The Barotse Royal Establishment (BRE), formerly the Barotse Native Government (BNG), is a non-sovereign monarchy within Zambia. Headed by the (king) and located in Western Province on the Bulozi Plain, it is the continuation of the precolonial Lozi Kingdom. The BRE also consists of the (National Council), and is divided into districts headed by ( , Councillors). The current is Imwiko II.

History Background

Early history Likely following a migration from the Lunda Empire, the Lozi Kingdom was founded in present-day Kalabo District during the 17th century with its first Litunga (king) being Mboo Mwanasilundu Muyunda. During his reign, two royal relatives, Mwanambinyi and Mange, split from the kingdom to establish their own polities. The 4th Litunga, Ngalama, conquered the breakaway polities and expanded the kingdom further to control the entire Bulozi Plain. The 6th Litunga, Ngombala, established a subordinate centre of power in the south to increase control over these new lands, and expanded the state even further to control the peripheral territories.

Over time power gradually shifted from the Litunga to the aristocratic bureaucracy (represented in the National Council or Kuta) as Litungas were compelled to make several concessions. By the reign of the 10th Litunga, Mulambwa, the kingdom was in a state of severe instability, and Mulambwa fought many wars. To succeed him, Mubukwanu and Silumelume fought an internecine civil war. Soon after the war concluded, the weakened kingdom was conquered by the Makololo around 1840 (who had fled the Mfecane). A rebellion in 1864 restored the kingdom, though factional infighting between different visions for the state ensued. After two unstable reigns, Lewanika came to power in 1878, though was deposed in 1884. Supported by traditionalists he returned to power in 1885, and set about consolidating his rule. He also revived several pre-Makololo institutions.

British colonisation and the early colonial period In the late-1880s, the Lozi Kingdom found itself surrounded by Portuguese, British, and German colonial expansion amid the Scramble. In 1886, when François Coillard established a missionary station in Sefula, Lewanika (on the advice of Khama who had come under British protection in 1885) approached him and requested to become a British protectorate. In 1889 Coillard (now a trusted friend) agreed to mediate and relayed this to the administrator of Bechuanaland, and a mineral prospector arrived later that year with gifts of firearms etc. and negotiated the Ware Concession about gold prospecting rights in Sesheke and Batoka (billed as a first step towards protection), which was sold to Cecil Rhodes' British South Africa Company (BSAC). Lewanika saw this as conducive to strengthening his authority and Lozi claims over the wider region by having British support, and wanted 'modernisation' to enrich the elite through Lozi systems rather than revolutionise or "civilise" them. In 1890 the Lochner Concession was negotiated with the BSAC, granting mining rights in the whole country in exchange for defence and the establishment of schools and industries, while respecting Lozi sovereignty. Many traditionalists were strongly opposed to this, despite Lochner distributing gifts and bribes. Under pressure, Lewanika rejected the Concession and lamented the missionaries as "liars" and "secret agents". Upon learning Lochner had misrepresented himself as brokering for the British Crown instead of a company (meaning protection was indirect), Lewanika was furious and felt further betrayed when British residence and other conditions did not materialise. Meanwhile, though Lewanika had initially found the Mbunda practices of witchcraft and divination helpful, in 1887 the diviners had targeted one of his close friends, who was subsequently killed. Tension between Lewanika and the diviners had been building until 1892, when the Mbunda diviners targeted Lewanika directly. They claimed that he was responsible for a smallpox epidemic and the lack of rain. Several Manduna used this to further their opposition to the Lochner Concession, and Lewanika was accused of having sold the kingdom. Lewanika later ordered the strangling of the diviners, though this was prevented by Coillard's intervention, and from then on set about dismantling Mbunda influences. The grave threat from the Matebele dissipated after their defeat to the BSAC in 1893, somewhat recovering Lewanika's trust in the Company but also warning of the danger it exemplified.

By the end of the 19th century, the unyielding inevitability of European expansion had dawned on Lewanika, and he feared military invasion. In 1895 the Portuguese occupied some of the Lozi's western territory following the Anglo-Portuguese agreement to set their claims' borders at the Zambezi. Lewanika appealed to the British Crown. Public opposition had been weakened by famine, cattle plague, locusts, and influenza, traditionalists were disempowered, and, after Mbunda diviners began targeting Europeans, Lewanika banned witchcraft accusations. The first British resident arrived in 1897, and in 1898 the Lawley Concession was signed (without missionaries present). While formalising protectorate status, it encroached on Lozi sovereignty by giving the BSAC some administrative rights over the Plain along with mining rights, and Lewanika was obligated to suppress witchcraft and slavery. The 1899 Order of Council treaty signed by British queen Victoria stipulated that the Lozi could maintain their laws and customs "except so far as the same may be incompatible with the due exercise of Her Majesty’s power and jurisdiction".

