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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.

Culture Summary

Lubambo

'Veni, VD, vici'?

Culprits, culpability, and crime

Economic spheres in pre-colonial Ila society

The role of cattle in the Ila economy

Some old Ila songs and verses

The Ila-Tonga peoples of north-western Rhodesia

The Ila-speaking peoples of Northern Rhodesia

Addendum to the 'Ila-speaking peoples of Northern Rhodesia'

Ila property relations and political processes

Ila slavery

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Author	Title	Publication Date
Adem, Teferi Abate	Culture Summary	2014
Brelsford, William Vernon	Lubambo	1933
Callahan, Bryan Thomas	'Veni, VD, vici'?	1997
Cutshall, Charles R.	Culprits, culpability, and crime	1982
Fielder, Robin J.	Economic spheres in pre-colonial Ila society	1979
Fielder, Robin J.	The role of cattle in the Ila economy	1973
Fowler, Dennis G.	Some old Ila songs and verses	2000
Jaspan, M. A.	The Ila-Tonga peoples of north-western Rhodesia	1953
Smith, Edwin William	The Ila-speaking peoples of Northern Rhodesia	1920
Smith, Edwin William	The Ila-speaking peoples of Northern Rhodesia	1920
Smith, Edwin William	Addendum to the 'Ila-speaking peoples of Northern Rhodesia'	1949
Tuden, Arthur	Ila property relations and political processes	1968
Tuden, Arthur	Ila slavery	1958

Ila

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