M’SIRI NGELENGWA

M’Siri (or Mushidi) Ngelengwa (circa 1830-Decem-ber 21, 1891), a Nyamwezi interloper from east of Lake Tanganyika, established a vast commercial and political empire in the Shaba region.

M’Siri was born to Kalasa Mazuri and Manena Lya-banza in about 1830. Kalasa Mazuri, chief of Usumbwa province of Manua Sera, which Mirambo ruled after 1856, had worked for Swahili merchants as a porter. After a time, Kalasa forced another Nyam-wezi trader, a man named Kafasia, to give up his commerce to Itabwa and the kingdom of Kazembe, in the Lake Mweru and southwestern Lake Tanganyika area.

Once Kafasia relinquished his monopoly, Kalasa Mazuri became the kirongozi (caravan chief) for those territories. In about 1830, accompanied by his cousin Magulu, Kalasa led a caravan south to Shaba, where he hoped to purchase copper ingots. Although the Nyamwezi, known as the Yeke (hunters) in Shaba, could smelt and work iron, they did not yet know how to refine copper, a skill they learned later from the conquered people of Shaba.

 The Yeke arrived in Shaba where they were well received by chief Katanga of the Lamba, about 30 km (20 mi) east of modern Likasi, as well as Pande of the Sanga (situated near Likasi), chief Sampwe of the Lomotwa who lived about 160 km (100 mi) north of Likasi, and chief Kinyama of the Aushi (settled east of the Lomba along the Lupula River). Kalasa made alliances with these chiefs by sealing a pact in blood. Leaving many Yeke in the region, Kalasa returned to Usumbwa with much copper, ivory, and possibly many slaves. On his last journey to Shaba, Kalasa presented his son, M’Siri Ngelengwa, to the chiefs of the region. Thus, Ngelengwa inherited his father’s commercial network. Previously, he had worked as a porter in Swahili caravans.

In 1856, M’Siri passed through the capital of Chin-yat Munona, Kazembe (Lunda governor) of the Luapula river area. Despite opposition from his notables, Chinyat granted him passage through his land because the Nyamwezi adventurer gave the Kazembe a vaccine against smallpox, which had been ravaging the area. From the Kazembe’s domain, M’Siri went on to live at the court of the old chief Katanga. Welcoming this son of his friend Kalasa, Chief Katanga gave M’Siri Ngelengwa numerous copper ingots, two daughters in marriage, and some land near the Lutipuka stream.
Having established a foothold in the area, M’Siri Ngelengwa moved quickly to gain political control. No other chief in the region, not even the powerful Kazembe of the Luapula, was able to stop him. Once he had settled in chief Katanga’s domain, other Nyamwezi from Usumbwa joined him. With many guns and a large number of fellow countrymen, M’Siri became a potent political force.
At first, M’Siri used his strength to regulate local quarrels. For example, he helped Chief Katanga by pillaging the village of a disobedient sub-chief, Kapema. Following this action against Kapema, Chief Pande Mutaba of the Sanga asked for M’Siri’s aid in punishing the rebellious chiefs Kyana Kyamu and Sangatile. M’Siri returned from his Sanga expedition with a considerable booty of slaves, which he shared with his suzerain, Katanga. In addition, he dispatched slaves, ivory, and copper to Usumbwa in Tanzania. Recognised as the major police force in Shaba, he was greatly feared by local chiefs.

When old Chief Katanga died, soon afterward, M’Siri laid claim to Katanga’s office by purchasing fabric for the burial shroud. In the ensuing battle for succession, M’Siri killed Katanga’s sons and gained recognition as chief of the Lamba of the Katanga in about 1860. Shortly thereafter, M’Siri progressively took over Pande’s lands. In the name of friendship, Pande offered M’Siri a portion of his lands. Convinced of his ability to conquer Pande completely, M’Siri refused the gift, agreeing instead to receive a mission of the Sanga notables. In the end, M’Siri eliminated all the Sanga who opposed him and forced Chief Pande to give him the emblems of power. Thus, M’Siri was recognised as the legitimate Sanga ruler, while Pande spent the rest of his life in captivity. Having become the supreme chief of the Lamba and the Sanga, M’Siri received obedience from chiefs Sampwe and Kinyama, fought the Luba, and appropriated the land between Lake Kisale and Lake Mweru. Although eventually, the Kazembe sent warriors to control the Yeke aggressor, he acted far too late. Kashib, the Kazembe’s Lunda governor over the land between the Luapula and the Lualuba rivers, betrayed the army charged with deposing and expelling M’Siri. Led by the nephews of the Kazembe Mongo Sunkutu, the army fell into a snare laid by M’Siri and Kashib. The army was exterminated and, from then on, the Kazembe of Luapula was completely cut off from Musumba, the Lunda capital, from which his conquering ancestors Kanyimbu Newej Mpemb and Lukwesa Ilunga had come. As a result of this great defeat, almost all the local sub-chiefs, even the Kazembe’s supposed Lunda relatives, declared their allegiance to M’Siri.

