The stamps featured here include:
-Sankuru River
- Kivu Kraal
This beehive dwelling features a wood or mud frame, with thatched grass layered for roofing. The "Uele" natives here are defined by their location: namely the Uele River in the north-east section of the Belgian Congo. The Uele merges with the Mbomou, to form the Ubangi River, which in turn empties into the Congo.
Flute and Mbira (Thumb Piano)
- African Congo Drum
Lake Leopold (until 1972, now Lake Mai-Ndombe) is a large freshwater lake. It drains via the Fimi River into the Congo. The lake takes its name from Leopold II, King of the Belgians. He was also known, less affectionately but more accurately, as the "Butcher of Congo".
The Batelelas (Plural) or the Tetela people (singular) are an ethnic group between Lusambo and the Upper Congo River.. Today, they are engaged in fishing, farming, and cultivating cassava, banana, and kola nuts.
Cassava, from South America, was introduced into the Congo basin in 1558 by the Portuguese from Brazil. The cassava can be grown on poor soils, and is a reliable crop during droughts, when millet, banana, and yam production decreases. Cassava is still a popular crop in West Africa, and it is mostly consumed domestically, with very little exported. The edible, starchy tuberous root of the cassava is peeled, then pounded into flour as the stamp illustrations. They are a major source of carbohydrates, otherwise it is poor in protein or other nutrients.
The Mangbetu live in the north-eastern Congo area, and are well known for their art and music (Mangbetu harp).
The Mangbetu speak their own dialect, which is a Central Sudanic language. They became ascendant over their neighboring Bantu speaking tribes in the late 18th century, probably because of their knowledge of iron and copper forgery.
For European explorers, the Mangbetu stood out because of their practice of elongating heads. Babies' heads were tightly wrapped with cloth or giraffe hide or bark (Lipombo). The elongation tradition diminished in the 1950s with increasing westernization .
The Mangbetu, traditionally, believed in sorcery. When a person died, it was felt the cause was due to "the father's family". The father's relatives, then, had to compensate or appease the mother's family.
The canoes were dugout canoes from tree trunks (Teak preferred) in the Belgian Congo.
- African Elephant Loxodonta Africana
The Api Elephant Domestication Center in northeastern Belgian Congo was a project created to domesticate wild elephants for farming, namely plowing and clearing timber. The Api Center operated from 1925 to 1932. The Elephants were this resistant, and were considered ten to twenty times stronger than oxen.
This oddly shaped ungulate mammal, native to north-east Congo, is the Okapi. Although, with its striping, it resembles a Zebra, it is actually related to the Giraffe family
- Baluba Chief
The stamp portraits of Congo natives, including this young Irumu woman, are among the best representations, but belie the cruelty inflicted upon the people during colonial times. Irumu is located on the Ituri river (downstream the river is named Arunmi), close to the eastern border of the Belgian Congo.
No comments:
Post a Comment