Musumb et ses empereurs face aux puissances coloniales (XVIIe-XXe siècle). Un laboratoire historique des villes et des pouvoirs en Afrique centrale

Abstract

Mwangal's thesis focuses on Musumb, a pre-colonial city and capital of the former Lunda empire in Central Africa. It seeks to understand specifically the past of the city of Musumb through the reigns of the different emperors who succeeded one another to the throne during the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial periods. During the pre-colonial period, Musumb was the capital of the Lunda State, a trading hub and nomadic city. It became static during the colonial period but was reduced to the rank of a simple capital of a traditional chiefdom recognized by the Leopoldian and colonial administration. During the post-colonial period, Musumb is still static and becomes again the center, the cradle of reference of identity and the capital of ethnocultural decisions and customary administrative functions of the Lunda of Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia.