Antique African Luba (Axe) Adz

 The Luba tribe from the south Congo of today was a precolonial kingdom, prosperous in arts trades with the Europeans. Luba works of decorative arts are much sought after by collectors. This Adz is a classical example. Late 19 century.

The Luba people or Baluba are an ethno-linguistic group indigenous to the south-central region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[2] The majority of them live in this country, residing mainly in its Katanga, Kasai, and Maniema provinces. The Baluba consist of many sub-groups who speak various dialects of Luba (e.g. Tshiluba, Kiluba) or other languages, such as Swahili. The Luba empire was one of the most-renowned African states. Archaeologists have shown that the area where the heart of the empire was situated, east of the Kasai River around the headwaters of the Lualaba River, was likely inhabited by the 5th century century, with the beginnings of the empire emerging by the 14th century. In the 16th and 17th centuries, most of the Luba were ruled by a paramount chief (bulopwe or balopwe), although smaller independent chiefdoms already existed. The Luba empire was fragmented by Belgian colonization between 1880 and 1960, and the breakdown of the empire resulted in the development either of smaller chiefdoms or of small autonomous local lineage groups.size.