Early Congolese history begun with waves of Bantu migration from 2000 BC to 500 ad moving into the basin from the northwest and covers
the pre-colonial states absorbed or overthrown by the colonial powers. The Bantu migration added to and displaced the indigenous Pygmy
populations into the southern regions of Congo states. The Bantu imported agriculture and iron-working techniques from West Africa into
the area, as well as establishing the Bantu language family as the primary set of tongues for the Congolese.
In the fifth century, a society began to develop in the Upemba depression along the banks of the Lualaba River in Katanga. This culture,
known as the Upemba would eventually evolve in to the more significant Luba Empire, as well as Kingdom of Lunda.
The dominant political force of the Congo region prior to and during the initial arrival of Europeans was the Kongo Empire. The Kongo was
a highly developed state located primarily in the southwest portion of the modern Congo, and also occupying portions of northern Angola and
Cabinda. At its greatest extent, the empire reached from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Kwango River in the east, and from the Point
Noire in the north to the Loje River in the south. In its prime, the Kingdom exalted taxes, forced labour, and collected fines from its citizens in order to prosper.
The Luba Kingdom arose out of the Upemba culture and was founded by King Kongolo around 1585. His nephew and immediate, Kalala Ilunga, expanded into an
Empire over neighbouring states on the upper left bank territories of the Lualaba River. The Luba Empire’s success was due in large part to its development of a form of a
government durable enough to withstand the disruptions of succession disputes and flexible enough to incorporate foreign leaders and governments.
It was based on the twin principles of sacred kingship and rule by council.
The birth of the Lunda Kingdom is traced back to Ilunga Tshibinda who left his brother’s Luba Kingdom and married a princess from an area in the south of Katanga.
Their son, Mwaant Yav or Mwata Yamvo formed the central Lunda Kingdom there with a population of about 175,000 and became its ruler from 1660 to 1665. His title
and name was passed to his descendants and successors as rulers of the Kingdom. The Lunda Kings became powerful militarily and then politically through marriage
with descendants of the Luba Kings.
The Yeke Kingdom (or Garanganze Kingdom) in Katanga was short-lived, existing from about 1856 to 1891 under one king, Msiri, a Nyamwezi (also known as ‘Yeke’)
from Tabora in Tanzania who got himself appointed as successor to a Wasanga chief west of the Luapula River by defeating the chief’s Lunda enemies. Once
installed he conquered the neighbouring tribes and expanded the chieftainship into a Kingdom, taking over the western territory of Mwata Kazembe and
subjugating tribes in the southwest, on the trading route to Angola. When King Leopold II of Belgium and the British imperialist Cecil Rhodes heard that
the Yeke Kingdom controlled east-west trade and was rich in copper and possibly gold, they sent competing expeditions to try and obtain a treaty for the Kingdom.
The Kuba Kingdom, or more accurately, the Kuba Federation, was a political entity (one comprising a collection of approximately twenty Bantu ethnic groups)
that began to develop out of the number of centralized, ethnically Bantu states (namely the Luba, the Leele, and the Wongo ethnic groups). Because of its
relative remoteness in the southern Congo, Kuba was largely spared the turmoil of both European and Arab trades. As a result, the civilisation was able to
maintain itself until the 19th century.
