The Vili people are a Central African ethnic group, established in southwestern Gabon, the Republic of Congo, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It's a subgroup of Bantu and Kongo peoples.
With the Yombe, the Lumbu, the Vungu, the Punu and the Kugni, they lived harmoniously within the former Kingdom of Loango. They have even developed with the Kugni, the Bundiku, a good neighborly relationship to avoid conflicts.
The Vili culture is rich in a secular history, a Matrilineality society which is the foundation of a Vili language full of nuances where proverbs have a prominent place; of an original measurement system, of a spirituality whose Nkisi, Nkisi Konde or nail fetishes are the famous physical representation. These artifacts are "commentaries by themselves". They provide keys to the understanding of creativity and identity that prevailed at the time of their creation.
While abundant documentation exists concerning the history of the Kingdom of Kongo, the Kingdom of Loango is much less documented by the written sources.
The Vili have very early maintained relations of equal to equal with the Westerners, especially in trade. However, this contact with the west and engagement in the slave trade enriched a tiny minority at the cost of upsetting the societal structure of the Vili. The epidemics of trypanosomiasis and smallpox further drastically decreased the population of this people.
Name
Depending on the source and context, there are several forms: Bavili, Bavilis, Fiote, Ivili, Loango, Vilis. The term fiote ("black"), used by Portuguese settlers, is now considered pejorative. The term of Vili also refers to their cultures, and traditions.
Language
They speak the Vili, a Bantu language whose number of speakers was estimated at 50 000 in 2010. Approximately 45 000 were counted in the Republic of Congo and 5 000 in Gabon. The other known names and dialect names are : Civili, Civili ci Luango, Civili ci Moongo, Civili ci Waanda, Civili ci Yombe, Fiot, Fiote, Tshivili, Tsivili. The close ethnic group are: Kotchi, Lindji, Ciyoombe, Woyo, Yombe, Yoombe.
History
The origins
The Vili, as well as the Yombe (ethnically closest cultural and geographically to Vili people), the Lumbu, the Vungu, the Punu and the Kugni, formed the ethnic components of the ancient kingdom of Loango. There were also intermingling with pygmy populations of the Babenzi, the Binga or Baka.
In the sixteenth century, the Bawoyo dynasty, which belongs to the mighty Brotherhood of Blacksmiths of the Buvandji, led by Njimbe, and based on an army of warriors, is imposed on the local people on the coast of Loango. According to several sources, such as the English explorer Andrew Battel, present in the region around 1610, the Dutchman Olfert Dapper, as well as the English trader R.E. Dennett, Njimbe would be the founder of the Kingdom of Loango and his first sovereign with a Reign that would have lasted about sixty years. Initially, the province of the Kingdom of Kongo (Kongo Dia Nthotila – Kongo of the King), the Kingdom of Loango, in the company of the two provinces of Ngoyo and Kakongo, was freed in the sixteenth century and occupied a vast territory ranging from the region of Setté Cama to Gabon, to the current Cabinda to the south, from the Massif of Mayombe to the east to the confines of the Anziku Kingdom and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, where the capital Bwali was located. A proverb clearly illustrates the original community of the three secessionist provinces, as well as the religious role of the king of Ngoyo. This is: "Makongo Nnuni, Mangoyo Nthomi, Maloangu nkasi" which literally means "the Makongo is the husband, the Mangoyo the priest (keeper and officiating of the Tchibila Shrine of the god Bunzi) and the Malwangu the woman".
The ruling family was derived from the Vili ethnic group, specifically the Kondi and Nkata clans. This state had a social and political organization with a king, a government and governors of its seven provinces. The strong political prioritization allowed some chroniclers to establish an analogy with the feudal societies of medieval Europe. At the time Loango was already prevalent an elective mechanism, particularly in the designation of the future sovereign.
In the history of the Kingdom of Loango, there is no visible trace. However, he soon made exchanges with the Europeans, mostly Portuguese, escaped from the bagnes or former ebony traffickers. Germans, Englishmen, Dutch, had opened Factoreries in the vicinity of the larger villages.