoli (1993). "Recherche sur l'identité ethnique du peuple Topoke (haut-zaire)". Civilisations (41): 103–116. doi:10.4000/civilisations.1693. Retrieved 2011-10-08.
  3. ^ Likaka, Osumaka (2009). Naming colonialism: history and collective memory in the Congo, 1870-1960. Univ of Wisconsin Press. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-299-23364-8.
  4. ^ Marcus R. P. Dorman (1903). A Journal of a Tour in the Congo Free State. Kegan Paul, Trenchm Trubner & Co. p. 169. ISBN 1-4510-1745-6.