Nyamwezi people

The Nyamwezi, or Wanyamwezi, are one of

the Bantu groups of East Africa. They are
the second-largest ethnic group in
Tanzania. The Nyamwezi people's
ancestral homeland is in parts of Tabora
Region, Singida Region, Shinyanga Region
and Katavi Region. The term Nyamwezi is
of Swahili origin, and translates as "people
of the moon" or "people of the west", the
latter being more meaningful to the
context.
 Nyamwezi

Nyamwezi people in German East Africa,

1914

Total population

4 million

Regions with significant populations

Tanzania

Languages

Nyamwezi

Religion
Christianity, Islam, African Traditional Religion
Related ethnic groups

Sukuma people

Nyamwezi

Person Mnyamwezi

People Wanyamwezi

Language Kinyamwezi

Country Unyamwezi

Historically, there have been five ethnic

groups, all of which referring to
themselves as Wanyamwezi to outsiders:
Kimbu, Konongo, Nyamwezi, Sukuma, and
Sumbwa, who were never united. All
groups normally merged have broadly
similar cultures, but it is an
oversimplification to view them as a single
group.[1] The Nyamwezi have close ties
with the Sukuma and are believed to have
been one ethnic group up until the
Nyamwezi started their forrays to the
Coast for long distance trade. The Sukuma
would refer to the Nyamwezi as the
Dakama, meaning 'people of the south',
and the Dakama would refer to the
Sukuma as 'people of the north'. Their
homeland is called Unyamwezi, and they
speak the language Kinyamwezi, but many
also speak Swahili or English.
Ancient Indian texts refer to the Nyamwezi,
or 'the men of the moon', a term still in use
to identify the Nyamwezi people in
Tanzania.[2]

It was only in the 19th century that the

name could be found in European
literature; the term might include almost
anyone from the western plateau. Travel
taught them that others called them
Nyamwezi, and almost all men accepted
the name given to them by the coastal
people indicating that the Nyamwezi came
from the west. A century later, their land is
still called "Greater Unyamwezi", about
35,000 square miles (91,000 km2) of
rolling land at an elevation of about 4,000
feet (1,200 m).

History

Early history

Bundesarchiv Bild 105-DOA0243,

Deutsch-Ostafrika, Einheimische aus
Urambi

According to oral tradition, the Nyamwezi

are thought to have settled in west central
Tanzania (their present location) some
time in the 17th century. The earliest
evidence comes from the Galahansa, and
confirms their presence there in the late
17th century. They were once fishermen
and nomadic farmers due to the poor
quality of soil in the area. Their travels
made them professional traders, and by
1800 they were taking caravans to the
coast to trade in Katanga copper, wax, salt,
ivory, and slaves. Arab and Indian slave
and ivory traders reached the Nyamwezi
by 1825. They also started to acquire
guns, and establish regular armies, with
intra-tribal wars and some conflicts with
Arabs on the coast throughout the 19th
century. They could be considered an
acquisitive society, often accused of
thinking of nothing but how to earn money.
 Wanyamwezi hairstyles, circa 1860

The Nyamwezi had long been a settled

agricultural and cattle-owning people,
arriving on the western plateau in the 16th
century, and originally living in a mosaic of
small and independent chiefdoms slowly
carved out by ruling dynasties which
according to a Catholic missionary may
have numbered over 150, each with its
own councilors, elders, and court slaves.
In the 19th century, they were already
recognized as large slave-owners and
were famous for their herds. While cattle
were important they were not often part of
normal life, their entire care often being
left in the hands of professional herdsmen,
the immigrant Tutsi.

19th century

In the early 1800's there were a number of

Nyamwezi kingdoms, such as
Unyanyembe, Ulyankhulu and Urambo.
Unyanyembe was perhaps the most
powerful, since it controlled the trading
city of Tabora, and had close connections
with the Arabs of Zanzibar, through the
Arab community of Tabora. When
Mnywasele inherited the throne of
Unyanyembe in 1858, the Arabs helped
him expel his rival Mkasiwa, who went into
exile in Ulyankhulu. When Mnywasele later
tried to increase his control over the
Unyanyembe trading community, those
allied with Mkasiwa, which led to a greater
conflict between Unyanyembe and
Ulyankhulu in 1860. The result of the
conflict was that Mkasiwa gained the
throne of Unyanyembe. In 1871
Unyanyembe was involved in another war,
this time against Urambo, which at this
time was ruled by the slaver and ivory
trader known as Mirambo. 1873 the
Urambo forces blockaded the ivory trade
from Tabora resulting in the price of ivory
rising globally.[3] The war lasted until
Mirambo's death in 1884.[4]

In the 19th century, settlements were

described as typically large, compact, and
fortified for defense with strong wooden
stockades, often in high inaccessible rocky
places. When the Germans finally imposed
peace, the population did not immediately
disperse, but slowly, over a fifty-year
period, the modern pattern of scattered
settlements emerged.

