Online Encyclopedia
Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
BAROTSE, BAROTSELAND
Online EncyclopediaEncyclopedia Home :: BAR-BEC
del.icio.us it!
|
See also:BAROTSE, BAROTSELAND , a See also:people and See also:country of See also:South Central See also:Africa. The greater See also:part of the country is a See also:British See also:protectorate, forming part of See also:Rhodesia. The Barotse are the See also:paramount tribe in the region of the Upper See also:Zambezi See also:basin, but by popular usage the name is also applied to contiguous subject tribes, Barotseland being the country over which the Barotse paramount See also:chief exercises authority. The See also:present See also:article treats (1) of the people, (2) of the country, (3) of the See also:establishment of the British protectorate and of subsequent developments. 1. The Barotse.—These people, originally known as Aalui, have occupied the extensive See also:plain through which the Zambezi passes from 14° 35' S. to 16° 25' S. throughout the reigns of twenty-two successive paramount chiefs and therefore approximately since the commencement of the 17th See also:century. Previously, for an indefinite See also:period, they dwelt on the Kabompo See also:river, 200 M. to the N.E. of their present country, and here the descendants of a See also:section of the tribe which did not migrate still remain, under the name Balokwakwa (men of the ambuscade), formerly known as Aalukolui. That the Barotse at a still more remote period emigrated from the far See also:north-See also:east is indicated by vague tradition as well as by a certain similarity in type and See also:language to some tribes living in that direction, though the fact that natives from Mashonaland can understand those at Lialui (the Barotse See also:capital) has led to the See also:assumption by some writers that the Barotse are an offshoot of the See also:Mashona. The variety in type among the Mashona and the homogeneity of the Barotse would rather point to an opposite conclusion. See also:Early in the 19th century a section of the Basuto tribe known as Makololo trekked from the south of what is now the See also:Orange River See also:Colony and fought their way through See also:Bechuanaland and the See also:Kalahari to the See also:land of the Barotse, whom they ultimately subdued. Their chief, Sebituane, who as an See also:administrator and See also:general was far in advance of his compeers, established the See also:rule of his See also:house for some See also:forty years, until about 1865 an organized See also:rebellion of the Barotse led to the almost See also:complete extinction of this Makololo See also:oligarchy and the reinstatement of the See also:original See also:dynasty. It was the Makololo who gave the Barotse their present name (Rotse, plain—Burotse, country of the plain—Murotse, See also:man of the plain—Marotse, people of the plain, the latter being inaccurately rendered Barotse, Ba being the See also:equivalent of Ma in certain other See also:languages). The Barotse proper are comparatively few in number, but as is inferred from the fact that for many generations they have held in sway a country two and a See also:half times the See also:size of See also:Great See also:Britain, they are the intellectual and See also:physical superiors of the vast See also:majority of the See also:negro races of Africa. Very See also:black, tall in stature, deep in See also:chest and comparatively speaking refined in feature, a Barotse is readily distinguishable amidst a mixed See also:group of natives. Being numerically small they See also:form an oligarchy in which, with few exceptions, each man holds See also:rank in a chieftainship of which there are three grades. Next to the chiefs rank their descendants who have not themselves acquired chief's rank and hold an intermediate position as freeborn; all others, whether members of the subject-tribes or prisoners of See also:war, being, up to 1906, See also:mere slaves. This class was also graded. Slaves might own slaves who in their turn might own slaves, the highest grade always being directly responsible to some Barotse chief. As a See also:reward of gallantry or ability the paramount chief occasion-ally conferred chief's rank on individuals not of Barotse See also:birth, and these ipso facto assumed the n.me and privileges of the Barotse. It was a counterpart of the feudal See also:system of See also:Europe in which every grade from See also: Theoretically, these co-rulers are equal, neither may promulgate a See also:national See also:decree without the assent of the other, but each has a capital See also:town, councillors and See also:absolute authority in a See