Sambaa

Wasambaa
Total population
664,000
Regions with significant populations
Tanzania Tanga Region (Lushoto District) (Korogwe District) (Bumbuli District)
Languages
Shambaa & Swahili
Religion
Majority Islam, Minority Christianity and African Traditional Religion
Related ethnic groups
Bondei, Zigua, Chaga Pare & other Bantu peoples

The Shambaa people, also called the Sambaa, Shambala, Sambala or Sambara (Wasambaa, in Swahili), are a Bantu ethnic group. Their ancestral home is on the Usambara Mountains of Lushoto District, Korogwe District and Bumbuli District. They are native to the valleys and eastern Usambara Mountains of Korogwe District, Korogwe Urban District and western Muheza District of northern Tanga Region of Tanzania.^[1][2] The word Shamba means "farm", and these people live in one of the most fertile Tanzanian region. Shambaai in Kisambaa means "where the banana's thrive".^[3] In 2001, the Shambaa population was estimated to number 664,000.^[4][1]

Sambaa couple c.1890s

a Shambaa elder, early 20th century

Overview and origins

The Shambaa lived on one of the numerous isolated mountain blocks of the Usambaras in the northeast, a "green island in a brown sea." According to their historian, "The Shambaa" are inhabitants of a distinct botanical habitat that was unique to that region. Its native name, Shambaai, literally translates to "where bananas thrive," and the locals used it to distinguish it from the nearby nyika, or dry plains. In eastern Tanganyika, where the contrast between the mountains and the plains is stark, this categorization by adaptation to a particular habitat was typical. The Bondei, or "people of the valley," were the Shamba's lowland neighbors.^[5]

Below 1,000 meters, malaria is endemic, and it is seasonal in many higher locations. Since it was frequently fatal to the young and crippling to their seniors, it was probably a significant population growth restraint and another reason why people preferred the highlands. The highlanders of Shambaa were aware of the link between malaria and mosquitoes and were afraid to stay even one night in the nyika.^[6]

When a Shambaa left the mountains, he frequently lost his identity as a Shambaa. Civilization was the result of a people's environmental adaption. Mbegha, the hero credited with founding the Shambaa empire, was the subject of a fantastic legend among the Shambaa. According to the legend, he hunted wild pigs in the nearby region of Ungulu. Because he had cut his upper teeth first when he was a baby, his kinsmen withheld his inheritance because they believed he was mystically dangerous. As a result, he ran away and hunted till he reached Usambara.^[7]

He met Shambaa there. Megha provided them with meat, and they fed him vegetables. They gave him a wife when he slaughtered the wild pigs that were destroying their crops. They made him their king after he killed a lion that had been attacking their cattle. The story contrasted the life of a hunter with an agriculturalist's, as well as meat with veggie sustenance, among its many levels of meaning. Megha was a fierce hunter who was outside the bounds of civilized civilization until the Shamba gave him vegetable food and introduced him to their way of life, civilizing him. The dichotomy between cultivated land and the wilderness of the nyika and the mountain rainforest that they had been clearing for generations was important to Shambaa views of civilization.^[8]

Language

The Shambaa people speak the Shambala language, also known as Kisambaa, Kishambaa, Kishambala, Sambaa, Sambala, Sambara, Schambala, Shambaa.^[4][1]

Kishambaa is the Sambaa word for the Shambala language, Wasambaa are the people (Msambaa for a person), and Usambaa or Usambara is used for Sambaa lands. The Shambaa call their lands Shambalai.^[1]

They are related to the Bondei and Zigua people, and the Shambala language is mutually intelligible with Bondei and Zigua, with the three groups sharing significant overlap in territory and a long history of intermarriage.^[1] The similarity between them has prompted some to refer to themselves as "Boshazi" (the first syllable from each of the three groups).

Sambaa belongs to the North East Coastal Bantu languages. This is a group which includes Swahili; however, Swahili is not mutually intelligible with Sambaa.^[4]

History

The Mbugu, an immigrant Cushitic pastoralist group, threatened the small clan-chiefdoms that Shambaa had initially established since their tribal structures were incompatible with the local cultivators' organization. Tradition holds that Mbegha, the roving hunter from Ungulu, was the old culture's savior.^[9]

He subdued the Shambaa by using force, guile, diplomacy, and marriage into Shambaa noble households. His empire was a living example of the previous way of life. Vugha, the royal capital, was created as a sizable Shambaa town and was thought to have 3,000 residents in 1857. The Shambaa state was founded on kinship. The monarchy aimed to undermine the strength and morality of the clans, but lineages arbitrated internal conflicts and assumed collective responsibility for their members. The Kilindi, a group of people with royal ancestry who were Mbegha's offspring according to Shambaa wives, represented the governmental system. Their maternal uncles, who were commoners, held the sub-chiefs of the Kilindi in check.^[10]

