The Bemba belong to a large group of Bantu people, primarily in the Northern, Luapula, Muchinga and the northern Central Province of Zambia. The Bemba are divided into 40 matrilineal, exogamous clans, with members dispersed over the country.
The Bemba are said to have left the Congo in the 18th or early 19th century and identify as a branch of the Luba empire. A supreme chief, the Chitimukulu, who belonged to a single, matrilineal royal clan, oversaw their organized government. Members of this clan were powerful because of the holiness of their bodies and the prayers they offered to ancestral spirits at relic shrines, which were believed to have an impact on the land’s fertility and the well-being of the populace as a whole. Among the Bantu speakers, their funeral and accession rituals are perhaps of the most ornate.
Bemba people practice shifting cultivation, pollarding the forest trees and planting the staple, finger millet, in the ash derived from burning the branches. Poor soil and inadequate transportation have hindered the production and sale of cash crops, and in the 1960s and 1970s many men began to leave the area to find work in the copper mines more than 400 miles (640 km) to the south.
The core Bemba group’s population is approximately 400,000, excluding those who have permanently settled in urban areas. The first colonial censuses between 1910 and 1930 estimated the number at 100,000; in 1963 the figure was 250,000. Including those permanently settled in urban areas, the number of people who identify themselves as Bemba is 741,114. However, those who speak IchiBemba as a first language number approximately 3.7 million, accounting for nearly a third of Zambia’s population and a significant proportion of the million inhabitants of southern Katanga.
The Bemba are expert woodworkers who create basic drums, tables, and stools. They also create their own baskets and clothing. Women accessorize with anklets, ivory bracelets, and beaded necklaces.
Marital residence is matrilocal, and descent, sib affinity, and office succession all follow the matrilineal line. Each person’s rank in the community and his succession to various positions are determined by his matrilineal ancestry. Additionally, he is a member of a matrilineal, exogamous sib (mukoa), which is significant for some hereditary positions. The Bemba have roughly thirty sibs, and their position is determined by their relationship to the royal crocodile sib.
