From a capital on the Congo-Zambia border, the Mwata Yamvo ruled a trading empire larger than France — until the colonial carve-up erased it.
The Lunda Empire was a vast pre-colonial African state that dominated the central African savanna from about 1600 to 1887, ruled by the Mwata Yamvo from a capital near the modern Congo-Zambia border. At its height it coordinated trade and tribute across a territory larger than France, linking the Atlantic and Indian Ocean commercial systems.
