Ila

Africahorticulturalists
Map
expand_more Description

The Ila are a Bantu-speaking people living along the Kafue River in southwestern Zambia. They were primarily cattle herders, but also practiced farming near the river, supplemented by fishing, hunting, and gathering. Traditional Ila society was organized into villages administered by a headman and an informal council of elders. A group of villages formed a territorially defined community loosely governed by a chief, with the village headmen forming a council. Communities formed according to local groupings of matrilineages; matrilineal clans were larger, cutting across communities. The Ila never had any centralized political organization or paramount chief.

Identifier
Region
  • Africa
Subregion
  • Southern Africa
Subsistence Type
  • horticulturalists
Samples
Countries
  • Zambia
External Links