[citation needed][4] The name Basimba (Swahili for big lion[5]) is a label of shared identity that predates the 13th century.
The Leopard (Ngo) clan has historically experienced high levels of persecution due to their notable role in the cult of Kintu.
Under the rule of King Kateregga of Buganda,[16] 400 members of the clan were executed c.1674-1680 in the current Butambala District, prompting survivors to conceal their cultural identity.
The name Tumanya means “those that have followed the route by water,’’ and Bena Kilunga means “those who followed the path on land in their migration.” The Bena Kilunga group migrated to the eastern banks of the Lualaba River and Lukunga River together with Buanza, Mumba, and the Basimba people.
The Basimba or BaShimba immigrants seem to have come in ethnic groups under the leadership of Mambwe, Mauwe,[31] Katunku, Ngulya, Mwati, Kaabya, Ntembe, Namuyonjo, Kabolesa, Kitembwa, and Kooli, among others.
As the Basimba or BaShimba settlement grew the original leader, after several generations, became a mythical figure to his descendants.
[34] According to local tradition, the original inhabitants were a clan called the Basimba who lived in the area of Busere on Ukara Island, in the southeast corner of Lake Victoria, but it is not known what language they spoke, and there are none of their descendants surviving.
Tradition makes no mention of fighting between the Basimba immigrants and the people whom they found in Uhaya in Tanzania and at Butambala in Uganda.
According to traditional African religions, the Chishimba spirit is synonymous with kingship and similar to the Kintu cult practiced by the leopard (Ngo) Clan people in Buganda.
It is wrapped in bark cloth and kept in a specifically prepared shrine (ing'anda yaba Ba Chishimba or esawo lye ejjembe lya Basimba) dedicated to the spirit.
[42][43][44][45] Basimba people worked with the Bunyoro-Kitara kingdom's priest in charge of the sacred pool of Muntebere.
The Basimba of Kisangani, who martyred Dr. Paul Carison of the Christ Church during the Congo Crisis of 1964–1965, participated in the Simba Rebellion, which was later defeated.
The totem system is a severe problem for many orphans, especially for Basimba or BaShimba women[65] married to members of other clans.
The Basimba people are afraid of being punished by ghosts if they violate rules connected with the unknown totem of a foundling.
The Basimba[69] people exist in Zambia, formerly known as Northern Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Haiti, the DR Congo, and Tanzania.
The BaShimba people living in Zambia's Northern Province, among the Lungu and Bemba tribes, speak the language that is most closely related to the Bantu languages, the Lungu and ChiBemba (in Zambia and the DRC), Haya (in Tanzania), and Luganda of the Baganda and Lugwere of the Gwere people (in Uganda).
The history or genealogy of the Basimba (Big Lion) people has given rise to numerous debates among historians as to whether the Basimba people of the Leopard (Ngo) Clan in Uganda came with Kabaka and Kato Kintu[71][72] in the 14th century or migrated either directly from the Congo or the Luapula valley to Uganda.
[73][74][75] Some historians, anthropologists, and sociologists, including David William Cohen, Ian George Cunnison, Hans Cory, Mwelwa Chambika Musambachine, Gideon Were, Stephen Kyeyune, Tausir Niane, Mary Douglas, M. Hartnoll, Dr. Schinz, and Fisher A.
Some historians who have written histories of Africa use imprecise narrative documents to make estimates, which must be treated with caution.