3. Sudan, Pre-19th century
The Zande tribe, which lived in pre-colonization Sudan, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Central African Republic, had an exceptionally sexually permissive culture. Similar to the Greek paiderastia, warriors between the ages of 20 and 30 would take on young mentees between the ages of 12 and 20 would engage in intercrural, or thigh, sex with their mentor. There was also a tradition of older warriors taking boys as wives, paying a bride price for them in the same manner they would for a female bride. When these boy wives grew up, they would also take on younger boys as boy wives. Households in the Zande tribe practiced polygamy, and there is some evidence that lesbianism was practiced among women in various homes.
When European colonizers arrived in the Zande’s tribal lands, they were horrified by the non-monogamous and queer practices and quickly put an end to them. The cultural traditions of the Zande tribe, which once revolved around witchcraft and a supreme being called Mbori, have largely been eradicated and replaced with Christian practices. While some elements of witchcraft remain, they are now primarily viewed through a Christian lens, and the traditional ghosts of their ancestors are now associated with evil rather than protection.
