It’s no secret that I love African history (I have over 30 books specifically on it). I’ve already covered 2 African warrior queens, Amina and Ana Nzinga (you can find them in the Rhymes with Nerdy archives). This time, I’ll highlight a lesser known kingdom from central Africa…

The Kuba Kingdom

Starting sometime in the 16^th century several different peoples from just below of the Sahara, migrated south. They ultimately settled at the bottom edge of the Great Equatorial Forest and the start of the savanna in between the Kasia river – to the east, Sankuru – to the north, and Lulua – to the south, in modern day the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This large group consisted of 18 or 19 different ethnic peoples including – The Ngeende, Kel, Pyaang, Bulang, Bieng, Ilebo, Idiing, Kaam, Ngoombe Kayuweng, Shoowa, Bokila, Maluk, Bushong, Ngongo, and others. Upon their arrival, they came across the Twa. Another people, who were already settled there. Things were civil and the Twa assimilated into the already dense cultural melting pot.

The name, Kuba, originally came from a neighboring kingdom, the Luba. The Kuba referred to themselves as the Bakuba, which translates to, “People of the Throwing Knife.” They spoke Bakuba, a branch of the massive Bantu language tree, consisting of over 200 languages. The other major powers around them were the Kongo and Pende kingdoms, both of whom would prove to be very influential in the formation of the eventual Kuba kingdom.

Initially, they were just a loose confederation of separate villages that shared the same culture. There was no centralized government to speak of. They didn’t become a formally organized kingdom until roughly 1625. Shyaam a-Mbul a Ngoong-Shyaam, turned this cultural composite into a kingdom. It isn’t known where exactly he was from, but he was orphaned early on. A local Kuba queen adopted and raised him as a Bakuba. He left as an adult. Shyaam traveled to the nearby Kongo and Pende kingdoms, studying their cultures and political structures. Upon returning home, he revamped his homeland.

Some of the renovations he brought were: better iron forging techniques, new crops (cassava, maize, tobacco, beans), multi-branch centralized government, professional military and police, annual census, a complex economy, new tax policies, executive councils, trial by jury, merit-based ranking in government jobs, and bureaucracy. All of this was established without a written constitution.

A mesmerizing Kuba design.

The new kingdom was divided into 9 provinces – Kel, Bushong, Ngongo, Coofa, Pyang, Kete, Shoowa, Ngende, and Nsheng. These were in turn divided into smaller counties. The king, Nyim, was always ethnically Bushong and the capital was where the current king had grown up. Each ethnic group was in turn represented in the aristocratic courts. The queen mother was an essential role in the court. She represented the women on a federal level. The line of inheritance was through your mother NOT your father. That included who would be the next king.

The staple of the civilization was weaving, specifically raffia weaving. Raffia was essential for them to survive. Everything was woven from raffia, including the money. That was primarily because of the lack of local metals in the region. The Kuba designs are the most identifiable aspect of the their civilization. Their designs grew more and more complex as time went on. The Kuba design is perfectly symmetrical and asymmetrical at the same time in a beautiful, mesmerizing way. Once you see it, you can always identity it as Kuba in origin. The size and detail of the design on your house was an indicator of your rank in society. These designs were key in the development of Cubism. Picasso was a huge fan and collector of African and specifically Kuba art.

Wood craving and mask making were firmly in second place to weaving. They were equally as intricate and distinctive as the cloth designs. Art in general was highly appreciated and valued. The direction of art was heavily influenced by the Nyim. The most famous case of this was under Nyim Misha mi-Shyaang a-Mbul. He commissioned a new type of sculpture, the ndop. This was a large wooden sculpture of the Nyim. These were made to keep track of the past kings and honor the king. An ibol, personal symbol revealed at a Nyim’s coronation, was always at the forefront. Shyaam the Great’s ndop, prominently featured a mankala board. This represented his cunning, intelligence, and foresight, since mankala requires all 3 qualities. As the kingdom grew stronger, the uniquity of the art grew at a faster pace than rest of society.

