History of Southern Africa









History of the Barotse (Lozi) Kingdom



Located in what is western Zambia today, the Barotse or Lozi kingdom was a Bantu state. In 1838, the KALOLO invaders (from Lesotho) conquered it and superimposed their rule. DAVID LIVINGSTONE met their chief SEBITUANE in 1851. The Barotse regained control in 1864. The first English traders arrived in 1872. In 1878, LEWANIKA succeeded SIPOPA as the chief of the Lozi. In 1886 Lewanika permitted the establishment of a mission and school. According to Meyers Konversationslexikon, his state had c. 900,000 inhabitants; the two main places were Laroe and Neuschescheke. In 1890, 1898, 1906 and 1909 Lewanika granted concession to various applicants, which ended up in the hands of Cecil Rhodes' BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA COMPANY, granting it excessive mining and other rights, in effect recognizing the company's sovereignty. However, Barotseland retained a certain degree of autonomy within the territory of the BSAC, which was to last throughout colonial history.

In 1900 the British South Africa Company began to refer to the region as Northwestern Rhodesia, in 1911 merged with Northeastern Rhodesia to form Northern Rhodesia. Within this geographical entity, early in the century, Barotseland was the most developed, had the highest population density. A map of 1913 shows that within Northern Rhodesia, mission stations concentrated in Barotseland.






HISTORIC MAPS Map of Africa 1881, from Andree's Allgemeiner Handatlas, features Marutse-Mambunda Kingdom
Map of Africa 1890, from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Am. edition, 1890, shows N. Rhodesia as not claimed by Colonial Powers, refers to Barotseland as settled by Makolo Tribes
Map of Africa 1892, from Gardiner's Atlas of English History, N. Rhod. described 'British Sphere of Influence', borders unrefined
Map of 1913 featuring African Religions, from J.G. Bartholomew, Literary and Historical Atlas of Africa and Australasia 1913, from Perry Castaneda Library, UTexas


EXTERNAL
FILES 		Articles from Infoplease : Western Province (of Zambia), Zambia, History of
Links to Zambian history from Looksmart
History of Zambia, from Africa Insites.com, emphasizes the history of indigenous groups
DOCUMENTS Article Marutse-Mambunda, P.1, P.2, from Meyers Konversationslexikon, 1888-1890 edition, in German
REFERENCE John J. Grotpeter, Historical Dictionary of Zambia, Metuchen : Scarecrow 1979



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2001, last revised on November 7th 2004

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