NGEMBA

Ngemba (circa 1820-September, 1886), also known as Mata-Boike, was a famous warrior-leader of the Iboko and Mabale people, living at Makanza on the Zaire (now Congo) River, about 200 km (120 mi) north of what is now Mbandaka. Through his relations with the Anglo-American explorer Henry Morton Stanley (1841- 1904) and Camille Coquilhat (governor of the Congo Free State from 1891-92), Ngemba played a significant role in opening Central Africa to European expansion. Because of his contacts with the colonialists, the Iboko and Mabale people, subsequently called Bangala by the whites, became key actors in the modernisation of the Congo state (now Zaire).

PHOTO CAPTION: Ngemba, shaking hands with Coquilhat SOURCE: EA Library

The Iboko once lived at the confluence of the Ubangi and the Giri rivers. In the early 18th century, they migrated from that region to settle at Wambala on the mid-Giri. Then, under the leadership of Lokole, Ngemba’s grandfather, the Iboko travelled east along the Mabale channel until they reached the right bank of the Zaire River, where the group broke into two parts.

Lokole, leading the northern section, settled at the present site of Makanza. The southern section, however, was attacked by the Boloki, another group. of Giri river people who had arrived in the area some years before. Those southern Iboko, who managed to escape from the Boloki, rejoined Lokole’s northern group. The Iboko then allied with the Mabale from Djongo, on the crest of the Zaire and Giri rivers.

Together, the Iboko and Mabale attacked the Boloki, forcing the Bobeka division of the Boloki northeast to the mouth of Mongala River, 80 km (50 mi) northeast of Makanza. After driving away some Ngombe groups who earlier had settled on part of the land, the united Iboko and Mabale gained firm control over the Makanza area. The union between the Ibokos and the Mabales was further strengthened by numerous exchanges of women and by the need for cooperation against the Boloki of Bobeka, who constantly were trying to avenge their earlier defeat.

It was in this atmosphere of conflict that Ngemba was born. His father, Matamumbete, died in a fight against the Bobeka. Matamumbete’s brother Boike then took charge of military operations against the Bobeka. He also gained control of the political and economic affairs of the Iboko and Mabale.

When Ngemba (also known as Engwangola) succeeded his uncle Boike, the Ibokos and Mabales were experien cing demographic expansion (in 1885, Coquilhat estimated this growing population at about 30,000). Thus, some units detached themselves and occupied small areas almost as far cast as the Mongala River. In addition, the Iboko were enjoying economic prosperity because of the growing tide of commercial activity on the rivers.

The Iboko region was the most important ivory market in the region. These facts combined to give another turn to the old political rivalries. Ngemba, who had taken the name Mata-Boike, meaning great prophet, or soothsayer, took advantage of Iboko demographic, military, and commercial growth to increase his own political power.

Through trade, his sons acquired many guns. Thus, Ngemba, an able strategist, led his men to many victories over other peoples of the region. Although Mata-Boike ruled the Iboko-Mabale groups, he made no attempt to govern the other inhabitants of the river between Losengo, upstream from Makanza and Bonsembe, downstream.

Nevertheless, those peoples sought his protection or at least tried to live on good terms with him. Thus Coquilhat could write: “Mata-Boike was governing one of the largest states on the shores of equatorial Congo.” His old enemies, the Bobeka, even though under the effective leadership of Monoko mwa Nkoi, could not stand against Mata-Boike. They had abandoned their river villages, some years before the Europeans arrived in 1883, to settle on the lower Mongala River, about 25 km (25 mi) further east.

In internal politics, Mata-Boike was a skilled arbiter rather than a supreme decision-maker. His power was by no means absolute; important decisions for the whole community came only after long public palavers between the chiefs and the notables of the confederation. In giving the last word, Mata-Boike expressed the consensus of such meetings. In commercial dealings, he exercised a virtual monopoly. Because of his prestige, most of the merchants from upstream came to trade with him at Makanza.