German colonialists controlling Tanzania

from the late 19th century (calling it
German East Africa), found the Nyamwezi
heavily involved in trade relations with the
Arabs and the island of Zanzibar,
dominating as traders and porters since
1850. (While Iliffe lists a likely 100,000
people traveling to and from the coast,
Abrahams lists a possible 200,000 using
many of the side 'roads', some making the
trip as many as 20 times.) Despite the
Nyamwezi's outside contacts, Nyamwezi
colonies were remarkably resistant to
foreign culture. Nyamwezi colonies
outside the Unyamwezi long remained
culturally distinct. In Unyamwezi itself,
differing lifestyles were either absorbed
into the existing order, similar to the Ngoni
becoming just another chiefdom, or
became isolated like the Arabs of Tabora.
But for all their poor relationships with the
coast and their conservatism, being able
to travel was considered a valuable and
manly attribute.

Many trade routes crossed Unyamwezi,

and the Nyamwezi had access to ivory and
slaves, stretching from the coast to the
inland, as far as Congo. The western
Nyamwezi arrived at the coast with ivory
around 1800, and coastal traders soon
followed this up by finally entering
Unyamwezi and reaching Ujiji by 1831. A
kind of California Gold Rush took place for
the ivory of the Congo's Manjema to the
west of Lake Tanganyika. With their deep
involvement in commerce, the Nyamwezi
welcomed traders. The most hospitable
chiefdom was Unyanyembe, where Arab
traders established the nexus of Tabora to
the Lake district beyond.

Conflicts between chiefs and Arab traders

lasted through the last half of the 19th
century. Chiefs such as Isike and Mirambo,
no longer being purely ritual, had found
that the arrival of firearms enabled them to
create standing armies and a new state
organization. It was firearms and trade
that transformed the region, for trade
generated the wealth needed to obtain
firearms. Chiefs were normally ritual
figures who had no very rigid rules of
succession. They lived very restricted
lives, with the most significant duties
being carried out by headmen. They were
strangled when they became seriously ill
(as probably happened to Mirambo while
dying of cancer), for the well being of the
state and its continuation was identified
with chief and his subordinate
administrators. A hierarchy of territorial
offices came into being. There were sub-
chiefs, assistant chiefs, headmen elders,
ritual officials, etc., as each dynasty seized
power from another. Greater Nyamwezi
had become a war zone.
By 1890 the Germans advanced further
towards Tabora the western part of
Tanganyika. It is located in the interior of
Nyamwezi land. There, they met stiff
resistance from Isike the Unyanyembe
hereditary ruler. Isike was the only leader
in Nyamweziland who was prepared to
defend his country to the last drop of
blood.

According to European intelligence and

correspondence information provided by
missionaries and explorers, Isike was on
top the German list of serious opponents
of the Europeans. With the coming of the
Germans Isike was going to be alone—his
Arab allies caved in, they abandoned the
long relationship they had from the time of
Isike's father Mkasiwa. The Arabs
recognised and acknowledged the
European military power they sided with
them in the war against Isike.

Isike was a committed ruler who

dedicated his life to longevity of his
Nyanyembe state. He was attentive on
matters of state governance. A man of few
words. In communication with people he
listened more than talking.

Isike was prudent in his dealings with all

foreigners. His centrist view endeavoured
to strike the middle way to balance the
triangular relationship in the caravan trade.
The triangular power relations between 1.
local rulers, 2. Arab-Indians and 3.
Europeans. His awareness and knowledge
of the power workings of the three sides of
the triangle sustained his authority.

In anticipation of foreign invasions Isike

constructed a fortress around the
Nyanyembe royal courts in Itetemia. It was
a purpose built defence stronghold to keep
invaders at bay. Built with thick walls built
with stones and mud mortar, strengthened
with fire. The walls were approximately
three feet in width and ten feet in height.
At the top of the walls holes were curved
strategically designed for ruga-ruga
snipers to place weapons in defence of the
fortress base.

Unlike Isike's contemporaries Mirambo

and Nyungu-ya-Mawe (Isike's cousin) who
participated in the forefront of the battles
lines leading their vicious ruga-ruga
armies Isike chose to control his ruga-ruga
forces from his command centre inside
the fortress. He never complied with
German demands or invitation to attend
supposedly peace talks. Instead, he sent
envoys only. He refused to come out of his
fortress to personally negotiate with the
invaders.

