Teke

The Teke live on the banks of the Congo River. They are best known for their fetishes, called butti, which serve in the cult of a wide range of supernatural forces sent by the ancestors, who are not worshiped directly. Each figure has its own specific…

The Teke people lived on the plateaus of the region from early times. It is not known when they organized as a kingdom, but by 1600 their state was a rival of the Kongo kingdom south of the river. Controlling the lower Congo River and extending…

The Teke are spread throughout Congo (Brazzaville), Gabon, and Congo (Kinshasa). The Kongo inhabit western Congo (Kinshasa), western Congo (Brazzaville), and Angola; the Chokwe and the Lunda occupy Congo (Kinshasa) and Angola. In each country some major groups enjoy a numerically dominant position—for example, the Fang…

Also in the south, the Teke inhabit the Batéké Plateau region. In the north, the Ubangi peoples live in the Congo River basin to the west of Mossaka, while the Binga Pygmies and the Sanga are scattered through the northern basin. Precolonial trade between north and south stimulated both cooperation…