Mongo people

Mongo
A family from the Mongo ethnic group - Équateur, DRC.
Mongo family from Equateur Province in 2007
Regions with significant populations
 DRC
Languages
Mongo
Related ethnic groups
Anamongo

The Mongo people are an ethnic group who live in the equatorial forest of Central Africa.[1] They are the largest ethnic group in the Democratic Republic of Congo, highly influential in its north region.[2] The Mongo people are a diverse collection of sub-ethnic groups who are referred to as AnaMongo. The Mongo (Anamongo) subgroups include the Mongo, Batetela, Bakusu (Benya Samba/ Benya lubunda), Ekonda, Bolia, Nkundo, Lokele, Topoke, Iyadjima, Ngando, Ndengese, Sengele, Sakata, Mpama, Ntomba, Mbole. The Mongo (Anamongo) occupy 14 provinces particularly the province of Equateur, Tshopo, Tshuapa, Mongala, Kwilu, in Maï Ndombe, Kongo-Centrale, in Kasai, in Sankuru, Maniema, North Kivu and South Kivu, Tanganiyka (Katanga) and Ituri province. Their highest presence is in the province of Équateur and the northern parts of the Bandundu Province (Maï Ndombe).[3]

Early 20th century photo of three women taken in Mongo lands Equator province. “Balolo Mission”
Origins of the Mongo people (approx).[1]
Mongo
PeopleBomongo
LanguageLomongo, Nkundo
Three Mongo women, ca. 1900-1915

The Mongo people, despite their diversity, share a common legend wherein they believe that they are the descendants of a single ancestor named Mongo. Historically the term “Bangala” had been imposed on the Mongo people to such consistency various groups of Mongo origin accept this term without regard to the historical origins of the term “Bangala.” Political scientist M. Crawford Young has written that the term "Bangala" is an artificial construct rather than a natural sociographic grouping.[4] Mongo people also share similarities in their language and social organization, but also have differences. Anthropologists first proposed the Mongo unity as an ethnic group in 1938 particularly by Boelaert, followed by a major corpus on Mongo people in 1944 by Vanderkerken – then the governor of Équateur.[4]

The Mongo people traditionally speak the Mongo language (also called Nkundo). The Lingala language, however, often replaces Mongo in urban centers. This language has about 200 dialects, and these are found clustered regionally as well as based on Mongo sub-ethnic groups such as Bolia, Bokote, Bongandu, Ekonda, Iyaelima, Konda, Mbole, Mpama, Nkutu, Ntomba, Sengele, Songomeno, Dengese, Tetela-Kusu, Bakutu, Boyela, Lokele.[5][6][7]

  1. ^ a b Mongo people, Encyclopædia Britannica
  2. ^ Kevin Shillington (2013). Encyclopedia of African History 3-Volume Set. Routledge. p. 738. ISBN 978-1-135-45670-2.
  3. ^ Toyin Falola; Daniel Jean-Jacques (2015). Africa: An Encyclopedia of Culture and Society. ABC-CLIO. p. 285. ISBN 978-1-59884-666-9.
  4. ^ a b Crawford Young (2015). Politics in Congo: Decolonization and Independence. Princeton University Press. pp. 242–249. ISBN 978-1-4008-7857-4.
  5. ^ Mongo-Nkundu, A language of Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethnologue
  6. ^ An Crúbadán - Corpus Building for Minority Languages Archived 2017-05-10 at the Wayback Machine, Saint Louis University, Saint Louis, USA
  7. ^ Rita Milios (2014). Democratic Republic of Congo. Simon Schuster. p. 74. ISBN 978-1-4222-9435-2.