The Luba people or Baluba are a Bantu ethno-linguistic group indigenous to the south-central region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

[5][6] They found relative success over time, but this eventually caused their gradual decline with the Portuguese and Omani empires led or influenced invasions.

[7] The archaeological studies suggest that the Luba people lived in villages, in homes made of reeds and wattle, around the shores of numerous streams and lakes found in the Upemba Depression of Central Africa.

As a community, the Luba people constructed dams and dikes as high as 6 to 8 feet using mud, papyrus and other vegetation, to improve the marshy soil conditions for agriculture and stock fish during the long dry season.

[4] The metal working techniques in use by the early Luba people included drawing out thin wires, twisting them, laminating them, and plaiting them into items such as necklaces, bracelets and hooks for fishing, needles for sewing and such.

[9][10] A prominent sociopolitical system of the Luba Empire was the adoption of two layers of power, one of Balopwe (hereditary kingship) and another a council of royals or elders.

The guardian spirits, knowing the scheme, protect Kalala by (...) The Luba people were a part of a large state in the 16th and 17th centuries, ruled by a Balopwe through delegation to regional chiefs.

[13] According to the oral tradition by inabanza Kataba, the empire expanded over time, with a major consolidation in the 18th century, partly triggered by the desire by rivals to control the salt and iron mines in the south.

This shielding was noted by David Livingstone in his travel memoirs, and likely blocked the Angolan traders from regular contact with the Luba people.

[16] This conflict helped the Luba Empire grow, as its king Ilunga Sungu entered into new territories and formed marriage alliances.

[17] After the death of Ilunga Sungu, Kumwimbe Ngombe came to power leading his warriors to expand southeast with contacts with traders from East Africa.

[19] In 1840, after Kumwimbe Ngombe died of old age, king Ilunga Kabale succeeded to rule the Luba people until his death in 1870.

By then, the region of Luba people and their empire covered much of what is now the southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, extending for hundreds of kilometers from their early 19th-century heartland.

[19] The success and wealth of Luba people grew in relative isolation because they were far from the eastern and western coasts of Africa, living in comparatively inaccessible terrain.

[20] The forests and mountains provided a natural border; additionally, their neighbors blocked direct and regular contact with distant international traders in order to monopolize the profits.

"[23][24] Msiri, a Tanzanian operator supplying ivory and slaves to the Sultan of Zanzibar, raided and took over the southeastern Shaba region of Luba people.

[25] By 1874, another Arab-Swahili trader Juma bin Salum wad Rakad, and a friend of Tippu Tip, had entered into an agreement with one of the Ilunga Kabale's son and established the base of his elephant hunting and ivory trade operations in the heart of the Luba people's lands.

[26] The Arab-Swahili raids, such as those by Tippu Tip, into Luba people's lands were organized with Nyamwezi subordinates and slave armies.

[20] The king of Belgium, impressed with the accomplishments of Tippu Tip in getting resources from central Africa, appointed him the governor of the region that included the Luba people's territory.

[29] The Luba people were forced to work in the copper and gemstone mines of the Katanga province during the Belgian rule, causing numerous mining-related deaths.

Pottery, articles crafted from iron (such as axes, bows and spears), wooden staff and carvings and parts clad in sheets of copper were routinely produced.

developed "one [of] the most complex and brilliant mnemonic systems in Africa for recording royal history, king lists, migrations, initiation esoterica and family genealogies", such as the Lukasa memory board.