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25-627: In 1912, the leader of the Banda-Ngbugu people in Alindao, Aju, swore allegiance to the French colonisers. However, he led a local revolt in 1925 and was captured and executed the following year. In 1927, Norwegian missionary Oscar Cesar Berntz-Lanz established the Elim Mission at Boybinga in the Alindao subprefecture. It was among the first Protestant missions in the colony and included a small dispensary and

50-569: A patrilineal ethnic group, who traditionally have lived in the Savannas north of the Congo, in dispersed home groups guided by a headman. They sustain themselves by hunting, fishing, gathering wild foods and growing crops. During times of crisis, to resist slave raids and to respond to wars, the Banda selected war chiefs. After the crisis was over, they relieved their warriors of their powers. The ethnic group

75-567: A Gbaya prophet who claimed to possess magical powers that could defeat the French, caused the Gbaya to revolt massively. Karnu was killed early, but revolt kept raging for about three years until the French were finally able to put it down. The Gbaya people felt discriminated against in the political sphere, even after independence from the French. It was only in the 1990s that a notable number of Gbaya leaders began to be admitted into higher administrative positions in government. More recent estimates of

100-526: A generally peaceful life before the 19th century, after which Kevin Shillington states "African slave traders and then European colonialists introduced unprecedented violence and economic exploitation into their lives". Greek social anthropology professor G. P. Makris states that the Banda people, along with the Nuba and Gumuz ethnic groups, were also a major victim of slave trading by Turco-Egyptians. The Banda are

125-531: A school. When World War II broke out in 1939, the family relocated to South Africa . On 5 January 2013 Séléka rebels took control of Alindao. On 9 May 2017 it was attacked by Anti-balaka which was repelled by Union for Peace in the Central African Republic . On 15 November 2018 at least 112 people were killed and 27 injured in UPC and Anti-balaka attacks on Alindao refugee camp . On 18 March 2021 Alindao

150-512: A series of rapes and murders on the locals. To escape the horrors of the war, many Gbaya tribes went to live deep into the rainforest , and soon the old practices that the German administration had attempted to quell, such as tribal wars, slavery and cannibalism, became popular again. In 1928, forced labor conscription by the French to build the Congo-Ocean Railway , and the rise of Karnu,

175-451: Is locally famous for craftsmanship, specifically carved wooden objects used for rituals and general utility, as well as their large animal-shaped slit drums . These drums, now attributed by various names such as Banda-Yangere, were used by the Banda people for musical celebrations and as tools for transmitting messages. The Banda-Linda group is known for their music using wooden pipes, also called Banda-Linda Horns. In contemporary times,

200-574: Is now Cameroon. During the 19th century, a series of wars opposed Gbaya tribes to Fulani tribes of the Sokoto Caliphate . These wars were marked by extensive slave raiding , resulting in the enslavement of a great numbers of Gbaya by the Fulani. The first contact with Europeans occurred in 1892, when French explorer Antoine Mizon entered Gbaya territory after steaming up the Sangha River . In

225-536: The Central African Republic . They are likewise found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo , Cameroon , and South Sudan . They were severely affected by slave raids of the 19th century and slave trading out of Africa. Under French colonial rule, most converted to Christianity but retained elements of their traditional religious systems and values. Estimated to be around 1.3 million people at

250-565: The Niger-Congo language family. Pre-colonial and early colonial era Gbaya tribes routinely indulged in ritual anthropophagy . While it essentially targeted defeated enemies, it could in some occasions be extended to owned slaves. This behavior deeply disgusted the Germans and the French, causing them to disdain and mistreat the Gbaya people, and to favor other ethnicities (such as the Fulani) over

275-457: The Republic of Congo , and the northwest of the Democratic Republic of Congo , and Republic of South Sudan In the first half of the 20th century, the Gbaya were involved in several revolt attempts against German and then French colonial rule. In rural areas, the Gbaya cultivate mainly maize , cassava , yams , peanuts , tobacco , coffee and rice , the latter two of which were introduced by

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300-609: The Banda people are settled farmers in the Savannas. Cotton and cassava farming was promoted among the Banda people by the French colonial officials, while Christian missionaries won many converts during the French rule. Most Banda people are now Protestants (52%) or Catholic (38%). However, they have retained many of their traditional beliefs alongside those of Christianity, such as making sacrificial offerings to ancestral spirits for seasonal success for crops. The Banda people have their rites of passage, such as Semali which recognizes

325-402: The Banda people's region. The killing, enslavement and carrying away of the Banda people by slave raiders from regions that are now part of Chad , South Sudan and southeastern Central African Republic led to their depopulation, a situation further worsened when European colonialists gave weapons to the slave-raiding states. In the late 19th century, they were raided by "slave hunters" from