also:province, the two having See also:joint authority over all other provinces. In their See also:code of See also:laws the Barotse show an advance on the See also:standard of probably any other See also:African negro state. By right, an accused chief is tried by his peers, each of whom in rotation from junior to See also:senior gives his See also:verdict, after which the See also:president reports the finding of the See also:court to the paramount chief, who passes See also:sentence. As to their religious beliefs the Barotse imagine the See also:sun to be the embodiment of a great See also:god whose See also:sole care is for the amelioration of man. Him they See also:worship, though more pains are taken to appease evil See also:spirits, in whose existence they also believe, to whom every evil to which man is See also:heir is attributed.425 The spirits of ancestors—especially of deceased chiefs—are also See also:objects of worship. See also:Christianity, of a See also:Protestant evangelical type, was first introduced into the country in 1884 by See also:Francois Coillard and has made some progress among the people, among the converts being Letia, eldest son and heir of See also:Lewanika, the paramount chief. z. Barotseland.—This See also:term includes, in the sense of the country in which the authority of the paramount Barotse chief is acknowledged, not only the lands of the Barotse proper, but the territory of fifteen contiguous and subject tribes. This vast territory extends approximately from the Kwito river in the See also:west to the Kafue river in the east, and from the See also:Congo-Zambezi See also:watershed in the north to the Linyante or Kwando river and Zambezi in the south, and may be divided into three See also:groups (a) Central provinces directly administered by the paramount chief from the capital Lialui (a town on the Zambezi), by the Mokwai from Nalolo, and by two chiefs of the See also:blood from Sesheke; (b) Outlying provinces over which, in the See also:absence of a central See also:local system of See also:government, Barotse chiefs administer districts under the direction of the paramount chief; and (c) Tribes over which the local chiefs are permitted to retain their position subject to the See also:payment of See also:annual See also:tribute and to their doing See also:homage in See also:person at Lialui when called upon to do so. With the publication of the king of See also:Italy's See also:award in 1905 in the Anglo-Portuguese Barotse Boundary dispute (see below), the term Barotseland may be said to have acquired a second meaning. By this award the western and part of the See also:northern section of Barotseland as described above were declared to be outside the dominion of the paramount chief and therefore not in the British See also:sphere of See also:influence, while tribal boundaries were complicated by the introduction of a See also:longitudinal and latitudinal frontier. Though this award altered the See also:political boundaries, ethnologically Barotseland remains much as above described. The See also:area of the country under British See also:protection is about 182,000 sq. m.
Excluding the See also:ridge of high ground See also:running east and west which, culminating at a height of 5000 ft., forms the Congo-Zambezi See also:water-parting, the extreme east (Batoka) and the See also:district in the immediate vicinity of the See also:Victoria Falls (q.v.) throughout which, with local See also:variations, a red See also:laterite See also:clay predominates, the See also:main physical features of Barotseland may be described as a See also:series of heavy See also: 
The rainfall varies according to district from 22 to 32 in. a See also:year and has shown extraordinary stability. Since 1884, the first year in which a See also:record was taken by Francois Coillard, Barotseland has known no droughts, though South Africa has suffered periodically in this respect. The Zambezi, as would be expected, forms a definite boundary line in the See also:distribution of many See also:species of See also:fauna and See also:flora. In these respects, as well as from an ethnological standpoint, Barotseland essentially belongs not to South but to Central Africa. The great river has also served to prevent the spread from South Africa into Barotseland of such disastrous cattle diseases as tick See also:fever and See also:lung sickness. 3. The Establishment of British See also:Suzerainty.