M’Siri drew his strength from the carbines and powder which he received from the Wangwana (Swahili) in exchange for slaves, copper and ivory. While he was fighting with the Kazembes of Luapula, he was careful to send gifts to the Swahili merchants who were also his potential enemies. In addition, he dispatched presents to the Lunda Mwant Yav (supreme chief), who provided him with a link to the Atlantic trade. Within Shaba itself, M’Siri demanded a constant flow of tribute from the peoples he had defeated. The death of M’Siri’s father in about 1880 resulted in discontent and schism among the Yeke in Shaba.

When Kalasa Mazuri died in his homeland, M’Siri was asked to return and reign over Usumbwa. Although his brother, Kabebe, wished to replace him in Garanganza (the name of M’Siri’s state), M’Siri refused to return home and proclaimed himself ruler of Garanganza. Many Yeke, who had come with M’siri, were greatly disappointed by this deed because they supported yet another man, M’Siri’s cousin Mutimbi, for the rulership. When Mutimbi’s partisans rebelled, M’Siri and his brother, Kabobo Lukulu, attacked them at Kapolowe. Initially suffering defeat, M’Siri renewed his attack and pushed his rivals across the Luvua River, which leads out of Lake Mweru. Once the Mutimbi faction had been expelled, M’Siri attacked the Bena Mitumba and established his capital, Bunkeya, 75 km (45 mi) north of modern Likasi, on their territory.

From 1880 to 1886, M’Siri’s state, then at the peak of its power, grew in size following campaigns against the Luba east of the Lualaba River. M’Siri captured many slaves, and the entire southern part of the Luba empire – save the Lake Kisale chiefdom of Kikondja – yielded to the Yeke army commanded by the Swahili, Said bin Ali. Although the superiority of M’Siri’s firearms and Swahili auxiliaries was crushing, a campaign against the Luba chief, Kayumba, was aborted as M’Siri had to contend with rebels among the Bena Mitumba and the Lamba. In addition, a small war against the Kazembe of Lualaba (not to be confused with the Kazembe of the Luapula to the east) was halted quickly so as not to jeopardise trade routes through the Lunda empire and Bihé in Angola.

After 1886, M’Siri’s empire weakened. With the half-brother of Kazembe Kanyimbu Ntemana, M’Siri launched a series of fruitless campaigns against the Kazembe of the Luapula. Not only did Kanyimbu Nemana capture and kill his traitor brother, but he also defeated the Yeke army. As M’Siri grew older, his regime became more repressive and cruel. Thus, local populations, notably the Sanga, began a series of rebellions which undercut M’Siri’s authority. The Sanga, Lamba, and Lunda people in M’Siri’s domain were increasingly able to obtain guns and powder from Ovimbundu and Lwena traders, who were often promoting political instability in order to obtain more slaves.

At the same time, in retaliation for the high-handed manner in which M’Siri treated them, the Swahili merchants progressively refused to supply the Yeke ruler with powder. By 1890, M’Siri’s men found it unsafe to travel far from the capital, Bunkeya. Sensing that he could not hold out much longer, M’Siri envisioned returning to Usumbwa and even negotiated for protection from his old enemy, the Kazembe. But M’Siri was unable to escape before being destroyed by a new European power. Already on February 14, 1886, the British missionary Frederich Arnot arrived in Burkeya. Then, in 1891, several expeditions of the Congo Free State reached M’Siri’s capital. When, on December 21, 1891, M’Siri refused to submit to Capt. William Stairs, the old chief, was shot by a Belgian captain, O. P. Bodson.

TSHIBANGU KABET MUSAS