Religion was a relatively lesser aspect of society. The creator god, Mfcoom/Bumba the Sky Father, created all and more or less left after that. The main deity worshiped was Woot. He was the first man created by Mfcoom. There were other gods but like Mfcoom, they weren’t that formally worshiped either. The Kuba saw the efforts of humanity more important and relevant than that of the supernatural. Everyone was buried with the items necessary for the afterlife. There was no heaven or hell. If you were good, you became a ghost and reincarnated at some point in the future. If you weren’t, you were stuck in limbo forever. The Nyim was the spiritual leader and head of the sorcerers. In addition, they are the head Ngesh, nature spirit, that bridged the divine with the human. Dogs were seen as messengers of the gods and given special treatment above other animals.

Primarily the regular diet consisted of fish, given the 3 rivers surrounding them. They regulated the fish population with man-made fish farms, that the women would harvest twice a year along with fishing in the rivers. Vegetables made up the other majority. Surrounded by fertile farmland, there was plenty of irrigation from the 3 rivers. Meat was only eaten during the dry season. During the rainy season, both men and women had to maintain the vegetable crops. Farming was much less intensive, the rest of the year.

As with the rest of their contemporaries, they were eventually discovered and colonized. They were one of the last left untouched by Western Europe. In 1892, William Sheppard, an African American Presbyterian missionary, writing about the exploitation of Africans under Belgium’s King Leopold II (That is a story for another day). Sheppard opened the door for the Germans to later colonize the region in 1907. The art regressed and morphed into a more European style but never completely lost its Kuba identity.

Sources

http://www.randafricanart.com/kuba_Ngady_aMwaash.html

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/kuba/hd_kuba.htm

https://africa.uima.uiowa.edu/peoples/show/Kuba

http://econ.columbia.edu/files/econ/content/kuba_final.pdf

http://kwekudee-tripdownmemorylane.blogspot.com/2014/02/kuba-people-most-artistic-and-highly.html

http://kubaafricanart.weebly.com/background.html

http://cool.conservation-us.org/waac/wn/wn08/wn08-1/wn08-102.html

https://museum.gwu.edu/weaving-abstraction-kuba-textiles-and-woven-art-central-africa

http://www.zyama.com/kuba/

Every 4 years, the very best of the very best of the very best in the wide world of sports compete for the gold. Nearly every nation is represented in this titanic tournament. Last time I tackled the Olympics, I focused on the 100M Dash. I ‘m stretching my horizons into gymnastics with…

Olympic Special Vol. 2: Vera Caslavska and Agnes Keleti

VERA CASLAVSKA: 1960 – Rome, 1964 – Tokyo, 1968 – Mexico City

Vera in 1967.

Mid-way through World War II on May 3, 1942, Prague’s Caslavska family introduced a baby girl. They named her Vera. From an early age, it was clear that Vera was a natural athlete. Initially, she started in dance, followed by figure skating. At 15 however, she switched to gymnastics. Like with the previous 2 sports, she dominated. Part of this was her and part was her instructor, Eva Bosakova (1952 – Helsinki, 1956 – Melbourne, and 1960 – Rome). Bosakova was already a multiple medal holder in both the Olympics and World Championships.

After a year or so of training Vera competed alongside Bosakova in 1959 at the European Championship. She won her first (of many) gold medals in the balance beams but slipped up on the uneven bars leaving her in 8^th. The team won the silver medal. This success continued into the Olympics in Rome where she won the silver in the team category again. She continued to compete and exponentially became the top gymnast of her era. In the World and European Championships and the Olympics, she won numerous gold and silver medals. Things changed around the 1968 Olympics however.

January 5, 1968, Antonin Novotny was officially replaced by Alexander Dubcek as 1^st Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. Dubcek’s goal was to create, “Communism with a Human Face.” In turn, he introduced more Democratic leaning policies and expanding people’s freedoms like speech. The Soviets were not pleased so they invaded Czechoslovakia with 600,000 soldiers and help from other Warsaw Pact nations. Vera was in support of the new reforms and signed the protest manifesto, “Two Thousand Words,” by Ludvik Vaculik. All this happened a few months before the Mexico City Olympics that fall (seriously, the 1968 summer games were held in October that year).

Vera was in trouble so her fled to the mountains. Similarly to Rocky in Rocky IV, she trained using the natural world, but out of necessity not because of manliness. After 3 weeks, she got word that the Czech allowed her to participate in the Mexico City games again. It was during these games that she became the first and only Olympian to ever win a medal in every gymnastics event. In addition to this, she refused to observe the rising of the Czech and Soviet flags when she tied for the gold in the Floor Exercise with Larisa Petrik. Many took notice, including the Soviets.

