The Mangbetu live in the northeastern corner of Zaire. They are the founders of one of the few centralized political systems in Central Africa. The Mangbetu achieved a very high level of technological and material development, as indicated by early reports from European explorers. Mbunza's household included musicians, eunuchs, jesters, ballad singers, dancers, and bodyguards. Surrounding the capital were large, cultivated fields and orchards of oil palms and other trees. Crafts include intricately forged chains and knives with carved ivory handles; geometric decoration of bodies, pots, mats, and houses; a distinctive coiffure; carefully carved stools, dishes, gongs, trumpets, and canoes; and finely formed human heads made out of clay and wood.
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