350-581: The French. Today, many of the Gbaya people are Christians, though witchcraft is practiced, known as dua . Gbaya people have been present in Central Africa since at least the 16th century. Archaeological researches have determined their place of origin to be located somewhere in the lower valley of the Lobaye River . During the early 19th century, several Gbaya tribes migrated toward the Eastern area of whats

375-421: The Gbaya. By the end of the 20th century, anthropophagy is considered to have completely disappeared from Gbaya culture. One of the last recorded cases occurred in 1949, when a dozen old Gbaya men from a village near Bertoua were arrested after having indulged in ritual cannibalism. In rural areas, the Gbaya cultivate mainly maize , cassava (staple food), yams , peanuts , tobacco , coffee and rice ,

400-485: The Germans. When the First World War broke out, France, Britain and Belgium invaded German Kamerun . Many Gbaya joined the French to get revenge from the oppression they had suffered at the hands of the Germans. As they retreated, German forces used scorched earth tactics, burning down many Gbaya villages The Gbaya also suffered greatly when a number of Congolese Force Publique troops went rogue and indulged in

425-411: The crossing into adulthood. At weddings, dowries in the form of bridewealth have traditionally included iron implements for the family. Polygyny was practiced historically among the Banda people, but this practice has declined in modern times. Gbaya people The Gbaya , also Gbeya or Baya , are a people of western region of Central African Republic , east-central Cameroon , the north of

450-511: The early 1900s, the area where the Gbaya lived became part of German Kamerun . The Gbaya, who traditionally lived in small rural communities, strongly resented the forced urbanization brought by the Germans. Many tribes initially responded by moving away to remote areas, but a German repression campaign soon forced them back into submission. By 1910, all the resisting tribes had been subdued, and their leaders had been hanged. From 1912 onward, many Gbaya tribes were forced to collect rubber for

475-443: The latter two of which were introduced by the French. The diamond industry took off in the late 1930s and still remains important. The agriculture method of Gbaya is called "swidden", a type of "slash and burn" farming where the forest is cleared, vegetation burnt on top of the cleared land, the farm used for a few years, then abandoned and the families move to a new area. The Gbaya make an alcoholic beverage prepared with honey which

500-588: The north, particularly from Wadai and Darfur , in the early 19th century, and later by Khartoumers led by al-Zubayr . These captured and sold the Banda people into slavery. Many migrated south and west along the Ubangi River . According to Ann Brower Stahl, a professor of Anthropology specializing in Africa studies, the medieval towns of Banda people such as Begho were probably a source of slaves between 1400 and 1600 CE, with slaves going to Islamic North Africa,

525-506: The population differ markedly, from 1.2 million, down to 685,100, of which 358,000 are native to Cameroon. Gbaya culture often takes an interest in the past and various traditions of martial arts , including disciplines that use hand-to-hand weapons. Subgroups of the Gbaya include the Bokoto , Kara , Kaka , Buli , and Bwaka . The Gbaya speak a language of the Adamawa-Ubangi subgroup of

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550-560: The primary trade being in women and children before 1500 CE. By the 16th century, slaves from the Banda regions were in use as production labor in Sudanese Islamic states, and this trade in slaves remained fairly steady in the centuries that followed. Dennis Cordell, a professor of History specializing on Africa, places the slave raiding and trade practices earlier to the 11th- and 12th-century raids in southern Libya, then to Lake Chad area, which he states thereafter expanded south into

575-556: The south by armies of the Zande states now part of Congo and South Sudan, led by Arab traders who had set up Zariba (slave trading centers). The slave raiding of the Banda people was suppressed when the French Ubangi-Shari colony was established in this region. According to American history professor Richard Bradshaw, the Banda people along with their neighbors, the Gbaya people , lived

600-510: The turn of the 21st century, they constitute one of the largest ethnic groups in the Central African Republic, traditionally found in the northeastern part of the country. The Banda people speak languages belonging to the Niger-Congo family, known as Banda or Ubangian languages . The Banda languages have variations; nine distinct geographically distributed vernaculars are known. The Banda people were severely affected by slave raids from

625-483: Was recaptured by government forces supported by Russian paramilitary forces. The economy is based on food crops and cash crops (mainly coffee), and the processing of agricultural products. Fishing, hunting, trade and craft activities are also local employment practices but the majority live in poverty. The locals reside in houses with huge thatched roofs and mud walls painted in colored clay. Banda people Protestantism The Banda people are an ethnic group of

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