Banda people

The Banda are an ethnic group of the Central African Republic, some of whom also live in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, and South Sudan.

The Banda speak several Ubangian languages that are related to that of their Gbaya and Ngbandi neighbours. The Banda numbered about 1,300,000 at the turn of the 21st century. The Banda observe patrilineal descent and live in hamlets of dispersed homesteads under the local governance of a headman. Rural Banda raise maize (corn), cassava, peanuts, sweet potatoes, and tobacco. Men hunt and fish while women gather wild foods and cultivate crops. Banda craftsmen produce carved wooden ritual and utilitarian objects; they are best known for their large slit drums carved in the shapes of animals.

Stateless when first encountered by Europeans, the Banda selected war chiefs only during times of crisis, after which the warriors were divested of their power. Age grades and initiations called semali assured intergroup unity in time of war. Marriage traditionally required bridewealth, often in iron implements. Polygamy, although still practiced, has declined with the rise of a money-based economy.