Historiographical Analysis: The Lunda-Luchazi Migration Debate
Historiographical Analysis: The Lunda-Luchazi Migration Debate I. The Traditional Narrative: The "Chibindian Revolution" Current oral tradition generally attributes the expansion of the Lunda Empire to a 17th-century dynastic shift. According to this model, Queen Lueji (or Niakapamba Musompa), daughter of Mwata Iyala Mwaku, inherited the Lukano (royal insignia) and subsequent authority over the Lunda federation of Tubungo. Her subsequent marriage to Chibinda Ilunga, a Luba hunter-prince, and the transfer of her sovereignty to him, is cited as the primary catalyst for political fragmentation. This "usurpation" allegedly triggered a mass exodus of disaffected chiefs and their subjects, leading to the establishment of various ethnic polities, including the Luchazi, Luvale, and Chokwe. II. Revisionist Critiques and Chronological Discrepancies A significant school of thought, supported by Luchazi elders and revisionist historians, challenges the validity of this migratio...