The German's first attempt to pacify Isike

failed dismally in 1890. Their small army
and weak military equipment was not up
to the task. Isike stuck to his tactic of
barricading himself in his fortress.

The German authority appointed

Lieutenant Tom von Prince specifically to
challenge and crash Isike's resistance by
any means necessary. This time the
Germans were better prepared with the
additional reinforcement including the
local ruga-ruga deserters who were lured
with handsome rewards to work for the
Germans as mercenaries. Lieutenant Tom
von Prince Military was equipped with
better weapons.

He also forged a coalition of the willing

deserters, the skilled and experienced
Arab militia with the support of princess
Nyanso (Isike's rival cousin), and Ruga-
ruga from other complying Nyamwezi
rulers. The Ruga-ruga mercenaries and
Arab militia puppets not only strengthened
the German's army personnel in size, they
also volunteered all vital intelligence that
could undermine Isike's defence
strategies.
In 1891 the Germans learnt a bitter lesson
when they lost half their troops in Kalenga.
Their military was annihilated when they
attacked the Hehe ruler Mkwawa—Isike's
son-in-law and a staunch ally. The
Germans knew the two leaders conspired
keeping in close contact and sharing
intelligence in their bid to wade off foreign
invasion.

Prior to 1893, the Germans launched two

major unsuccessful attacks as attempt to
defeat Isike and followed with intermittent
multiple skirmishes. The Germans third
ferocious offensive was decisive big blow.
The German military; was able to break
into Isike's stronghold. Realising imminent
defeat, instead of surrendering to be
captured alive by the victors Isike took his
life in a suicide. He ignited the remaining
gunpowder kegs stocked in the armoury
where he barricaded himself with willing
relatives and wives. He did not want to live
an undignified miserable life under foreign
occupiers.

Before Isike's defeat in 1891 Nyanso was

installed as the German's allied ruler of
Unyanyembe. Isike's death in 1893
cemented German's victory against him.
This occurrence sealed the fate of the
Nyamwezi dominance of the central
caravan trade route. The Germans freely
exalted their authority in Unyamwezi lands
and subsequently Tanganyika. The
German strategy to form a collaborative
strong coalition of Isike's enemies, paid
off. Otherwise, it would have been a
strenuous task. It would have taken the
Germans longer to defeat Isike's resolve.
Only Isike's brother Swetu openly
continued to resist in the periphery.

When Isike's Itetemia fortress fell in the

German's hands, his brother Swetu
retreated into the miyombo forest terrain
with the remaining faithful ruga-ruga
platoons. Swetu launched sporadic
guerrilla attacks against the German
invaders for about two years. However,
Swetu's guerrilla tactics were not as
organized as Mkwawa's. The German's
military effort focused on Mkwawa after
the conquest of Unyamwezi.

Unyamwezi was "pacified" by the Germans

in 1893; only Chief Isike around Tabora
giving any serious opposition. The
Germans adopted a form of indirect rule in
the region with chiefs becoming the
administrative agents of the central
government, receiving account books as a
formal mark of recognition. Over time, the
chiefs were expected to keep order and
collect taxes. Where earlier officers
welcomed their collaboration, later officers
became suspicious of it, even deliberately
dismantling a chiefdom.

As late as 1906, Karl Weule, a German

ethnolonogist had the following to say;
"Even European caravans had their porters
expect to receive food and drink from
native villages they passed through"

After the Germans were removed from

Tabora during World War I, the British took
over in 1919 and ruled until the Tanzanian
independence of 1961. To combat
sleeping sickness, many people were
moved into new villages free from the
disease.[5]

Social organisation
Historically, villages were normally not
kinship units and people found their
relatives spread over wide areas. Spouses
generally came from outside the Tembes
and sons commonly moved away from
their father's homestead. The core
members of a "domestic group" consisted
of the husband, his wife or wives, and any
children who still lived with them.
Sometimes relatives, such as a mother,
younger unmarried brothers or sisters, and
their children could be found together. The
sexes usually ate separately. In general
men did the heavy work, while women did
the recurring tasks and much of the
everyday agricultural work.