Around this time, she married Josef Odlozil, a fellow Czech Olympian. Back home in Prague, things changed. The government was suspicious of Caslavska and barred her from federal jobs for her protests and politics.

She divorced Josef in 1987. 3 years later the Communists lost power and she finally publicly regarded as a hero of the people. Also wasn’t barred from federal jobs. They had several children. One of them, Martin, stabbed his father in a dance club in 1993. Josef died. Martin was sent to prison. Vera focused on keeping her family together after this tragic event. She still resides in Prague today and lives a private life.

AGNES KELTEI: 1948 – London, 1952 – Helsinki, 1956 – Melbourne

Hungry’s Agnes Keleti came from humble beginnings, she was born to a Jewish family on January 9, 1921. Like other future Olympians she was attracted to sports early on. A natural gymnast, she excelled at the VAC Jewish Sports Club quickly. Her father, Ferencs, wanted both his daughters involved in sports. He was a lifelong athlete. Her mother complimented their father’s push for athletics with academics. Thanks to her, Agnes was a great student, cellist, and singer.

At 16, she won her first national championship. By the end of her professional career, there were 9 more national championships. She was on her way to the Olympics but World War II broke out. Hunngry was left out of it for awhile until Germany invaded. Agnes managed to get papers under the guise of a Christian woman named Piroshka. She worked for a Nazi-sympathizing family as a maid for the rest of the war. Her father was taken to Auschwitz. Her mother and sister luckily escaped thanks to the Swedish diplomat, Raoul Wallenberg (he was responsible for saving thousands of Hungarian Jews). By the end of the war the only family left was her mother and sister.

Agnes doing a split at 91.

Reunited with her family, Agnes resumed where her career left off. She won more national titles over the next few years and nearly made it to the London Olympic. 2 days before they began, she injured herself but recovered in time to compete in European and World Championships. In the Helsinki games, she became the oldest female gymnast to win an Olympian medal at 31. She won 4 medals in total. That record was broken again at the Melbourne games with 6 more medals. At 35, she set the record (again) for oldest female gymnast to win an Olympic medal.

The Soviet Union invaded Hungry during the Melbourne games. Instead of return home, she and the other Hungarians remained down under. She received political asylum to reside in Israel, where she still lives. In 1959, she married Robert Biro, a fellow Hungarian Jew that escaped the Soviets. They have 2 sons, Rafael and Daniel. In Israel, she become a corner stone in the establishment of Israeli Gymnastics. She ended up teaching at Tel Aviv University for years.

Agnes is the second most accomplished Jewish Olympic athlete with 10 medals, right behind Mark Spitz’ 11.

Not only did these women set world records, they managed to thwart both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union from destroying them mentally and physically. They are extraordinary women that need to be remembered and celebrated.

Sources

http://www.ighof.com/honorees/1998_Vera_Caslavska.php

https://www.olympic.org/vera-caslavska

http://brooklynquarterly.org/personal-protest-at-the-olympics/

http://thebiography.us/en/caslavska-vera

http://www.drmirkin.com/histories-and-mysteries/vera-caslavska-marriage-of-two-great-olympic-athletes.html

http://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/czechoslovak-sports-legend-vera-caslavska-celebrates-60th-birthday

http://web.archive.org/web/20040508164234/http://www.intlgymnast.com/events/2004/europeans/champions/caslavska.html

http://articles.latimes.com/1990-04-05/sports/sp-900_1_prague-spring

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/prague-spring-begins-in-czechoslovakia

http://www.dhr.history.vt.edu/modules/eu/mod05_1968/evidence_detail_13.html 2,000 Words

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dykBBhaoczg

http://www.lib.umich.edu/soviet-invasion-czechoslovakia/pg1.html

http://www.gymn.ca/gymnasticgreats/wag/keleti.htm

http://esra-magazine.com/blog/post/agnes-keleti

http://www.jewishpress.com/sections/jewess-press/impact-women-history/agnes-keleti-the-foundation-stone-of-gymnastics-in-israel/2012/07/22/

http://www.ighof.com/honorees/2002_Agnes_Keleti.php

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/keleti-agnes

http://www.jewishsports.net/BioPages/AgnesKeleti(Klein).htm