The history of the Songye is closely linked to the Luba's, to whom they are related through common ancestors. According to tradition, Kongolo, the founder of the first Luba empire in the sixteenth century, was a Songye. Having waged war against one another for a long time, the Songye and Luba later allied to fight the Arabs. In 1887, to prevent annihilation, a Songye subgroup, the Nsapo, moved to Lulua territory and, by this migration, created an original style of sculpture. The social structure was headed by a chief, assisted by innumerable secret societies. Originally, the initiation of young boys took place within the framework of the buhishi institution, but this disappeared at the beginning of the century. The Songye used a large number of fetishes and amulets, called boanga, to ensure their success, fertility, and wealth, and to protect them against hostile forces such as lightning, as well as against diseases such as smallpox, very common in that region. The fetishist would make the boanga with magic ingredients, which he crumbled and mixed, thus obtaining a paste that was kept in an antelope horn hung from the roof of the house. When the head of a family needed to travel, he had a new one made, which he carried with him.
