The Nzebi or Bandjabis (plural of Nzébi) are a Bantu people from Central Africa who live in Gabon and the Republic of Congo. They speak many dialects, including Bandjabi, Adouma, Awandji, Batsiagui, and Sihou (or Bassissihou).
Oral tradition indicates that the Nzebis are from the village of Koto in Gabon’s Ngounié province. This ethnic group is made up of seven clans: the Maghambas, Mouandas, Bassangas, Mitshimbas, Cheyis, Baghulis (Barouli), and Mboundous. The seven patriarchs, who descended from Nzebi, established these clans.
The vast majority of Nzebi people live in small villages and towns scattered across southern Gabon’s forested areas, with a minor group living across the border in southwestern Congo. Many, however, are located in Gabon’s largest urban centers, particularly the capital, Libreville. Beginning in the 1930s, the Christian & Missionary Alliance helped establish the church among the Nzebi people. Today, a congregation gathers in practically every Nzebi community for worship and instruction.
According to 101lasttribes, the Nzebi people are mostly subsistence farmers who cultivate manioc, plantains, corn, yams, sugarcane, taro, peppers, oranges, pineapples, and bananas. Local marketplaces sell small-income crops such as coffee, peanuts, palm oil, dried fish, and yams. The Nzebi also go hunting and fishing. They are adequately educated, with a relatively high French literacy rate. Gabon’s stability, which has been built on solid leadership and abundant oil reserves, has made electricity and clean water available to many people in cities, towns, and villages, but some still lack one or both.
Numerous explorers, missionaries, and first administrators describe them as “an industrious and prosperous people who actively participate in long-distance trade by exchanging their diverse products.” In the nineteenth century, they were the premier rubber producers; they worked, hunted, and grew bananas and peanuts. He creates pottery and forges his own weapons using barrel circles.
Men’s memories store Nzèbi knowledge. The muyambili (the one who speaks) transmitted knowledge through his or her words. He learned at an early age and was known for his reserved and courteous demeanor. Adulthood marks the end of one’s education. It is passed on by a maternal uncle, a clansman, or simply the grandfather.
The village also produces what it requires in terms of basketry, pottery, weaving (a vertical loom with one row of heddles borrowed from the Téké), and wood, which includes kitchen instruments, combs and stools. Gathering padauk (Pterocarpus soyauxii) was previously vital for several ethnic groups’ body painting and rituals, including the Nzèbi.
