Batonga

The Batonga are a southeastern African ethnic group that can be found in Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. Their historians say that they originated in a land in northeast Africa and migrated to their present area during a period of political and social unrest. It is also believed that the Batonga are related to the Maravi or the Tumbuka because their languages are similar. However, among the Bantu, it is possible to see similarities in the languages and yet not be able to detect a direct line of descent.

The Tonga or Batonga claim to be a separate ethnic group largely because they share a common language and a common name for their group. Their language is called chiTonga, meaning the “language of the Tonga.” The Batonga, for example, do not accept the identification of the Tumbuka or the Maravi. Nevertheless, their identity has been complicated by the fact that they were invaded and conquered, in part, by the mighty Ngoni during their migrations up and down the Rift Valley and into southern Africa. A group of Ngoni reached the area of the Batonga as late as the 19th century and defeated the Batonga in battle, subduing them and integrating them into the Ngoni civil and social systems.

The Ngoni were a patrilineal people, after having adopted the practice hundreds of years before, and they forced the matrilineal Batonga to accept the new pattern of descent. By 1855, most of the villages of the Batonga were matrilineal and had become areas under the domination of the Ngoni army. Incorporated into the Ngoni military units, the Batonga soldiers were forced to perform the most menial of tasks. However, in 1876, the Batonga rose in a violent revolt against their Ngoni overlords and fought fiercely for independence. They were unsuccessful, and the reaction of the Ngoni was severe. Members of the royal house of the Batonga were killed, the oversight of the Batonga people became more stringent, and the use of the Batonga in military raids was increased, also increasing the possibility that they would become fodder for the armies of opponents.

Remnants of the Batonga who were able to escape the power of the Ngoni built their villages on small islands in the middle of Lake Nyasa or in fortresses alongside the shores of the lake. This gave them military advantage and protection from marauding armies. It is easy to see how the religion of the Batonga was influenced by their lifestyle.

Living in and around Lake Nyasa in Malawi, the Batonga developed a deep regard for water. They became principally fishers, although they ate cassava as one of the mainstays of their diets. Given that the Batonga were infiltrated by Ngoni culture, they adopted many of the customs and styles of the Ngoni. They used lobola, a gift of cattle, for marriage payments, and they adopted the Ngoni tradition of the family paying the husband's family if the wife became ill. There were certain rules to keep males from divorcing wives without public hearing and repudiation, although the wives could dismiss their husbands without any such formality. This may have been one of the holdovers from the time of the woman-centered tradition of the Batonga. If a woman died away from her family, they could demand payment from the husband.

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