Ideally every adult person should be

married, and every married woman should
have her own household and bring her own
household utensils. The husband is said to
technically own his wife's hut, fields, and
most of the household's food, but a wise
husband usually listened to the wife's
advice. There was little ranking between
co-wives, although seniority in terms of
who was first married was at times
recognized. Jealously and sorcery were
common, much depending on how well co-
wives got along. Unlike the Wagogo,
divorce was common, a large majority of
persons experiencing al least one divorce
by the time they were fifty years of age,
which included the return of bridewealth
minus the number and sex of the children
born. Divorce was most often
accomplished by the separation of either
party. Chiefdom courts found certain
reasons to automatically justify divorce: a
woman's desertion, being struck by a wife,
the wife's adultery, sexual refusal of the
wife, and having an abortion, were all
adequate reasons. Grounds for a husband
to claim divorce were failure of the wife to
carry out household duties, visiting a
doctor without permission, and possible
infertility. A wife could divorce if the
husband deserted for a period of time
without supporting her; if the husband
seriously injured her by, for example,
breaking a limb, but not simply beating her;
the husband's impotence or perversions;
or if her husband generally failed to
maintain her and her children properly. A
husband's adultery would not be one of
the grounds.

It was customary for the younger brother

of her former husband to inherit a widow
(a kind of "widows and orphans" security
system), although it was not done against
her will. Among some, inheritance of a
widow by her husband's sister's son was
particularly favored.

It had always been part or the Nyamwezi

system for the chief to receive tribute,
bring success and prosperity to the
people, and play an active role in
ceremonies. All land was said to have
belonged to the chief and he had the right
to expel witches and undesirables; abuse
was checked by the general need to
maintain a large population; and while no
one had the right to sell land in a
chiefdom, the people had considerable
security in their rights to the land.
Permission to clear land was not needed,
but care was taken so as not to conflict
with others in the area. If there was a
shortage of land in an area to be inherited,
a headman could insist upon other
holdings. Water was free to all.

The Nyamwezi were highly religious with

ntemi as their ritual, religious, leader and
priest.

Economic organisation
Elephant hunters have historically been
one of the most prestigious occupations
among the Nyamwezi, since the elephant
hunters could get very rich from ivory
trade. The elephant hunters were
organised in a guild, which only accepted
those who could pass the apprenticeship
and the tests that were associated with it.
Hunting had a wide variety of forms. Guild
members often used lethal poison, and
when they used it, in a German sergeant's
words, "it worked slowly but surely."

The guildmembers believed they

possessed powerful hunting medicine
acquired through rigorous
apprenticeships, tracking game in all types
of terrain and moving swiftly and silently
through thorny underbrush. The elephant
hunting led to a decrease in elephant
population, which combined with the
increased trade in slaves, led to large
changes in the social and economic
conditions.

Nyamwezi staple food has historically

been ugali, a porridge made from hominy
and served with meat and vegetables.
Beer made from fermented corn, sorghum,
or millet was also common. Goats were
used for ancestor sacrifices, but the
economic value of goats and sheep lay in
their meat and skins. By tradition five
goats or sheep equated one bull; two bulls
were worth one cow. Their year is divided
into two seasons, wet and dry, with
considerable variation depending on time
and place.

In addition to agriculture, crafts were a

part-time occupation and were not
hereditary. Regionally traded products of
importance were drums, ladles, stools,
storage boxes for grain, and snuffboxes of
horn. Iron and cloth were very important in
regional networks, but the cloth industry in
particular was ailing in 1857 because of
severe competition from India, and over
the next sixty years almost disappeared.
Ironwork came from localized settlements
whose products were then traded over
wide areas: bows, arrows, spears, the
payment of fines, and the extremely
valuable hoes for bridewealth were all
produced with considerable ritual by the
smiths.

Slavery

Slavery was important and chiefs and

other government officials owned the
largest number, sometimes well over a
thousand, for as porters became more and
more important, and since many men were
traveling, labor for cultivation became
increasingly scarce and slaves were
needed more and more. Slaves remaining
in the local area seem to have had a life
easier and more secure than those sent to
the coast. Domestic slaves often lived and
ate with their owners, were allowed to
work on their own, and could possess their
own slaves and livestock; loyal slaves
could even be given part of a chiefdom,
and it was not unusual for slaves to
acquire positions of great influence and
power.

Even though slave trading and raiding

outside of Unyamwezi was considerable,
some people became slaves as a result of
debt. Before the 19th century, slavery was
tolerated but looked down upon by the
Nyamwezi. During the social and
economic changes of the 19th century, the
attitude changed, and the slave trade
increased steadily. The ivory trade greatly
increased the slave trade, although it had
long been important in intra- and inter-
regional trade. As with cattle, slaves were
also needed and wanted for their prestige
value, for men could gain influence and
social connections, they could even make
marriage payments with them. The slave
was seldom used just to carry ivory. Ivory
porters should be viewed as free and
voluntary labor, although it is true that they
were at times financially abused by their
chiefs, but later these people were
defeated by Arabs.