The WaSambaa were ruled by the Kilindi dynasty from the mid-18th century to the end of the 19th century. The founder of the dynasty was Mbegha,who was from Ngulu and his son Bughe established the hilltop capital at Vuga in the Usambaras.^[11] The kingdom reached its greatest extent under Kimweri ye Nyumbai. After he died in 1862 a civil war broke out over the succession, fueled by competition for the new wealth that the caravan trade in the Pangani valley had brought to the region.^[12]

The Shambaa king was served by a council of commoners. He alone held the power to determine life and death. He possessed the power to take both females without bridewealth and things without paying for them. He gathered tribute and distributed it to his agents. Only he had mastered the art of producing rain. At his official coronation, the people screamed out, "You are our King, but if you don't treat us right, we will get rid of you." However, without him, there would be no distinction between Shambaa and stranger, hill and plain, farm and forest, or civic society. Intercultural mingling produced the Shambaa's monarchy, which represented the apex of Bantu-speaking Tanganyika's civilization.^[13]

Commonly used methods of attacking slave traders or greedy chiefs. These took place in the northeast between 1870s and 1880s, when the Pare of Mbaga assaulted a colony of slave traffickers at Kisiwani in the modern-day Same District and the Mbugu of Gare in Usambara killed a Kilindi leader. The Kiva insurrection of 1869, which had its roots in the breakdown of the Shambaa state spurred on by long-distance trade, was the fourth and most significant popular movement.^[14]

The insurgents were the Bondei people, who were subdued and assimilated into the Shambaa kingdom at the beginning of the nineteenth century and lived in the plains east of Usambara. The Bondei, who were formerly stateless, benefited personally from loyalty to a monarch who could settle otherwise intractable internal issues, but they received little benefit from the state. The Kilindi who were deemed too dangerous to reign in Usambara were sent to the Bondei as punishment. Being remote from the capital, the Bondei received nothing in the way of redistributed goods in exchange for the tribute demanded of them. They were considered as foreigners and not allowed to enter the town when they visited Vugha.^[15]

Kimweri ya Nyumbai, who reigned the Shambaa kingdom from approximately 1815 to 1862, brought it to its pinnacle, yet it was already under jeopardy. The lowland Zigua people obtained weapons in the 1830s, took over the Pangani valley, and posed a threat to the mountain empire. Burton stated in 1857 that "the watch-fire never leaves the mountain" and that "the war-horn is now silent." Kimweri, who ruled a conservative kingdom from a mountain capital far from the trade routes, was hesitant to see the value of firearms, but his border chiefs welcomed them and gained allies from outside the country.^[16]

Semboja, one of Kimweri's younger sons, ruled Mazinde, which is located close above the trade route, and amassed troops and supporters. When Kimweri died in 1862, the kingdom was divided. Shekulwavu, his grandson and successor, had little authority over the sub-chiefs who served as his uncles. He had an argument with his older uncle in 1868, who afterwards supported Semboja as a potential heir.^[17]

Shekulwavu's response was to ask Bondei for assistance. He is believed to have said to them, "My uncles the Kilindi of Shambalai and here in Bonde dislike me." You can drive the Kilindi from these territories if you discover that they are attacking you, subjects. Shortly after, the mercenaries of Semboia assaulted Vugha and drove Shekulwavu away. Because "we are not their subjects but Kimweri's," the Bondei pleaded with him to allow them to drive out the Kilindi. The Bondei banished all Kilindi from Bondei once he gave his consent. When Shekulwavu died, his brothers continued the legitimist cause and concocted a new scheme with the Bondei, who were worried about Kilindi retaliation.^[18]

The Kilindi were welcomed back to Bondei and promised protection, only to be slaughtered. Then the Bondei invaded Usambara, liberating slaves, killing the Kilindi, and exhorting the common people of Shambaa to rise. However, as they drew closer to Vugha, resistance grew stronger until Semboja's men eventually drove them out. Semboja was denied the throne in Usambara because his brothers wisely chose his little son because they wanted a weak ruler. Royal authority waned. Vugha was downsized to a single tiny settlement. Each chiefdom virtually became independent after a period of anarchy known locally as pato, or "rapacity."^[19]

The fight involved coastal traders and Taita, Masai, and Zigua mercenaries, just as it did in the Southern Highlands and on the western plateau. The interdependence of kings and subjects had been shattered by trade and firearms. Chiefs now relied on gunmen who bought weapons with slaves rather than tribute and spearmen. While Bumbuli, the customary chiefdom of the heir apparent, was raided by its own ruler, a Yao slave, Semboja used Maasai to raid Vugha. For twenty years, the conflict between the kin of Semboja and Shekulwavu dragged on without resolution. Both sides had weapons and some of the king's ceremonial capabilities. It was impossible to win.^[20]

