Kadinga

Kadinga lies in the Lualaba country of south-central Africa, where river valleys, woodland and cultivated clearings support farming, fishing and hunting. Rivers and footpaths linked the villages, and the savanna margins supplied grazing and wild game. Settlements were spread out, each with its own fields and fishing places along the streams.

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Lunda kingdom of the Mwant Yav grew into the leading power of the region, and Luba political traditions spread alongside it. Royal courts drew tribute and sealed alliances with the surrounding chiefs, though their authority was never uniform. Salt, iron and copper circulated through regional networks, and by the eighteenth century long-distance traders carried goods from the Lunda and Luba lands toward the Atlantic and eastern markets. Kadinga's villages lived within this web of tribute and trade.