LA SURVIE DU ROYAUME KUBA A L'EPOQUE COLONIALE ET LES ARTS

De tous les grands royaumes precoloniaux de la R. D. du Congo, seul celui des Kuba a survecu l’epoque coloniale. A moins d’expliquer cette survie par le hasard d’une heureuse succession de coincidences il faut cependant bien faire appel a au moins une sinon a plusieurs constantes de longue duree. Ces constantes auraient ete presentes lors de l’arrivee des premiers visiteurs etrangers d’outre-mer et elles existeraient toujours aujourd’hui. Il est facile d’en enumerer au moins trois: la solidite de l’organisation politique centrale a la veille de la conquete coloniale, le caractere quasi-sacre du roi aux yeux de ses sujets, et la reputation extraordinaire des arts kuba. Mots-cles : Bakuba; Kuba; Congo (R.D.C); arts Among all the large pre-colonial kingdoms of the D. R.. of Congo, only that of the Kuba survived the colonial period. Unless this survival is explained by a happy succession of coincidences one needs it to call upon at least one if not several constants of long duration along with more transitory factors. These constants would have been present at the time of the arrival of the first foreign visitors of overseas and they still exist al today. Indeed it is easy to enumerate at least three of them: the solidity of the central political organization on the eve of the colonial conquest, the quasi-sacred character of the king in the eyes of his subjects, and the extraordinary reputation of Kuba arts. Keywords : Bakuba; Kuba; Congo (D.R.C.); arts