Tippo Tip à Mulongo. Nouvelles données sur le début de la pénétration arabo-swahili au Sahara

The tribal lands of the Luba of Mulongo, situated at the extreme north of the Upemba depression are not only an almost obligatory point of passage for those coming from the east en route to the heart of the Luba but are also an important market. It is therefore a very useful place to study the Arab-Swahili penetration in the kingdom of Luba in the nineteenth century, especially as one of the first merchants to reach this chefferie was none other than Tippo Tip. In his autobiography, he briefly speaks of his incursions in Luba but up to now, no other source has permitted the verification or the completion of the information provided by Tippo Tip.An unpublished administrative report dating from 1909, written up from the oral tradition of the precedent century, tells of power struggles between two rival lineages of the Mulongo royalty. The report not only provides a complete ancestry of the chiefs but also allows the accurate dating of the stages of Arab-Swahili penetration in the kingdom of Luba. Furthermore, this document refers to the passage of Tippo Tip in the region and gives us much information regarding the events that took place during his stay. The congruence of the sources enables a relatively detailed chronology of the passage of Tippo Tip to be established and a better definition of the forms of the penetration and the political domination of Arab-Swahili at the heart of the Luba empire.