When Stanley arrived in Iboko-Mabale territory in February 1877, Mata-Boike’s men attacked the expedition. From that time on, the Iboko and Mabale people were labelled “the Bangalas” in European writings. Their courage, which earned them the nickname “the Ashantis of the Livingstone River,” focused European attention upon them. Thus, when Stanley—who in the meantime had begun working for King Leopold II of Belgium (reigned 1865-1909) — returned to the Iboko people in October 1883, one of his main objectives was to gain their friendship and to use their power to dominate other groups in the region.

Mata-Boike now welcomed the Europeans traveling from the Equator station (now Mbandaka) to Stanley Falls (of what is now Kisangani). But when the Europeans tried to settle at Iboko in January 1884, they faced strong opposition from Mata-Boike’s subjects. The second attempt to settle there in May of that same year also would have failed had Mata-Boike himself not decided to receive the Europeans at Makanza.

Mata-Boike’s decision was based on economic and especially political considerations. Since he was then old and unable to lead an expedition against the Bobeka, he wanted to use his guests as allies to annihilate his enemies once and for all. He failed, however, to achieve his goals.

Not only did the Europeans at Makanza, (then called Bangala Station) refuse to fight the Bobeka, they also broke the economic monopoly that Mata-Boike had previously won for himself. From that time onwards, and especially in 1888, the Bangala Station assumed control of the river trade. In spite his disappointments, Mata-Boike — of whom Stanley said, “he must have been erstwhile the most astonishing specimen of physical virility which could be found in Equatorial Africa”— honoured his commitments to the Europeans and did not attempt to repel them. Doubtlessly because of the friendship he developed with the first chief of the station, Camille Coquilhat, Mata-Boike gave material aid to the new station and tried to regulate the relationship between his subjects and his guests.

From the beginning, he offered the Europeans some of his men, including his children, to guide them in their numerous observation missions around the country. Thus it was owing to Mata-Boike’s assistance that the Europeans were able to strengthen their position at Iboko and then throughout the whole of the region. Having grown accustomed to accompanying the white men on their trips, Mata-Boike’s children were the first, in the whole Congo Free State, to go into service as wage-earners and as soldier-workers on the European stations along the Zaire (now the Congo) River. This process, which started on July 14, 1885, was strengthened as time went on. Mata-Boike’s people were to become trusted recruits in the army and the militia of the concessionary companies, as well as workers on the crews of steamers, and employees in the other services at the various stations.

The Bangala station increasingly gained favour from the colonial authorities, and especially from Vice-Governor General Camille Coquilhat. It became the most beautiful station in the Congo and the most important center in the region. Workers at Bangala station-called Nouvelle-Anvers after 1890-gathered “abandoned” children or “orphans” to train them in one of the first schools of the country. It was also from Nouvelle-Anvers that Lingala, one of the four vernacular languages of Congo, developed and spread.

Mata-Boike, however, died in September 1886, two years after the station was established. Thus, he did not live to see the results of his actions. His role, however, was important for the latter history of this station. After staying in Iboko for 15 months, Coquilhat wrote:
….I see in Mata-Boike a wise, benevolent, and superior man, who vaguely sensed the progress which white men could bring to his country. As a Bangala, he was a faithful friend and through the reconciliation role he had assumed, he was the co-founder of our establishment.

Mata-Boike was laid to rest in the land of his ancestors, near the state station, between two giant palm trees, which were planted at his burial.His son Boike succeeded him in October 1886, and continued his father’s policy towards the Europeans. A tactful man, Boike rendered good service to the colonial state. Congo Free State agents often accepted his sound advice. He went to Belgium in 1848 with a group of 39 other Bangalas to attend the Antwerp Exhibition.

By allowing the European agents to settle at Makanza, and by supporting them in many instances, Mata-Boike, although he lost his own authority, greatly contributed towards the consolidation of the authority of the new Congo state. The role played by the Bangala station was one of the most important in the upper Congo, and even in the rest of the country. This collaboration with Europeans, far from being treason against his people, was considered by Mata-Boike to be the opening of a new era.

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