—By the See also:charter granted to the British South Africa See also:Company in See also:October 1889, the company was allowed to establish its rule in the regions north of the See also:Middle Zambezi not included in the Portuguese dominions, and by a treaty of the 11th of See also:June 1891 between Great Britain and See also:Portugal it was declared that the Barotse See also:kingdom was within the British sphere of influence. The dispute between the contracting See also:powers as to what were the western limits of Barotseland was eventually referred to the See also:arbitration of the king of Italy, who by his award of the 3oth of May 1905, fixed the frontier at the Kwando river as far north as 22° E., then that See also:meridian up to the 13° S., which parallel it follows as far east as 24° E., and then that meridian to the Belgian Congo frontier. In the meantime the British South Africa Company had entered into friendly relations with Lewanika (q.v.), the paramount chief of the Barotse, and an administrator was appointed on behalf of the company to reside in the country. A native See also:police force under the command of a British officer was raised and magistrates and district commissioners appointed. In the See also:internal affairs of the Barotse the company did not interfere, and the relations between the British and Barotse have been uniformly friendly. The pioneers of Western See also:civilization were not, however, the agents of the Chartered Company, but missionaries. F. S. Arnot, an Englishman, spent two years in the country (1882–1884) and in 1884 a See also:mission, fruitful of See also:good results, was established by the Societe See also:des See also:Missions Evangeliques de See also:Paris. Its first See also:agent was Francois Coillard (1834–1904), who had previously been engaged in mission See also:work in See also:Basutoland and who devoted the See also:rest of his See also:life to the Barotse. Though always an admirer of British institutions and anxious that the country should ultimately fall under British See also:jurisdiction, Coillard in the interests of his mission was in the first instance anxious to delay the See also:advent of white men into the country. It was contrary to his See also:advice that Lewanika petitioned the " Great White Queen " to assume a protectorate over his dominions, but from the moment Great Britain assumed responsibility and the advance of See also:European civilization became inevitable, all the influence acquired by Coillard's exceptional See also:personal See also:magnetism and singleness of purpose was used to prepare the way for the See also:extension of British rule. Only those few pioneers who knew the Barotse under the old conditions can fully realise what civilization and See also:England owe to the co-operation of this high-minded Frenchman.
Under the Chartered Company's rule considerable progress has been made in the development of the resources of the country, especially in opening up the mining districts in the north. The seat of the See also:administration, Kalomo, is on the " Cape to See also:Cairo " railway, about midway between the Zambezi and Kafue rivers. The railway reached the Broken See also: This would not only See also:supply Barotseland with a route to the See also:sea alternative to the See also:Beira and Cape Town lines, but while reducing the land route by many See also:hundred See also:miles would also supply a seaport outlet 1700 M. nearer England than Cape Town and thus create a new and more rapid See also:mail' route to See also:southern Rhodesia and the See also:Transvaal. The Zambezi also, with Kebrabasaas its one See also:bar to See also:navigation between Barotseland and the sea, will supply a cheap line of communication. (See RHODESIA.) See See also:David See also:Livingstone, Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa (See also:London, 1857) ; See also:Major Serpa See also:Pinto, How I crossed Africa (London, 1881); F. Coillard, On the See also:Threshold of Central Africa (London, 1897) ; Major A. St H. See also:Gibbons, Exploration and See also:Hunting in Central Africa (London, 1898), Africa South to Nortk through Marotseland (London, 1904); " Journeys in Marotseland," See also:Geographical See also:Journal, 1897 ; " Travels in the Upper Zambezi Basin," Geographical Journal,. 1901; A. See also:Bertrand, Aux pays des Barotse, haul Zambeze (Paris, 1898) ; See also:Col. See also:Colin See also:Harding, In Remotest Barotseland (London, 1905) ; C. W. See also:Mackintosh, Coillard of the Zambesi (London, 1907), with a bibliography; L. Decle, Three Years in See also:Savage Africa (London, 1898). Consult also the annual reports of the British South Africa Company, published in London. (A. ST H. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML. Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide. |
|
|
[back] BAROTAC NUEVO |
[next] BAROUCHE (Ger. barutsche, Span. barrocho, Ital. bar... |