With the 1899 Order, Lewanika lost powers over territory outside of the Valley (Bulozi proper), and over the following years, fearing conquest, his authority was eroded. Company control over the Litunga was extended in exchange for support against traditionalist Manduna. Mission schools were established, mostly for the elite. A hut tax was established by the Company in 1902 and was strictly enforced, gravely impacting commoners; Company policy ignored development and intended for Bulozi to supply cheap labour to "White"-inhabited regions, provoking out-migration. A ruling in 1905 by the king of Italy on the Anglo-Portuguese dispute over the territory west of the Zambezi divided it evenly, nominally allocating half to Lewanika (in practice reducing his territory). In 1906, slavery was abolished, emancipating a significant portion of the population that could now pay tax. That same year, granting of land everywhere was transferred to the BSAC, belying the meaning of Litunga as "owner of the land". The Barotse National School (BNC) was established by Lewanika, also in 1906, aiming to produce English-speaking translators, tradesmen, and clerks. Lozi were often beaten for not paying respectful greetings to all "Whites", and the royal salute was now only to be used for Company leaders. In 1909, the Lozi's Caprivi Strip was given to Germany. The 1911 Order of Council merged Barotziland–North-Western Rhodesia and North-Eastern Rhodesia to form the protectorate of Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), and, unbeknown to the Lozi elite, the kingdom effectively became a province. In 1914, all legal matters other than petty theft, property disputes, divorce, and adultery were made clear to be within the BSAC's jurisdiction and not the Kuta's. In a late effort to make himself important to the British, Lewanika facilitated 2000 Lozi to serve during World War I. Throughout all this, Lewanika continued to seek direct protectorate status from the British Crown, but his efforts were dismissed, and dreams of a Lozi-British alliance faded. Amid a severe cattle epidemic, Lewanika died in 1916.

Lewanika was succeeded by his son Litia, known as Yeta III. Yeta had been mission-educated, as were the sons of Manduna who gradually replaced their fathers. This new generation was highly competent in legal settings and began lobbying for Company rule to end and the return of Lozi rights. Amid rumours of direct British rule, Yeta told the High Commissioner that per the treaties, the BSAC's commercial rights were dependent on their administrative role. Relations between the ruling class and the Company became increasingly hostile as administrators criticised what was left of Lozi rule and undermined it. A 1921 petition Yeta handed to the High Commissioner called for direct British protection over their whole territory, the cancellation of earlier concessions to the BSAC, for the Litunga to get his agreed-upon share of the hut tax and funding for schools (i.e. the BNC), and the return of the Caprivi Strip (now administered by South Africa) and some Portuguese-Angolan territory, both of which had been transferred without consulting the Lozi and were legally dubious. The petition was wholly rejected. In 1924 administration was transferred directly to the British Crown, though the BSAC retained their mining rights. Rather than continue the policy of dismantling Lozi rule, the new Governor favoured indirect rule, with the then-current situation maintained. In exchange for annual payments to the elite, the practice of tribute labour was ended, and public infrastructure became badly neglected. Elites continued to seek privileges from the administration as a means of class differentiation, and in 1930 Yeta approached the Provincial Commissioner with a list of grievances. The Commissioner responded that further complaints would result in removal of privileges. Aware of the insecurity of their positions, Yeta and the Kuta resolved that they would focus on maintaining the special status of Barotseland in Northern Rhodesia and that of the ruling class.

Bulozi remained poverty-stricken with little employment opportunities other than fishing amid the Crown's continuation of using the region for labour supply, which had caused large numbers of people to leave for mining in South Africa and the Copperbelt, and farming in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). The 1930s saw jobs everywhere dry up, as well as floods, droughts, locusts (causing four crop failures in a row), cattle disease, and famine, leading to many Lozi being imprisoned or made to do forced labour for failing to pay poll tax. During this Lozi elites continued to publicly show their privileges to emphasise their status.

Legal formalisation of the Barotse Native Government In 1935 the Lozi government was legally formalised as the "Native Government" for Barotse Province to strong yet powerless opposition, becoming the "Barotse Native Government" (BNG) with "Native Courts" and a "Native Treasury". A plot to overthrow Yeta in 1937 while he attended the British king's coronation failed. In 1939 Yeta was paralysed and rendered mute by a stroke, later abdicating in 1945 to be replaced by his half-brother Imwiko. During Imwiko's reign, the Provincial Commissioner enacted reforms of the Barotse Native Government, reviving a sub-council of the National Council (the Katengo Kuta) that would be elected by regional councils and advise the National Council, angering Manduna. He also claimed a new policy to develop Bulozi. Manduna viewed this with suspicion as just "another white man's trick to steal land" and refused to lease land for it; Imwiko signed the lease independently and died soon after in 1948, provoking rumours of assassination.

Decolonisation