Makenenga

Makenenga lies in the inland country west of Lake Tanganyika, around the Lukuga River that carries the lake's water toward the Congo. Rivers and paths connect communities across a landscape of woodland, grassland and cultivated land. Villages grew cassava, millet and beans, and fishing on the lake and rivers supplied food and trade goods.

From the medieval period onward, the societies of this eastern Congo country maintained varied forms of leadership and relationships with larger interior powers. The Tabwa and Luba-related peoples of the lake shores traded food, salt and metal goods through African intermediaries, and local chiefs organised labour and exchange along the river routes.