Kasongo, Democratic Republic of the Congo

History

The houses are well built, partly painted with white clay or lime obtained from Lualaba shells; instead of simple trunks, large clay pillars or even carved wooden columns support the porched roofs; all the windows are protected by wooden grills, and the massive doors are decorated and have iron locks; they are also painted with Koranic verses; they are the pride of the owner.

During the second half of the nineteenth century, merchants from the east coast of Africa extended their influence into eastern Central Africa, gaining control over a vast area of the Upper Congo Basin, from Lake Tanganyika in the east to the Lualaba River in the west and from the Lukuga River in the south to the Aruwimi River in the north.

They consolidated a network of caravan routes, containing stop overs, entrepôts and trading localities that enabled them to circulate goods that were in high demand on the markets of the coast and the Indian Ocean. This major phenomenon was to have a considerable impact on the political, economic and cultural development of Central Africa.

The town was founded by Swahili-Arab traders. A few years later it became the capital of the newly founded and short-lived Sultanate of Utetera, established and initially ruled by the Swahili–Arab slave and ivory trader Tippu Tip. The small sultanate was a key trading partner and ally of the Sultanate of Zanzibar in the east.

From the History section of Kasongo on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.