Teke people

As part of the Bantu expansion, the Teke established a powerful kingdom in what is now the Republic of Congo in the first millennium C.E. with religion as the basis of legitimacy. They had a king called the Makoko, who ruled the Teke from the surrounding area of modern day Brazzaville. He is thought of as both divine and human, and he rules over all the local chiefs. The Teke Kingdom flourished around the 12th and 13th centuries, but by the 15th had become a vassal of the Kingdom of Kongo and faced encroachment on their frontiers by numerous other peoples. Initially occupying the area between Manyanga and the Malebo Pool, the Teke were gradually pushed north by Kongolese raids and emigration, itself a product of the violence of the Atlantic slave trade, into the Batéké Plateau. The French first arrived in what is now the Republic of Congo in the 1880s, and occupied the Congo until 1960. During this colonial period, traditional Teke ceremonies were very few. Under the French, the Teke people suffered heavily from colonial exploitation. The French government was gathering land for its own use and damaging traditional economies, including massive displacement of people. The Teke Kingdom signed a treaty with the French in 1883 that gave the French land in return for protection. Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza oversaw French interests. A small settlement along the Congo River was renamed Brazzaville and eventually became the federal capital of French Equatorial Africa. In the 1960s the Teke people started to regain their independence and traditional life started to flourish once again. ==Ethnography and traditions==

The name of the tribe shows what the occupation of the tribe was: trading. The word teke means 'to sell'. The economy of the Teke is mainly based on farming maize, millet, tobacco, and bananas but the Teke are also hunters, skilled fishermen and traders. The Teke lived in an area across Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Gabon. The mfumu was the head of the family and his prestige grew as family members increased. The Teke sometimes chose blacksmiths as chiefs. The blacksmiths were important in the community and this occupation was passed down from father to son. In terms of life of the Teke, the village chief was chosen as religious leader, he was the most important tribal member and he would keep all the potions and spiritual bones that would be used in traditional ceremonies to speak to the spirits and rule safety over his people.The Teke people also practice scarification. These scars are located mainly on the face and span from the temple down the cheek. These scars are given to them as young children. . Teke masks are mainly used in traditional dancing ceremonies such as wedding, funeral, and initiation ceremonies of young men entering adult hood. The mask is also used as a social and political identifier of social structure within a tribe or family. Religion The Teke people are monotheistic and believe in Nzambi their supreme deity. He is said to have created everything including the earth, water, and sky. He also has control over life and death. He is also not directly praised. Nzambi is seen as too far above humans to interfere in their affairs. The elder who is the village's religious leader is called the Mpugu. His power is marked by a large wooden figure known as Tara-Mantsie (father of the earth) which allows his powers to affect all the villagers. Unlike the Tara-Mantsie, the normal figurative statues can only affect a single person.The Teke also believe in ancestor and nature spirits that act as intermediaries between Nzambi and the living. These spirits inhabit both living and nonliving things. They can be both complimented and offended, and are given anthropomorphic properties, which can affect whether the spirit is kind or aggressive. Of these spirits, Nkwimbali is the most relevant and important. Nkwimbali resides in waterfalls and is often given sacrifices. They also believe all living things have both a soul and breath of life. When a living things dies, the soul is freed and became a spirit and the breath of life is passed to give life to a new thing. The Cult of Spirits meets in temples, unlike the Ancestor Cult, and has special huts near by which hold statues of the spirits and is where sacrifices take place. The sacrifices the Cult of Spirits practice were once human sacrifices, but by the 19th century this was quickly changed to animal sacrifice. This cult also have to keep the spirits happy and satisfied through offerings and sacrifices or they risk medicines and Bilongo to stop working. Teke Art The Teke people are well known for their masks, which are round flat disk-like wooden masks that have abstract patterns and geometric motifs with horizontal line that divides the mask in two. They are painted in earthly colors: mainly dark blues, blacks, browns, and clays tones. The masks have narrow eye slits to enable the masker to see without being seen. They have holes pierced along the edge for the attachment of a woven raffia dress with feathers and fibers. The mask is held in place with a bite bar at the back that the wearer holds in his teeth. The raffia, fabric, and feather dress would add to the mask's costume and conceal the wearer. The masks originate from the upper Ogowe region. The Teke people have a variety of wooden figurative statues or nkisi each containing Bilongo (fetish/medicinal materials) which serve a variety of purposes, All of the statues have a basic human form to them with elbows and knees being slightly bent with a large head. The faces are abstracted with thin round eyes (like a slightly more naturalistic version of the eyes on their masks), small mouths, and long rectangular or triangular noses. Most of them also have elongated necks that match the cylindrical form of the body. The Bilongo each nkisi has serve a verity of purposes. The Butti figures represent ancestors, and have material from the ancestor embedded within the figure, which can include things like hair or finger nails. These figures symbolize happiness and the spirit of happiness. ==Notable Bateke and notable people associated with the Bateke==

• Omar Bongo (1935–2009), President of Gabon • Patience Dabany, First Lady of Gabon (1967–1987) • Ali Bongo Ondimba, President of Gabon (2009–2023) • Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, Interim President of Gabon (2023–) • Charles David Ganao (1928–2012), Prime Minister of the Republic of Congo (1996–1997) • Ngalifourou (1864–1956), a queen of the Teke ==Bateke dogs and cats==

The Teke historically breed dogs and cats for domestic purposes. The chien Bateke is a small lean hunting dog with a short, medium gray coat. The chat Bateke is large cat with nearly the same coloring as the dog. These animals constitute landraces, rather than formal breeds (they are not recognized by any major fancier and breeder organizations). A majority of domesticated cats and dogs in areas bordering the Congo River are of these breeds, though ownership of domesticated animals in general is rare in the region. ==See also==