Mwene Muji | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| c. 1400–c. 1900 | |||||||||||||||
 A map of the Kasai River watershed. Mwene Muji controlled the territory around the Lower Kasai, stretching from Lake Mai-Ndombe and Mushie to Idiofa and the Wamba River. | |||||||||||||||
| Capital | Mushie | ||||||||||||||
| Mwene Muji/Nimi a Maye | |||||||||||||||
• c. 1900 | Muba | ||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||
• Established | c. 1400 | ||||||||||||||
| Early 17th century | |||||||||||||||
• Disestablished | c. 1900 | ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Mwene Muji[a] was a polity around Lake Mai-Ndombe in the Congo Basin, likely stretching south to Idiofa. It bordered the Tio Kingdom among others to its southwest.[1][2]: 63 Mwene Muji dominated the region of the Lower Kasai. It was ruled by the BaNunu, holding the titles of Ntote.[3]: 39 Its unity crumbled in the early 17th century, with the Boma Kingdom, Yaka Kingdom, and Bozanga breaking away. Mwene Muji entered a further severe decline in the 19th century and was surpassed by the Boma Kingdom, on the eve of Belgian conquest in the early 20th century. Its 'empire' status is pending on further archaeological research.
The first written record of Mwene Muji came in 1591 by Italian humanist Filippo Pigafetta. The name Monemugi was erroneously applied to Unyamwezi in modern-day Tanzania near Lake Malawi.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
- ^ Hosler, John D.; Franke, Daniel P. (2024-12-13). Routledge Handbook of Medieval Military Strategy. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-040-19301-3.
- ^ Thornton, John K., ed. (2020), "The Struggle for Ambundu and the Founding of Angola", A History of West Central Africa to 1850, New Approaches to African History, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 56–88, ISBN 978-1-107-56593-7, retrieved 2024-12-12
- ^ Thornton, John (2024). "Mwene Muji: A Medieval Empire in Central Africa?". The Journal of African History. 65 (1): 30–46. doi:10.1017/S0021853724000161. ISSN 0021-8537.