the zambian kingdoms series: the twa people
the twa тАФ batwa тАФ lived in zambia prior to the main bantu invasions of the 1600s. the name batwa is a generic label meaning "people who always move" or "the others" тАФ applied to groups of foragers and fishers found from the great lakes region southward to central zambia.
the twa lived in three wetland territories: the swamplands of bangweulu in the north, the lukanga swamps of central province, and the kafue flats of southern province тАФ exactly the three wetland systems the rivers series described. the twa did not settle beside the wetlands. they lived inside them.
their way of life: no domestic animals, no crops. they lived on fish тАФ caught with nets, traps, and spears in the channels and pools of the swamps тАФ on wildlife, notably the kafue lechwe, the sitatunga, and the otter тАФ and on vegetables from the swamps, mostly lily plants. they built their homes on papyrus islands тАФ floating platforms of compressed papyrus that could be relocated as needed. they lived in small communities without chiefs тАФ the specific social structure of a people whose mobility and small group size made hierarchical authority unnecessary.
the encounter with bantu settlement progressively pushed the twa deeper into swamp environments. the lukanga twa developed a patron-client relationship with the lenje тАФ exchanging fish for agricultural produce. the british colonial administration recognised one chief for the kafue twa тАФ chief shikafwe тАФ at a time when there were 6,000 twa in the kafue flats. the british enforced land settlement instead of the papyrus islands, and gradually the twa intermarried with neighbouring tribes and their way of life disappeared.
eric von rosen visited the twa at bangweulu in 1914. he reached a floating village to find it empty. after waiting, a youth appeared cautiously in a canoe тАФ dark-brown skin, without tattooing, a snakeskin belt with tiger-cat skins fastened to it, a long bow entirely covered with snakeskin. the weapons of the swamp-dwellers.
the twa and the ila both see themselves as indigenous to zambia тАФ contrary to peoples like the lozi, who trace their origins to angola or the DRC. the twa's claim is the deeper one тАФ older than the ila by many centuries, perhaps by many millennia.
the people who always move. the first people of the wetlands. the people who built their homes on floating islands and moved when the water rose.
the zambian kingdoms series continues. ЁЯЗ┐ЁЯЗ▓
