ENSALA

Ensala (187-circa 1926), a former slave, rose to prominence in colonial times as  ruler over the large Bobangi chiefdom extending from the mouth of the Ubangi  River in the south to Buburu, about 120 km (75 mi) beyond the confluence of the Ubangi and Giri rivers, in the north. Ensala, who governed for several decades, succeeded Bolangwa when he died in 1910.

Ensala’s origins are somewhat obscure. Of either Ngombe or Mongo ethnic background, he was born near the Ikelemba River which empties into the Zaire River near modern Mbandaka. Eventually, he was sold as a slave to a man named Dangi living in Bobangi territory. Dangi in turn was the slave of Moli from Ekango.

In Bobangi society, slaves frequently assumed key roles in commerce, thereby  gaining great wealth and power. It was not unusual for a slave to purchase his  freedom and rise to a position of political authority. This was true of Ensala, for  when Bolangwa died in 1910, Belgian colonial agents selected Ensala to fill the vacant office.

For seven years Ensala ruled the great Bobangi chiefdom as it had been organised in Bolangwa’s time. Like Bolangwa, Ensala exercised power only over the Bobangi and their immediate neighbours; the groups north of the mouth of the Giri mainly were left to their own devices. Eventually, in 1918, the colonial government reorganised the Bobangi chiefdom by removing the loosely administered northern areas from Ensala’s jurisdiction. Enforcing the provisions of a March 28, 1912 royal decree concerning local government structures, the Belgians transferred the Bokongo, Mampako, Njondo, Bangele, Makutu, and Mangba, sub-chiefdoms to the reorganised Bangala district with headquarters at Nouvelle-Anvers (now Makanza) on the Zaire River.

From that time onwards, the Bobangi chiefdom only comprised a series of villages situated on the left bank of the Ubangi from its confluence with the Giri as far as its mouth; these included Loka, Lilanga, Bokwango, Bobangi, Bangala, and Bong- wande Lokekia. In 1926, the administrator of the territory of Coquilhatville (now Mbandaka), M. Delobbe, proposed to extend Ensala’s authority south to include part of the Ngele ya ntando people of Irebu, located about 80 km (50 mi) downstream from present-day Mbandaka. This annexation, however, never took place.

Not only were the boundaries of Ensala’s domain determined by colonial agents, his authority within the chiefdom was also limited by the Europeans. Although Ensala’s territory contained a large amount of copal, his people, who were primarily fishermen, never worked to collect the resin. When other Africans came to exploit the copal within the bounds of Ensala’s chiefdom, local Bobangi people and chiefs lodged numerous complaints. They even went so far as to demand that tribute be paid to them in return for the copal taken by the “foreigners.” The colonial administration opposed any such tax and Ensala was unable to regulate copal production in his land.

In general, both the state agents and the Bobangi people regarded Ensala as a great chief. According to a 1926 administrative report, Ensala enjoyed “great influence among his tribe as well as beyond. Furthermore, he [had] incontestable chiefly qualities: calmness, a certain uprightness of spirit in relation to his subjects, and a great deal of common sense.”

The example of Ensala and of other former slaves who became great chiefs in the lower Ubangi region challenges the opinion that all the slaves coming from the Lulonga and Ikelemba river areas and sold among the Bobangi should be considered as human chattel or as social dregs. Their condition was less deplorable than it was thought to be.

MUMBANZA mwa BAWELE na NYABAKOMBI ENSOBATO