The Kingdom of Luba, located in central Africa, thrived from the 15th to 19th century CE and was the first such state in the Congo basin. Skills in ironworking and trade along the Lualaba river in such metals as copper permitted the Luba elite to form a kingdom which spread across and out from the Upemba Depression in what is today southern DR Congo. The Luba Kingdom prospered until it fell into the hands of Belgian colonialists in the late 19th century CE

The Kingdom of Luba, located in central Africa, thrived from the 15th to 19th century CE and was the first such state in the Congo basin. Skills in ironworking and trade along the Lualaba river in such metals as copper permitted the Luba elite to form a kingdom which spread across and out from the Upemba Depression in what is today southern DR Congo. The Luba Kingdom prospered until it fell into the hands of Belgian colonialists in the late 19th century CE.

Origins

The origins of the Kingdom of Luba rose in central Africa around 1300 CE in the southern rain forests of the Shaba, spreading to cover the wet grasslands of the Lake Upemba Depression (in the southern part of today's Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly known as Zaire). The Luba kings and oral traditions claimed a past connection with the Shaba area inhabited by the Iron Age Lualaba people. Lualaba sites, the earliest being Kamilamba, date to the 6-7th century CE, and they thrived thanks to local metal deposits, especially copper, which allowed them to trade with other central African peoples using the region's rivers.