Bushi is a cultural and common linguistic region located in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, primarily within the South Kivu province. It lies along the Mitumba Mountains and includes the administrative territories of Walungu, Kabare, Kalehe, Mwenga, and Idjwi, as well as the city of Bukavu. Estimates of the population vary widely, ranging from 7 to 12 million inhabitants. The region is historically organized as a kingdom, subdivided chiefdoms.
The inhabitants of Bushi are known as the Shi (plural: Bashi; singular: Mushi), who are also referred to as Banyabungo. The Shi language, known as Mashi, belongs to the Central (Zone J) Bantu group and served as a lingua franca across the region, while common religious practices included belief in the supreme deity Nyamuzinda, venerated through ancestral spirits (Bazimu)—notably Lyangombe, a central spiritual figure in the 19th century. Agriculture forms the basis of the local economy, with the majority of the population engaged in farming. The Shi kingdom is headed by a hereditary monarch, the Mwami, currently Alexandre Kabare Rugemanizi III.See
People
The inhabitants of Bushi are the Bashi, and they speak Shi. Etymologically, the term Bashi consists of the prefix Ba- and the root Shi. The prefixes Mu- (singular) and Ba- (plural) mark nouns in the first noun class, which refers to people. The semantic value of the root Shi is, however, more complex to define. This root appears in several words, such as mi-shi meaning "water", lwi-shi meaning "river", and kushira meaning "to lie down". It also appears in Ishwa, meaning fertile soil or field, a term derived from the combination of water and earth. The root Shi is associated with strength, power, knowledge, endurance, and the ability to submit to authority or endure suffering. A customary chief or notable addresses his subjects as "My Bashis" and an individual as Mushi.
Geographical extent Historically, Bushi has been interpreted in different ways, with earlier literature often limiting it to a narrow political definition. In many publications, the territorial extent of Bushi was confined to the chiefdoms of Kabare and Ngweshe, thus excluding other neighboring chiefdoms such as Kaziba, Luhwindja, Burhinyi, Nindja, and Kalonge, which were either treated as peripheral or affiliated. This restricted definition has caused confusion, especially among outsiders unfamiliar with the region. For instance, historian Jacques Marissal asserted that Bushi extended only from the Bahunde in the north to the Bishugi in the south and was bounded to the west by the equatorial forest. Around 1880, Bushi originally consisted of seven kingdoms but by 1880 had been reduced to four: Nabushi, Ngweshe, Katana (Karhano), and Karhongo. Bernard Jean René Lugan likewise argued that the geographic extent of Bushi remains contested.
The confusion between the political and cultural dimensions of Bushi arose because many writers equated the centralized chiefdoms of Kabare and Ngweshe. These structures, which resembled Rwanda's centralized monarchy, were often used as models for understanding governance across the interlacustrine region. However, shared language, customs, religion, and social institutions among the Bashi have long formed a shared ethnic identity. As such, ethnic cohesion among the Bashi does not necessarily imply a unified political system. Given the Bashi's shared culture and identity, the region of Bushi is best conceptualized using the phrase coined by historian Jean-Pierre Chrétien in his work on the Buha: "one people, several kingdoms".
Geographically, Bushi encompasses a substantial portion of South Kivu. It lies southwest of Lake Kivu, covering an estimated area of approximately 4,600 square kilometers, between 2° and 2°80' south latitude and 28°20' and 29° east longitude. The region is bordered to the east by the Ruzizi River, Lake Kivu, and Rwanda; to the west by the forested highlands of Bulega; to the north by the Nyabarongo River, Buhavu, and Bunyakiri; and to the south by the Lumvi and Bufuliru rivers. Administratively, Bushi comprises several traditional chiefdoms (later reorganized as collectivities following colonial rule and administrative reforms in 1972), including Kabare in the north, Ngweshe in the center, Nindja and Kalonge in the northwest, Burhinyi, Luhwindja, and Kaziba in the west and southwest. The territory spans across parts of the administrative territories of Walungu and Kabare, as well as sections of Mwenga, Kalehe, and Bagira (Bukavu).
History
Origins and settlement The early settlement history of Bushi remains insufficiently understood due to limited and often biased sources. Existing written literature does not provide a comprehensive reconstruction of the remote origins of the Bashi, the processes through which the region was peopled, or the successive transformations of their socio-political institutions. Much of the early literature on Bushi was shaped by colonial-era research, with research disproportionately centered on the chiefdoms of Kabare and Ngweshe and influenced by the policies of the White Fathers. These missionaries advanced a doctrine in which traditional chiefs were to serve as intermediaries between colonial authorities and the local population. Such an approach produced a historiography disproportionately preoccupied with political and military structures, and one heavily entangled with racialized theories and Eurocentric presuppositions.
Early anthropological and historical interpretations, informed by evolutionist and diffusionist models, sought to classify the inhabitants of Bushi into three racial categories based on conjectured migratory "waves": the Barhwa (also known as Twa or Pygmies), regarded as indigenous forest dwellers; the Bantu, considered the dominant native population; and the Baluzi, portrayed as Hamitic migrants of Ethiopian or Nile Basin origin, frequently associated with Semitic peoples and imagined as a "dominant race". These theories mirrored racial typologies that shaped Rwandan historiography and were transposed to Bushi without empirical substantiation. While such theories persisted throughout the colonial era, they were also reinforced by deterministic ideologies privileging cultural and economic hierarchies. From the 1990s onward, however, scholars affiliated with the University of Zaire started a critical reappraisal of these narratives. Employing new methodologies in African historiography, they accentuated the significance of oral tradition, indigenous agency, and interdisciplinary approaches in an intellectual shift aimed at restoring African voices to the center of historical reconstruction and dismantling the distortions inherent in Eurocentric paradigms.
