Pre-Colonial Society and Economy in a Bisa Chiefdom of Northern Zambia.

Abstract

This study concerns economic, social, and political relations in Bisa society in pre-colonial central Africa. Such a historical study of the Bisa is important because of their prominence in central African long-distance trade during the later eighteenth to mid-nineteenth centuries. The central African ivory and slave trade underwent significant expansion during this period, and became an increasingly important feature of Bisa economic life until about 1860. This study investigates the effects of involvement in this long-distance trade on economic and social relations in one Bisa area in the Northern Province of present-day Zambia: Chiundaponde chiefdom. It also investigates the effects on Bisa communities of two other nineteenth century developments: (1) the adoption of a new staple crop, cassava; and (2) the territorial expansion of neighboring peoples. Oral testimonies gathered from present-day Bisa people in Chief Chiundaponde's area were used in conjunction with documentary evidence to analyze Bisa society and to consider how it was changing during the immediate pre-colonial period with reference to the factors identified above. Ninety informants were interviewed. All of them related matrilineal clan traditions, and thirty-two of the ninety responded to a detailed questionnaire about pre-colonial Bisa society. This questionnaire contained items on pre-colonial settlement patterns; village organization; subsistence cultivation; craft production; local, regional, and long-distance trade; political organization; and relations with neighboring peoples. The information derived from the clan traditions related by all ninety informants was used to examine the origins and settlement history of the matrilineal clans that comprise the basic unit of Bisa society. It was found that the people of Chiundaponde have variety of geographical and ethnic origins, and that while some clans have long histories of residence under Bisa chiefs, others have only recently come to reside in a Bisa area. The implications of these findings for a definition of "Bisa society" are discussed. Material derived from the thirty-two interviews on pre-colonial Bisa community organization was used to reconstruct patterns of nineteenth century social life and to analyze social change. It was found that pre-colonial Bisa chieftaincies were small and the control exercised by chiefs minimal. The pre-colonial political order was characterized by ranking rather than by fully elaborated stratification. Kinship and residence groups regulated their own economic and social affairs, but demonstrated their belief in the importance of chieftainship through tribute in goods and labor. While there was probably a preference for dispersed small-group settlement in the past, the amalgamation of settlements for defense became necessary late in the nineteenth century. Contrary to expectation, the adoption of cassava cultivation appears not to have resulted in greater settlement stability; however, cassava probably did help reduce food shortages because of its hardiness and resistance to drought and pests. During the century prior to colonial rule, economic and social differences were becoming more pronounced. These were largely the result of differential success in the east-central African ivory and slave trade, although success in trade may have been rooted in earlier differences in production success and in the control of people. While a dominant group composed of successful traders and chiefs was emerging, this group never became powerful enough to subordinate the people of the study area to itself as a class. Instead, the trade from which chiefs and commoner traders derived economic power shifted to the north, their territory was raided by more powerful peoples, and they were eventually subjected to colonial rule.