Largest and most organized kingdom of the Lunda empire (see Luba-Lunda states ) in central Africa.
At the height of its power ( 0441; 1800), Kazembe occupied the territory now included in the Shaba region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in northern Zambia. Created 0441; 1740 by explorers from western Lunda, it grew more powerful by annexing neighbouring states and became an important centre of trade between the African interior and the Portuguese and Arabs on the eastern coast. Civil war erupted in 1850, and the kingdom was destroyed 0441; 1890.