Lozi Kingdom

The Lozi Kingdom, or Barotseland, was a state located in modern-day western Zambia belonging to the Lozi people (called Luyi or Luyana before the 19th century). In the late 19th century, the state covered around 150,000 sq mi (390,000 km²), and Lozi influence stretched to the Kwito River in the west, the Linyanti-Chobe and Zambezi rivers in the south, the Kafue River in the east, and the Luena-Zambezi confluence in the north.

The kingdom was likely founded in the 17th century in modern-day Kalabo District, following a migration from the Lunda Empire, with its first Litunga (king) being Mboo Mwanasilundu Muyunda. During his reign, two royal relatives, Mwanambinyi and Mange, split from the kingdom to establish their own polities. The 4th Litunga, Ngalama, reconquered these polities and expanded the kingdom further to encompass the entire Bulozi Plain. The 6th Litunga, Ngombala, established a subordinate centre of power in the south to increase control over these new lands and he extended Lozi authority into surrounding territories.

Over time, power gradually shifted from the Litunga to the aristocratic bureaucracy (represented by the National Council or Kuta) as successive Litunga were compelled to make concessions. By the reign of the 10th Litunga, Mulambwa, the kingdom was in a state of severe instability and frequent warfare, culminating in an internecine civil war between his sons, Mubukwanu and Silumelume, to succeed him. Soon after the war concluded, the weakened kingdom was conquered around 1840 by the Makololo, a Sotho group fleeing the Mfecane. A rebellion in 1864 restored the kingdom, but it was followed by factional infighting among groups that held competing visions for how the state should be organised and governed.

Following two unstable reigns, Lewanika came to power in 1878 and was deposed in 1884. Supported by traditionalist factions, he returned to power in 1885 and consolidated his authority and revived pre-Kololo institutions. As the Scramble for Africa progressed, Lewanika sought protectorate status and an alliance with the British, and signed a series of concessions starting in 1889 until 1899. Despite treaty provisions that emphasised the protection of Lozi rights, over the following years, Lewanika and the Kuta gradually lost most of their powers and some territory. In 1911, the kingdom was incorporated into Northern Rhodesia and effectively reduced to a province.

Before Zambian independence, disputes between Lozi elites and nationalist leaders led to the Barotseland Agreement of 1964, which granted the kingdom a special status within the new Republic of Zambia. The new government reneged on the Agreement and abolished the kingdom amid calls for Lozi secession. After the restoration of multi-party democracy in 1990, Lozi activists called for restoration of the kingdom's powers under the 1964 Agreement; in 2012, after a drafted constitution omitted the Agreement and President Sata failed to implement it, the Kuta argued that the annulment of all prior treaties rendered Barotseland legally sovereign, and activists have since lobbied the African Union and United Nations with little success; as of 2019 they were pursuing a petition to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).