The Budu people (Babudu) are a Bantu people living in the Wamba Territory in the Orientale Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They speak the Budu language.
The Mabudu (Babudu, Banabuddu, Budu, Mabodo, Mabudu, Wabuddu) are Bantu, linguistically related to the Baniari and the Mbuba, and next most closely to the Balika. One source says they are related to the Hyari. There are Mbuti (Bambuti) Pygmies in Mabudu territory.
The Budu of Democratic Republic of the Congo are numbering 486,000 (Peoplegroups.org, 2024)
The Budu people live on both sides of the Nepoko River, speaking different dialects. However, the people of the Ibambi side of the river and those of the Wamba side consider themselves one people. The Budu territory is within tropical rain forest. It is isolated, with roads inaccessible to vehicles other than bicycles.
The Budu people mainly live by subsistence agriculture, growing cassava, yams, corn, rice, peanuts, plantains and pulses. Palm oil is the main cash crop, giving an income per capita of about $120 a year. Animal husbandry is rare, limited to poultry and some goats. They obtain meat and other forest resources through trade with the Mbuti people (Pygmies), who share their language. The people wear loin cloths made from beaten bark, or second-hand western clothes. They live in square huts with mud walls, thatched with palm leaves.
The family organization is patriarchal. Important decisions are made by a consensus of elders. Both the Catholic church and, later WEC International (Worldwide Evangelisation for Christ), have been active with the Budu. Charles Studd, founder of WEC, died in Budu territory and is buried in Ibambi.
Sex Division of Labor. Men clear land, but women do all agricultural work.
Property.
Land belongs to the man who clears it. For petty currency in exchange the natives use axes, arrows, and glass beads; for large currency, conical pieces of iron weighing 13 to 18 pounds.
Inheritance is inferred to be patrilineal.
Social Stratification. There are house slaves (war captives), and they are well treated.
Family. The form of the family is unreported.
Settlement Pattern. Villages number 200 huts or more apiece — arranged in two rows along a broad village street. There is a largct house for the chief; also two men's houses. The huts arc rectangular with gabled roofs and each has a veranda with overhanging roof.
Community Organization. Patrisibs. are localized as patrilocal clan-communities. Circumcision is practiced.
Local Government. Each village has a headman — apparently the eldest male of the clan.
State.Except where foreign conquerors have come in, each clan-community is politically independent
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