Demographics
With the establishment of German East
Africa in the 19th century, Moravian
Church missionaries arrived in the Lake
Malawi region of Tanganyika. Today, the
Moravian Church In Western Tanzania
(MCWT) has about 80,000 Nyamwezi
adherents and many continue to
evangelize among the Sukuma people.

About 926,000 Nyamwezi speak a

language of the Bantu family, classified as
the Sukuma–Nyamwezi group of Bantu.
The Nyamwezi are predominantly
subsistence farmers and cattle herders.[6]

Culture
Most follow a traditional religion, despite
conversion attempts by Islam and
Christianity. They believe in a powerful god
called Likube (High God), Limatunda
(Creator), Limi (the Sun) and Liwelolo (the
Universe), but ancestor worship is a more
frequent daily practice.[7] Offerings of
sheep or goats are made to ancestors, and
the help of Likube is invoked beforehand.
Spirits also play an active role in
Nyamwezi religious life, with mfumu,
witchdoctors, or diviners, playing the role
of counselor and medical practitioner.
Bulogi (witchcraft) is a powerful force in
Nyamwezi culture. The Baswezi society
recruits people possessed by the Swezi
spirit.

Many Nyamwezi converted to Sunni Islam

during the 19th century and Islam even
influenced the fashion of those that didn't
convert. During the same century, other
Nyamwezi converted to Protestant
Christianity via the work of the Moravian
Church established in the region. Even
with conversion, both the Christian and
especially the Muslim Nyamwezi retained
much of their traditional customs and
beliefs.[6]

Notable Nyamwezi

Royal figures

Mirambo, Tribal King

Msiri, Tribal ruler

Politicians

Hamisi Kigwangalla - CCM

Margaret Simwanza Sitta - CCM

Statespeople
 Samuel Sitta, Former National Assembly
Speaker

See also
Mirambo
Msiri

Notes
1. Brandström (1990), Chapter 2: Who is a
Sukuma and who is a Nyamwezi?
2. W.H. Ingrams (1967), Zanzibar: Its History
and Its People, ISBN 978-0714611020,
Routledge, pp. 33-35
3. The Cambridge History of Africa, vol. 6
4. The Cambridge History of Africa, vol. 5
 5. "Nyamwezi and Sukuma." Encyclopedia of
World Cultures, Vol. 9: Africa and the
Middle East. Human Relations Area Files,
1995. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group.
6. Williams, Victoria R. (2020). Indigenous
Peoples: An Encyclopedia of Culture,
History, and Threats to Survival [4 volumes]
(https://books.google.com/books?id=3_zR
DwAAQBAJ&q=nyamwezi&pg=PA824) .
ABC-CLIO. p. 824. ISBN 978-1-4408-6118-5.
7. Incorporated, Facts On File (2009).
Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and
the Middle East (https://books.google.com/
books?id=stl97FdyRswC&q=nyamwezi&pg=
PA506) . Infobase Publishing. p. 506.
ISBN 978-1-4381-2676-0.

References
References
Abrahams, R. G. (1967). The Peoples of
Greater Unyamwezi, Tanzania.
International African Institute. ISBN 0-
8357-3207-X.
Bauer, Andreus. (Street of Caravans)
Baumann, Oscar (1894). Durch
Massailand zur Nilquelle. Berlin: Reimer.
Bennett, Norman Robert (1971).
Mirambo of Tanzania Ca. 1840-1884.
Oxford University Press.
Brandström, Per (1990). Boundless
universe: The culture of expansion
among the Sukuma-Nyamwezi of
 Tanzania. Dept. of Cultural Anthropology,
Uppsala University.
Iliffe, John (1979). A Modern History of
Tanganyika. Cambridge University Press.
ISBN 0-521-29611-0.
Roberts, Andrew. (The Nyamwezi)
Weule, Karl. (Kolonial-Lexicon Band III S
672 & Native Life in East Africa)

External links
Sukuma/ Nyamwezi Language Page (htt
ps://web.archive.org/web/20050326003
610/http://isp.msu.edu/AfrLang/Sukum
a_root.html) , African Studies Center at
Michigan State University
 Smithsonian Global Sound (https://web.
archive.org/web/20070311145433/htt
p://www.smithsonianglobalsound.org/c
ontainerdetail.aspx?itemid=2901) ,
Greeting and installation songs for
chiefs of the Nyamwezi people from
Tabora district, Tanzania

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