ZOMBO SCULPTURE 129 FIG. 21 (facing page right): Nlongo mask. Zombo, Angola. Early 20th century. Wood, fiber, feathers, pigment. H: 26 cm. Donated by Miss Shepherd, 1954. Collected by the donor’s brother some thirty years before. Collection of the British Museum, London, Af1954,19.1. © The Trustees of the British Museum. FIG. 22 (below): Painted nlongo panels probably from a kikaku. Zombo, Kibokolo, Uíge Province, Angola. Before 1905. Wood, pigment. H: 59.5 and 58.5 cm. Collected by the Rev. Thomas Lewis. Purchased from Edward Gerrard & Sons. Collection of the British Museum, London, Af1905,0609.19 and Af1905,0609.18. © The Trustees of the British Museum. NOTES 1. This author also mentions the Ncondos and Uembos in the “regiao do Zombo” and considers the Angolan Bankanu— whom he calls “Ncanos,” “Bacano,” or “Becanos”—a mingling of Zombo and Yaka (Iacas). 2. According to Van Wing (1959: 75) the capital of this ancient region, “le duché de Mbata,” could be found on the left bank of the Inkisi River (a tributary of the Congo River). This is not to be confused with the location of Mbata in present-day DR Congo. 3. We assume that with the adjudication of this honorary degree there was no intention to express an existing blood relationship but rather a metaphorical connection between both leaders, the mani Kongo and the mani Mbata (of the Nsaku Lau lineage). This sheds light on the interpretation of the certain other titles. Hilton (1985: 46) writes that the mani Kongo “… stood as classificatory Father to all the Mwissikongo and indeed to all the subject groups.” The title of ngudi or ngw’andi a ne Kongo—mother of the king of Kongo—was given to the former lord and spiritual leader (mani Kabunga or cameni mongo, “lord of the mountain” of the Nsaku ne Vunda lineage) of the heartland known as Mpemba Kasi, where the Kingdom of Kongo would grow from. Such relationships also relate to the three social pillars that according to Kongo belief are necessary to support the life of an individual, here the entire community. These are the mother’s clan (kimama), the father’s clan (kitata), and the clan of the maternal grandfather (kinkaka), symbolized by the three stones needed to support a cooking pot above a fire. Similarly, the leadership of the Kongo kingdom thus was ensured by the mani Kongo, the mani Nsaku Lau, and the mani Nsaku ne Vunda. 4. The eastern frontier of the Mbata province— and at that time also of the Kingdom of Kongo—had to be protected against the threatening attacks of the “Giaquas” (one of many orthographic synonyms, including “Agag” and “Jaga”), to whom the presentday Yaka people probably are related. In 1568, when these bloodthirsty stock farmers and warriors invaded the kingdom, they passed through the province of Mbata and advanced to the capital of M’banza Kongo, later San Salvador. The Kongo, assisted by the Portuguese, defeated these invaders, pushing some over the eastern border. 5. Along with Plancquaert (1932: 32) and Bontinck (1970: 24–25) we suppose that (Kongo dia) Mulaza stands for “(Kongo of) the riverains” and that this encompassed the former Mbata province and its tribute states led by the (religious) head of the Nsaku clan then known as “chimolaza,” “kimolaza,” or “ne nlaza.” 6. According to Boone (1973: 130), the “eastern Bakongo” encompasses the Dikidiki, Lula, Mbata, Mbeko, Mbinsa, Mpangu, Nkanu, Ntandu, Patu, and Zombo. 7. In use since the late sixteenth century, this trade route connected the region beyond the Kwango (the Hum or Mfinu Tio state of Okango) with the port of Luanda (1575) and passed through the area of the Zombo people and the states of Lula, Nsongo, and (Muene) Kundi. At the height of the ancient Kingdom of Kongo—the capital of which was M’banza Kongo/San Salvador—it had one branch leading to the Makoko Empire, crossing the territory of the Nsundi and Mpangu. According to Hilton (1985: 55, 73–74, map 7), the trade route from Luanda to San Salvador was developed because of the withdrawal of the Yaka over the Kwango River to the east of Mbata Province (1573). It gradually replaced the connection with the first commercial port of (M)Pinda, which ran via Makuta to San Salvador. 8. These slaves were largely Ambundu, peoples of Mbamba, and the rest were Africans from Upper Congo bought from the Bamfungunu of Kundi and the Bateke of the Pool. But among those sold were also ones taken within Mbata Province (Van Wing, 1959: 21). Pigafetta & Lopez (1591, cf. Lacroix, 1992: 63; Bal, 1963: 70 (235)) mention that these Zombo slaves were more stubborn than the others. 9. A renowned toll place was the “chicaco de Lula.” The word “chicaco” may well relate to the Kikongo word kikaku, (pl. bikaku), the symbolic border that people such as the Nkanu create during rituals such as marriage and male puberty rites (nkanda). 10. According to Birmingham (1981: 67), independent groups of bourgeois entrepreneurs took over from the state-controlled trade system in the nineteenth century. The Zombo are mentioned by this author as the most influential traders in eastern Kongo from that time onward: “They initially controlled some of the trade routes to Kinshasa and the northeastern Kongo hinterland. From there they gradually took over the management of the trade sector between the Kwango river and the lower Zaïre.” Vansina (1966: 190) writes: “By 1900 the Ntandu and Zombo (Zumbo) had also emerged as distinct cultural groups.” According to this vision, the pombeiros, African and mulatto agents recruited from among the residents of Mbata, ensured the long-distance trade between the hinterland and the coast. 11. The Livingston Inland Mission (LIM) arrived almost simultaneously in the area of Congo/ Angola with the British Baptist Missionary Society (BMS) in 1878 to create a chain of missionary stations. In 1886 the LIM developed financial problems and their stations were taken over by the Svenska Missionsförbundet (a Swedish society founded in 1878) and the ABMU (American Baptist Mission Union, later the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society (ABFMS)). 12. He died in London on December 5, 1929, and was buried in New Southgate. 13. Cf., The National Library of Wales: Welsh Biography Online (http://yba.llgc.org.uk, accessed 5/10/14). 14. This center was named after the Comber family, which lost several members who were active as missionaries for the BMS in Cameroon and Congo/Angola.
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