Lenje
Lenje chief smokes pipe. Photo by Eric von Rosen 1911-1912.
Total population
310 000 in  Zambia
Languages
Lenje, English
Related ethnic groups
Lukanga Twa, Tonga people

Lenje people (also known as Bene Mukuni, Balenje, Balenge, Benimukuni, Ciina mukuna, Lenge, Lengi[1][2]) is an ethnic group in Zambia. They are loosely bound with its spatial and cultural boundaries shifting, depending on whom you talk to.[3] They live mainly in the Central province but also in Lusaka and Copperbelt province. It is not clear when they arrived to the area where they live today[2] but they are believed to be among the first people to come to Zambia from the Cameroon region.[4] It has been claimed that they have been in the area at least since the 17th century.[5] The Lenje chiefdom comprises one senior chief and seven subordinate chiefs and chiefdoms.[4][6] They are about 240 000[4] - 310 000[7] and are considered to be part of the Bantu, Central-South people cluster within the Sub-Saharan African affinity bloc.[7] They are related to the neighboring Tonga people[8][9] and have also been said to be related to the Twa (or Batwa, Awatwa) of the Lukanga Swamps.[10][11]

Subsistence

Travellers who visited Lenje in the beginning of the 20th century writes that they were mainly farmers but hunting and fishing was also important.[12] Present day Lenje are generally subsistence farmers growing maize during the rainy season and vegetables during the dry season, They burn charcoal as well as keep a few cattle, goats, chickens etc. Some, especially those closer to the edge of the Lukanga swamp, fish or are involved in fish trade.[2]


References

  1. ^ "Lenje - Collections Online | British Museum". www.britishmuseum.org. Retrieved 2021-11-04.
  2. ^ a b c Kachali, Rhoda Nthena (2007). Stakeholder interactions in Wetlands: Implications for Social Ecological System Sustainability - A Case of Lukanga Swamps, Zambia (PDF). Lund University.
  3. ^ Rosén, L. (2020). Territory, property and state making in Lenje Chiefdom (PDF). p. 71.
  4. ^ a b c "Lenje in Zambia". joshuaproject.net. Retrieved 2021-10-20.
  5. ^ Sicard, H.; Vogel, J. (1969). On the Peoples of the Zambezi, Current Anthropology, Volume. 10, No. 4, Part 2. pp. 465–466.
  6. ^ Shamutuku, Rackson (2010). "Zambia: Kulamba Kubwalo Ceremony - Uniting Lenje People".
  7. ^ a b PeopleGroups.org. "PeopleGroups.org - Lenje of Zambia". peoplegroups.org. Retrieved 2021-10-20.
  8. ^ "Lenje". Oxford Reference. Retrieved 2021-11-04.
  9. ^ Siwila, Lilian Cheelo (2015). "An Encroachment of Ecological Sacred Sites and its Threat to the Interconnectedness of Sacred Rituals: A Case Study of the Tonga People in the Gwembe Valley". Journal for the Study of Religion. 28 (2): 138–153. ISSN 1011-7601. JSTOR 24805695.
  10. ^ Macrae, F.B (1934). The Lukanga Swamps, The Geographical Journal, Vol. 83, No. 3. pp. 223–227.
  11. ^ Rosen, Eric von (1916). Träskfolket; Svenska Rhodesia-Kongo-expeditionenes etnografiska. Smithsonian Libraries. Stockholm, A. Bonniers förlag. p. 395.
  12. ^ Rosen, Eric von (1913). Från kap till Alexandria: reseminnen från svenska Rhodesia-Kongo-expeditionen (in Swedish). A. Bonniers. p. 30.
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