Tonga

Africahorticulturalists

Map
expand_more Description

The Tonga mainly occupy both the valley and plateau above the Zambezi River in the Southern Province of Zambia and the adjacent borderlands of northern Zimbabwe. Subsistence relies on plow agriculture and raising livestock. Cotton is grown as a cash crop and commercial fishing is practiced along the river. Traditional society was organized into matrilineal clans with big-men exercising minimal power over neighborhoods of less than a thousand people. In post-colonial Zambia, councilors are elected at the ward, district and provincial level. Missionary presence since the turn of the nineteenth century has produced a blend of Christian doctrines with traditional beliefs in ancestral and communal spirits.

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