The
Bemba (or 'BaBemba' using the Ba- prefix to mean 'people of', and also called 'Awemba' or 'BaWemba' in the past) belong to a large group of
Bantu peoples mainly in the
Northern,
Luapula and
Copperbelt Provinces of
Zambia who trace their origins to the Luba and Lunda states of the upper
Congo basin, in what became
Katanga Province in southern
Congo-Kinshasa (DRC). They are the largest ethnic group in Zambia. Bemba history is a major historical phenomenon in the development of chieftainship in a large and culturally homogeneous region of central
Africa.