African Kingdoms

Nzakara of the Ubangi (Bandia Clan State) (Africa)

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The pre-history of Africa covers a long and uncertain stretch of unrecorded history. Much of this involves a great deal of uncertainty which can only be understood through archaeology. Even the more recent prehistory is shrouded in uncertainty, requiring analysis and archaeology to help define it.

The Bantu people originated in West Africa before they migrated across sub-Saharan Africa, generally helping to spread the African Neolithic as they went. Bantu languages come from a proto-Bantu language which was spoken in the area of today's Cameroon. Bantu-speakers are part of the Niger-Congo language family which forms the largest branch of the Southern Bantoid group of languages.

Central Africa was poorly defined as a region until the creation of colonial-era territories in the eighteenth century. Before that at least parts of it appear to have been virgin territory, with no recent occupation. A collection of sultanates emerged across the area which today is partially covered by Central African Republic (or CAR), as well as Chad to its north and the edges of South Sudan to the east. Prior to that there were almost two centuries of gradual, increasing movement into the area.

The people responsible for this gradual inwards migration were generally Adamawa-Ubangi-speaking peoples such as the Banda (or Bandia) and the Zande-Nzakara (or Azande and Nzakara) in eastern CAR, along with Bantu groups to the west and south, and Sudanese influences from the east.

They settled in largely stateless societies without hereditary or paramount chiefs. The Gbaya (including the Mandjia) in the centre and west of CAR, and the riverine peoples along the River Ubangi (or Oubangui) and River Mbomou in the south had no hereditary chiefs either. They had leaders of various forms such as clan leaders, hamlet headmen, and temporary war chiefs to lead warriors in battle, but no titled rulers with hereditary authority.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information by Richard A Bradshaw & Juan Fandos-Rius, by Doctor Jean Kokide (University of Bangui), from Monographie du Dar-Kouti-Oriental, Edmond A J Boucher (Typescript, 1934, copied and updated from the original by Pierre Claustre), from Dar al-Kuti and the Last Years of the Trans-Saharan Slave Trade, Denis D Cordell (The University of Wisconsin Press, 1985), from Un ancien royaume Bandia du Haut-Oubangui, Eric de Dampierre (Plon, Paris, 1967), from Central African Republic, Pierre Kalck (Praeger Publishers, 1971), from Historical Dictionary of the Central African Republic, Pierre Kalck( Third Edition, Scarecrow Press, 2005), from Un explorateur du centre de l'Afrique, Paul Crampel (1864-1891), Pierre Kalck (L'Harmattan, Paris, 1993), from The New Atlas of African History, G S P Freeman-Grenville (Rex Collins, London, 1991), from Times Atlas of World History (Maplewood, 1979), and from External Links: Encyclopaedia Britannica, and Central African Republic (World Statesmen), and Anne Retel-Laurentin et les Nzakara, Jean-Noël Biraben (Cahiers d'Études Africaines, Vol 27, Notebook 105/106, Démographie Historique, 1987, pp 187-197, and available via JSTOR).)

c.1780

The Bandia people have been settling the shores of the River Ubangi in today's Central African Republic (CAR) since the seventeenth century. They have intermixed with Nzakara groups and built up a clan state - which loosely can be termed the Bandia of the Ubangi - which has been dominated by the Vou-Kpata clan state.

Bangui lies on the northern banks of the River Ubangi shown here, which serves in part to divide the modern states of Central African Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo, but in the eighteenth century was the home of several clan states

Bantu peoples have also been arriving, this time from the west, with others approaching from the south. Others, under pressure from the Ngombe, arrive from the south-west. Sudanese groups join them a little later, driven out by the Shilluk and the Dinka.

Around this time the earliest-recorded Nzakara clan states emerge, settling to the south of the River Ubangi, along the lower Bili and Ouelle rivers. As well as the Nzakara of the Ubangi, the Nzakara of Sinango also form and later will become rivals.

However, under the leadership of their chief, Ndounga, the Ubangi group begins to invade Vou-Kpata territory, and their chief, Koudou, and his allies are seemingly soon defeated.

Early clan states began to coalesce in Central African Republic in the 1700s, with true statehood beginning to emerge at the end of that century, and formal states emerging in the 1800s

c.1780 - 1800

Founder of the Bandia state of Nzakara.

late 1700s

Following the defeat of the Vou-Kpata, Nzakara people begin to settle the region in stages. They drive back some tribes, subdue or enslave others, and expand into territory which they will hold thereafter. Farther north they also expand into territory which has been held by the Vou-Kpata.

The northern areas of Central Africa have recently become increasingly drawn into larger states, mainly sultanates which are influenced by Sudan and the sub-Saharan Islamic holdings. Ndounga oversees the creation of the Bandia clan state of Nzakara

c.1800 - 1830

Son. Fought to expand his territory.

early 1800s

Under the reign of Mbilinga, son of Ndounga, the intermingling of populations intensifies. He is responsible for fighting Bandia groups and the Bougbou (Ngbougbou) around Kotto. Out of this a core Nzakara people form who still populate Central African Republic to this day.

By 1919, with the conclusion of the First World War, the African colonies found themselves being exploited for their resources more intensely than ever before

c.1830

It is about this time, around 1830, that the first columns of slave-trading Arabs arrive from Ouaddal (precursors to the Zobeir) and Khartoum (precursors to the Mahdists). They consist of between two and three thousand men who are armed with rifles. They plunder and carry off slaves, mainly Bandia, but also Nzakara who are fleeing the devastated and overly-exposed northern lands.

c.1830 - 1860

Son. Killed by the Bougbou.

1830s - 1850s

Gbandi provides the state with more stable institutions and foundations, enlisting the help of servile clans to achieve this aim. However, he does lose most of his former territories to the south of the Ubangi following wars with the Nzakara of Sinango, who are driven to acquire slaves by this very intensification of the slave trade.

c.1860 - 1878

Son. Died in a war against the Bougbou slavers.

1860s - 1870s

Gbandi's son, Mbali-Gbandi, is primarily responsible for defending his state against the slave-owning sultans of the north and north-east, principally those of Wadai and the Sudan area.

Central Africa in 1897 was a land of uncertain, shifting borders, with small states expanding to incorporate previously stateless tribal societies (click or tap on map to view full sized)

His son is not his rightful successor. Instead he has to use trickery or force to gradually eliminate all members of his family who still hold territories in order to unify the country and hold sole power.

He also has to defend the Nzakara against the slave-trading Sultan Rabah, who is building a small empire in Ouaddal, to the west, starting in 1879. His efforts result in a direct successor to his father's Nzakara clan state along the Ubangi: the sultanate of Bangassou.