Basubiya
River people of the Chobe and Zambezi floodplain whose kingdom once held the whole four-country corner, who were pushed aside by the Lozi and then the Kololo, and whose land was fenced off for a national park in 1960.
Identity
Population: Tens of thousands across the Chobe and Zambezi floodplain
Location: The Chobe district of northern Botswana, the Zambezi region of Namibia, and adjacent Zambia
Language: Subiya (Chikuhane), a Bantu language of the Zambezi floodplain
Language family: Niger-Congo → Bantu (K40)
Traditional governance: The Chobe chieftaincy in Botswana, recognised within the traditional authority system; a parallel Subiya chieftaincy exists across the border in Namibia.
Clans, Sections & Sub-groups (3)
Most African peoples are federations of named sub-groups — clans, sections, chiefdoms or sub-tribes — each with its own dialect, territory and traditions.
Chobe communities
Botswana's Basubiya, in the villages along the river outside the park boundary.
Namibian Basubiya
Communities of the Zambezi region, formerly Caprivi, with their own chieftaincy.
Riverine fishing households
Families working the Chobe and Zambezi channels and the seasonal floodplain.
Culture
Clothing: Contemporary dress; ceremonial regalia for the chief's court; the fishing household's working dress.
Food: Fish from the Chobe and Zambezi in abundance, sorghum and maize on the floodplain margins, and the wild produce of a river that floods annually.
Ceremonies: The chief's installation and court occasions; harvest and flood observances; funerals; the dances of the Zambezi floodplain, shared with Lozi and Mbukushu neighbours.
Marriage customs: Bridewealth in cattle where kept and in goods otherwise; patrilineal descent; cross-border marriage is routine in a corner where four countries meet within a few kilometres.
Initiation rites: Instruction in the river's channels and its flood cycle; girls' seclusion and instruction in the older tradition.
Stories & Oral Literature
The Kingdom at the Four CornersHistorical account
Before the Lozi expansion and the Kololo invasion of the 1830s, a Subiya polity held the floodplain where Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe now meet. Successive conquests reduced it. The colonial boundaries then cut what remained into four pieces, and the Caprivi Strip was drawn in 1890 specifically so Germany could reach the Zambezi, which it turned out not to be able to navigate anyway.
Fenced Out in 1960Displacement account
Chobe National Park was gazetted in 1960 and the communities living on the riverfront were moved out. The park now holds one of the largest elephant populations on earth and generates a very large share of Botswana's tourism revenue. The villages sit outside the boundary, dealing with elephants in their fields and applying for permits to enter land their grandparents farmed.
Proverbs
“The river gives the field and takes the house.”
Life on an annually flooding plain.
“The elephant is counted and the farmer is not.”
Conservation economics, from the village side.
“Four flags stand where one kingdom stood.”
The colonial partition of the floodplain.
Mythology & Spiritual Beliefs
Creation: Nyambe as the creator in the Zambezi floodplain tradition; ancestral spirits active in lineage and chiefly matters; the river carrying its own powers.
Beliefs: Ancestor veneration; river and pool spirits addressed before crossings and fishing; Christianity widespread through missions since the nineteenth century.
Ancestors: Chiefly genealogy is recited at installations and is the basis of the parallel claims made either side of the Botswana-Namibia border; ancestral graves inside the park are a standing grievance.
Gods, Goddesses & Spirits
Nyambe
The creator of the Zambezi floodplain peoples' cosmology
River spirits
Powers of pools and channels, addressed by fishers and before crossings
Ancestors
Consulted in chiefly succession and in matters of land
Architecture
Traditional settlements: Villages of pole and mud with thatch on the higher ground above the flood; raised granaries; block housing increasingly; the park fence as the edge of the settled world.
Building techniques: Pole and mud with grass thatch; raised platforms and granaries against flood; dugout canoe (mokoro) building for the channels; fish traps and weirs.
Village layout: Villages strung along the river above flood level with fields on the enriched margin, canoes at the landing, and the park boundary immediately behind.
Artifacts
Mokoro dugout
Craft
The poled canoe of the Zambezi and Okavango floodplains.
Chobe riverfront
Natural heritage
The park's river frontage, holding one of Africa's largest elephant populations.
Fish traps and weirs
Craft
Equipment of a floodplain fishery timed to the annual rise.
Chieftaincy regalia
Regalia
Insignia of a chieftaincy claimed on both sides of an international border.
Historical Timeline
Pre-1800
A Subiya polity holds the Chobe-Zambezi floodplain at the four-country corner.
1830s
The Kololo invasion and Lozi expansion reduce Subiya authority.
1890
The Caprivi Strip is drawn to give Germany access to the Zambezi, cutting the floodplain.
1960
Chobe National Park is gazetted; riverfront communities are moved out.
Present
Tourism dominates the district's economy; human-elephant conflict is a constant of village life.
Sources & Further Reading
Open sources
- Britannica: Botswana — peopleEncyclopaedia Britannica
- Minority Rights Group: NamibiaMinority Rights Group International
Premium & scholarly sources