Teke people

The Teke people or Bateke, also known as the Tyo or Tio, are a Bantu Central African ethnic group that speak the Teke languages and that mainly inhabit the south, north, and center of the Republic of the Congo, the west of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with a minority in the south-east of Gabon.

[1] As part of the Bantu expansion, the Teke established a powerful kingdom in what is now the Republic of Congo in the first millennium C.E.

Initially occupying the area between Manyanga and the Malebo Pool, the Teke were gradually pushed north by Kongolese raids and emigration, itself a product of the violence of the Atlantic slave trade, into the Batéké Plateau.

The French government was gathering land for its own use and damaging traditional economies, including massive displacement of people.

A small settlement along the Congo River was renamed Brazzaville and eventually became the federal capital of French Equatorial Africa.

In terms of life of the Teke, the village chief was chosen as religious leader, he was the most important tribal member and he would keep all the potions and spiritual bones that would be used in traditional ceremonies to speak to the spirits and rule safety over his people.

The Teke or Kidumu[clarification needed] people are well known for their Teke masks, which are round flat disk-like wooden masks that have abstract patterns and geometric motifs with horizontal lines that are painted in earthly colors, mainly dark blue, blacks, browns and clays.