Chitimukulu

The Chitimukulu was the supreme chief of the Bemba people, a Bantu-speaking group primarily inhabiting the northeastern plateau of Zambia. The Bemba people are believed to have originated from the Luba empire and migrated in the 18th or early 19th century. The Chitimukulu was part of a single, matrilineal royal clan. The power of this clan stemmed from their perceived sacredness and their role in performing prayers to ancestral spirits at relic shrines, which were thought to influence the fertility of the land and the general well-being of the people. The Bemba are organized into 40 matrilineal clans, and their villages, typically consisting of about 30 huts, move every few years as the soil becomes exhausted.1