Chinunga

Chinunga lies on the Muchinga escarpment in north-eastern Zambia, a country of high woodland and grassland that drops toward the Luangwa valley. The climate is cooler on the plateau than in the valleys below, and the miombo woodland supplied timber, honey, wild fruit and game. Streams running off the escarpment gave water to villages that grew millet, sorghum and cassava in their clearings.

The escarpment lay on routes linking the Luangwa valley with the Lunda kingdom of Kazembe to the north-west. Bisa traders used these paths to carry ivory, copper and cloth between the interior and the Zambezi valley, and their caravans stopped at the villages along the way for food, water and guides. Local chiefs collected dues from passing traders, and their authority rested on control of the paths and the escarpment springs.