Contemporary hypotheses about the settlement of Bushi reject the notion of large-scale, racially distinct conquests. Instead, the region's human occupation is increasingly viewed as the result of gradual and localized migration. Small groups from neighboring regions, especially Rwanda, Burundi, and southern Kivu, are thought to have integrated into existing communities. In this context, the figure of the chief emerges not as a foreign conqueror of distant origin, but as a primus inter pares (first among equals), a leader chosen internally in response to social needs. Notably, the term "Hamite" does not exist in Mashi. Due to the lack of extensive archaeological and linguistic research in the region, scholars caution against overreaching extrapolations based on the current limits of oral literature, which itself may not extend very far in time or space.
Particular attention has been directed toward the dynastic origins of Bushi, especially the Lwindi lineage situated at the region's southern frontier. Oral traditions consistently recognize Lwindi as the sole royal line whose legitimacy is widely acknowledged. While the precise genealogical origins of its ancestors remain debated, prevailing oral accounts suggest that the founding figures of Bushi's dynasties either originated from the same ancestral group or arrived in the region contemporaneously.
Bushi Kingdom According to local tradition, the Bushi Kingdom, centered around the city of Kabare, was founded somewhere before the year 1388, and remained independent until the Belgian colonialization of the Belgian Congo in the late 19th century.africafederation.org: United Republic of Kivu – Brief History of the Traditional Authorities, Kabare, 2007 Controlling a region of high interest, the Bushi Kingdom was often attacked, and its people's rich oral tradition tells of victories against, among others, invaders from the neighboring Kingdom of Rwanda and the Belgian colonists.(in French) Paul Masson. Trois siècles chez les Bashi [Three centuries among the Bashi]. Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren. (Ethnographical Archives, 1), 1960Antecedents to Modern Rwanda: The Nyiginya Kingdom. Karthala Editions, 2012.
Rulers of Kabare and other chiefdoms
Bushi Kingdom and Kabare Chiefdom The Kingdom of Bushi was ruled by bami (singular mwami). These bami have, ever since the kingdom's establishment circa 1380, been from the same dynasty, and have all carried the name Nnabushi (Kabare), supplemented by a third name. There may have been up to 31 bami since the Bushi Kingdom was established, but the sources are doubtful.
The following bami ruled the Bushi Kingdom. Note that older names are traditional and doubtful and the list may be outdated: Nnabushi Kabare Ngabwe (? – ?) (first mwami according to tradition) ... Nnabushi Kakome (c. 1388 – ?) ... Nnabushi Chilembebwa I (? – ?) Nnabushi Nshuliludjo (c. 1657 – ?) ... Nnabushi Birhenjira (1760 – 1799) Nnabushi Buhongera (1799 – c.1809) Nnabushi Makombe (c.1809 – 1859) Nnabushi Byaterana (1859 – 1889) Nnabushi Rutaganda (1889 – 1919) Kazi Mugenyi (regentess 1889 – 1892) Nnabushi Alexander Rugema (1919 – 1936) Nnabushi Albert Kabare I (Ntayitunda I) (1936 – 1979) Nnabushi Alexandre Kabare I (Rugemaninzi I) (1979) Kazi (regentess 1979 – 1990) Nnabushi Mamimami (disputed) (1981 – 1986) Nnabushi Albert Kabare II (Ntayitunda II) (disputed) (1986–1990) Nnabushi Désiré Kabare (Rugemaninzi II) (1990 – 2024) Nnabushi Alexandre Kabare (Rugemaninzi III) (2024 – )
Other Bushi chiefdoms Not only the Kabare Chiefdom, but also many other successor chiefdoms exist in the Bushi region. Some of these are formed by a different branch of the same dynasty as Kabare, while some others have different dynasties altogether.
The following list lists several Bushi successor chiefdoms, their bami and predecessors, if they are known. Note that information might be outdated:E. Mihigo, Bashi Tribe from South Kivu in DRC, Bashi Chiefdoms, 2015
Idjwi Chiefdom (Idjwi Territory) – current line descents from Buhavu: Current mwami: Roger Ntambuka Balekage Mihigo II (exiled) (? –) Mihigo I, (? – ?) Mahamiriza (1943–1960) Ntambuka Barhakana (1928 – 1943; 1960 – 1972) Mihigo I Ndogosa (c. 1878 – 1889; 1896 – ?) Kabego (c. 1870 – ?) Mwendanga (? – ?) Ngweshe Chiefdom (Walungu Territory) – junior line of Kabare: Current mwami: Ngweshe XV Weza III Pierre J.M.J. Ndatabaye Muhigirwa (exiled) (1979 –) Ngweshe XIV Muhigirwa (1936 – ?) Burhinyi Chiefdom (Mwenga Territory): Current mwami: Mwuganda Bashengezi (1997 –) Kalonge Chiefdom (Kalehe Territory): Current mwami: Nnakalonge Mpagama II (exiled 1998 –) Kaziba Chiefdom (Walungu Territory): Current mwami: Majiri IV Chimanye Dirk Kabonwa Nnakaziba (2005 –) Luhwindja Chiefdom (Mwenga Territory): Current mwami: Tony Chibwire V Nnaluhwindja (2001-) Philemon Mukuba Nnaluhwindja (1988–2001) Nindja Chiefdom (Kabare Territory): Current mwami: Nnanindja Balekembaka (exiled) (1989 –) Interregnum (1979–1989) Nnanindja Bertin Ndusi Ruhambuzo (? – 1979)
Institutional organization