The Simaa are an indigenous Bantu people of Zambia's Western Province, living in the vast Barotse Floodplain along the upper Zambezi River—a landscape that the Lozi people call Bulozi. They are counted among the cluster of northern peoples of the Barotse Kingdom, alongside related groups such as the Ndundulu, Mbowe, Makoma, and Muenyi. Their language is Simaa (also known as Siimaa or Liyuwa), a Bantu language that belongs to the Luyana subgroup of the Central-South Bantu family. The Simaa language has a written form and Scripture portions were published in 2016, a milestone for a community long without God's Word in their own tongue.
The origins of the Simaa, like those of other western Zambian peoples, trace back to the great movements of Bantu-speaking populations southward from the Luba-Lunda heartland of what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The Simaa were among the groups assimilated into the Lozi-dominated Barotse Kingdom, sharing its governance structure, marrying into its communities, and adopting much of its cultural life. The kingdom came under Kololo (a Sotho-related group fleeing the Mfecane upheaval) conquest in 1838, and the linguistic legacy of that era—Silozi, today's common tongue of the floodplains—replaced many earlier dialects. In 1864 the Luyi-descended peoples overthrew the Kololo and reestablished their kingdom. British treaties with the Lozi King Lewanika in 1890 and 1900 brought Barotseland under the British South Africa Company as a protectorate. Upon independence in 1964, Barotseland—including the Simaa homeland—was formally incorporated into the Republic of Zambia as part of Western Province.
The Simaa live in small villages on the Barotse Floodplain and its surrounding highland margins, and their lives are shaped profoundly by the annual flooding of the Zambezi. Each year, when the river rises between January and July, low-lying villages are inundated and families relocate to higher ground, only returning when the waters recede and the fertile, silt-enriched soil is ready for planting. This rhythmic relationship with the floodplain is not merely practical—it is woven into the social and spiritual fabric of the community.
Subsistence agriculture, fishing, and cattle herding are the foundations of daily life. On the rich floodplain soils, families grow maize, rice, sorghum, and cassava. Fishing in the Zambezi and its tributaries provides a critical source of protein, and cattle serve as a measure of wealth, used for bride price and communal obligations. Women maintain the household, tend gardens, and process food, while men manage livestock, fish, and handle heavier farmwork.
Family and community life is organized through patrilineal clans, with headmen and village chiefs mediating disputes and presiding over communal decisions. The extended family is the primary social unit of support and obligation. Celebrations mark births, coming-of-age rituals, marriages, and funerals, bringing families together with music, drumming, and the communal sharing of food. The most dramatic communal event in the broader Barotse world is the Kuomboka ceremony, in which the Litunga (king) moves his royal court from the flooded plain to higher ground with great fanfare—a celebration involving paddling, drumming, and the participation of all the peoples of the kingdom, including the Simaa.
Ethnic religion holds the allegiance of much of the Simaa, reflecting a worldview in which ancestral spirits, nature spirits, and spiritual forces are active in daily life. The Simaa, like other Barotse peoples, traditionally honored Nyambe as a high creator god too distant for direct approach, addressing their spiritual needs instead through ancestral mediation, ritual practice, and the guidance of traditional healers. Spiritual specialists manage these relationships on behalf of the community, offering protection, healing, and intervention in times of crisis.
A significant portion of the Simaa community identifies as Christian. Both Catholic and Protestant mission activity reached Western Province during the colonial era, and evangelical believers are present among the Simaa today. The Jesus Film is available in Simaa, and Scripture portions published in 2016 give believers their first access to God's Word in their heart language—a profound foundation for building genuine faith. However, without a complete New Testament or Bible in Simaa, deep discipleship and biblical literacy remain significant challenges. The co-existence of Christian profession and traditional spiritual practice in many households points to the need for mature local church leadership committed to the full counsel of scripture.
Access to healthcare in the remote villages of the Barotse Floodplain is severely limited, and the annual flooding makes medical emergencies particularly dangerous when roads are impassable for months at a time. Clean water access, sanitation, and nutrition are persistent challenges in rural Western Province, one of Zambia's most economically marginalized regions. Schools struggle to retain teachers in isolated communities, and educational opportunities for young people are scarce beyond the primary level. The Simaa need a complete New Testament and Bible translation in their language so that every believer can read, teach from, and live by the full Word of God—not only the portions already available.
Pray for the completion of a full New Testament and Bible in Simaa, building on the Scripture portions already translated, so that the Simaa church can be firmly grounded in God's word.
Pray that Simaa Christians would move beyond nominalism into a living, courageous faith—and that they would take the gospel to neighboring Western Province peoples who have little or no Christian witness.
Pray for healthcare workers, clean water access, and educational opportunities to reach the most isolated Simaa floodplain villages, and for Zambia's government to invest in its most neglected province.
Pray that the JESUS Film and audio Scripture resources in Simaa would reach every village, and that many men and women would come to know Jesus Christ as Lord over every spiritual power and every fear.
Scripture Prayers for the Simaa in Zambia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lozi_Kingdom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barotseland
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lozi
https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/lozi
https://ubuntunationalinstitute.wordpress.com/2020/06/02/culture-lozi-people-of-barotseland-zambia/
https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5428/
https://theculturetrip.com/africa/zambia/articles/an-introduction-to-zambias-lozi-people
https://www.ethnologue.com/language/sie
https://www.jesusfilm.org/watch/jesus.html/Makoma.html
| Profile Source: Joshua Project |
