Tabwa, a people who live mainly on the southwestern shores of Lake Tanganyika, on the high grassy plateaus of the Marungu massif in extreme southeastern Congo (Kinshasa). Some also live in northeasternmost Zambia and along the Luapula River. Tabwa speak a Bantu language closely related to those of neighbouring Bemba of Zambia and Luba of Congo.
Tabwa observe matrilineal descent and have several clans and many subclans, each with independent histories, and several with different dialects. Older ethnographic maps represent these as separate “tribes,” and the unity felt in modern times is a product of colonial politics. Locally obtained salt, iron, and smoked river fish were important items of precolonial trade among the Tabwa. These were replaced by European imports. The Tabwa turned to fishing and growing cash crops of potatoes, wheat, and onions for the colonial market; and cassava, corn (maize), and beans for the domestic one. Although the Tabwa produced much food for cities of the Copperbelt during colonial times, the infrastructure of roads, depots, and lake shipping eroded during the 1970s, and their area has become a backwater. Mechanized fishing on Lakes Tanganyika and Mwera is supplemented by Tabwa using lines and nets. Copper is mined in southern Tabwa territory.