The Ngbandi are an ethnic group from the upper Ubangi River basin, living in the northern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and southern Central African Republic. They traditionally speak the Ngbandi language, which belongs to the Ubangian language family. Historically, the Ngbandi were subsistence farmers, and many continue to raise maize, manioc, and other food crops. Until recently, a portion of their subsistence was based on traditional hunting and gathering.
The Ngbandi traditionally lived in compact villages consisting of a single row of dwellings. They have been mainly patrilineal, though there have been circumstances in which a man might reside with his maternal uncle.
Ngbandi chiefs have acted as arbiters and priests of the ancestral cult central to traditional social life. Polygyny is practiced but has been on the decline for many years.
Belgian ethnographers favor the word Ngbandi, although the French associate these people with “Ubangian” peoples such as the Gbanziri, Nzakara, Sango, and Yakoma. The Ngbandi migrated from what is now South Sudan, settling and integrating a variety of minor communities in their current homeland. Ngbandi of the Bandia clan invaded Zande territory in the 18th century, establishing a series of states; they adopted Zande culture and language and are today unrecognizable from that tribe.
Their communities were dispersed, with little overall governmental organization; a hamlet was typically made up of an extended family or patrilineal clan. The Ngbandi originally lived in tiny villages with a single row of homes.
The Ngbandi live in villages made up of a double row of huts along a wide street or extended plaza, with the headman’s hut in the middle. Dwellings are spherical, with cylindrical mud walls (one source suggests bark or planks) and conical thatched roofs. According to the same source, there are also rectangular constructions with gabled roofs.
They have primarily been patrilineal, though in some cases a man may live with his maternal uncle. Ngbandi leaders have served as arbiters and priests of the ancestral worship, which is important to traditional social interactions. Figures, masks, pipes, necklaces, sticks, musical instruments, and zoomorphic statuettes for hunting are examples of artistic items.