As soon as the king himself died, the Bondei refused to ally themselves with Shekulwavu's faction, maintaining their independence but reverting to statelessness. Kiva had been traditionalist in motivation and destructive in action, far from having any revolutionary elements. It exemplified the constraints on long-distance trade-related political change.^[21]

Wissmann left Pangani in 1891 to impose German dominance over the northern trade route. He encountered little resistance in Bonde since the Bondei had already been occupied by the Germans and were submitting their disputes to the district officer in Tanga for settlement. Wissmann discovered a more difficult scenario in Usambara. After Kimweri's passing, the core authority that did remain was with Semboja at Mazinde. In Vugha, his son Kimweri Maguvu served as a puppet monarch. Their adversaries were the Shekulwavu family members who had fled to eastern Usambara, including his brother Kibanga and son Kinyashi.^[22]

In 1885, Kimweri signed a deal with a German agent; Semboja declined. Though Wissmann's activities convinced him otherwise, he had previously shown sympathies for the coastal resistance. In an effort to better confront the Germans, he attempted to come to terms with Kibanga, but Kibanga rejected him in the hopes of winning back Vugha. Semboja advised the other Kilindi to comply as a result. In February 1890, when German troops arrived in Mazinde, Semboja consented to hoist their flag. The Germans then acknowledged Semboja's control over West Usambara and the caravan route in an effort to preserve the trading route. The arrangement was confirmed by Wiss-mann when he arrived at Mazinde. However, Usambara's power struggle persisted after he left. Selling large portions of eastern Usambara to German planters, Kibanga established his goodwill.^[23]

Germans with clout sought to degrade Semboja, but the government chose to wait. Local officials attempted to establish Kinyashi after Kimweri's death in 1893, but Semboja protested, so another of his sons, Mputa, was recognized. Semboja died at last in March 1895. The man there and then took advantage of the situation to hang Mputa. After much deliberation—out of concern for his father's future—Kinyashi finally acceded to the throne in September 1895. Due to their patience and willingness to wait, the Germans were able to annex Usambara without firing a shot, reversing the outcome of the Shambaa civil war. Early in 1891, as Wissmann marched forward from Mazinde, he recognized Semboja's candidates as chiefs of the Shamba villages beneath the Pare mountains, although Pare occupied the majority of his time.^[24]

Smallpox and slave trading contributed to the disintegration of the kingdom, and in 1898 a fire destroyed Vuga. The Germans took control.^[25] Under colonial rule the dynasty continued to have some authority, but in 1962 the Tanzanian government removed all power from the hereditary chiefdoms.^[26] Kimweri ye Nyumbai's descendant Kimweri Mputa Magogo (died 2000) was the last Lion King.^[27]

The sub-chief of Mlalo, who had achieved nearly sovereignty during the instability of pato, welcomed Bethel missionaries to Usambara. It was noted that "Rev. Doring" prayed for peace in Ushambaa, an increase in population, and the independence of Mlalo. In contrast, the missionaries were led back to Mlalo by the monarch after their visit to Vugha. Of the 867 Lutherans who had been baptized in Usambara by 1906, Mlalo had 468. A ritual authority gave Shambaa kings a lot of power, and the character of preexisting religious organizations affected how people generally reacted to Christianity.^[13]

The Usambara area was the early colonial headquarters for German East Africa during the hot season. Tanganyika, the name for the German colony, and later for the republic and eventually for the mainland portion of Tanzania is itself from Sambaa: Tanga means farmed land, and nyika is brushy land.

Agriculture

The Banana (Musa sp.) was the most significant food source in the Usambara mountains before the arrival of the Europeans in the 19th century. The first known European to visit Usambara was the missionary Johann Krapff, who made observations in 1848 and 1850 about the growing of bananas and their use in trade. The enormous, luxuriant fields of the crop found in Usambara equally delighted Krapf's colleague J. J. Erhardt, who visited the region in 1853, and the explorers Burton and Speke, who arrived in 1857. When visiting in 1867, an Anglican missionary said, "I don't suppose I've ever seen so many bananas growing everywhere around Vuga. They are then dried and ground into a kind of cake by the people. They almost depend on them".^[28]

After 1891, German missionaries settled permanently in the mountains; according to their estimates, banana cultivation accounted for up to 45% of all arable ground in the early 1890s. According to legend, the slopes surrounding the main town areas were covered in banana forests. Early travelers to Usambara also supplied details on other ingredients. In addition to bananas, the Shambaa cultivated maize (Zea mays), taro (Colocasia esculentum), , various types of beans (including Phaseolus sp. Cajanus sp., and Vigna sp.), cucurbits (Cucurbita sp.), millet (Pennisetum typho-ides), sorghum (Sorghum vulgare), sugar cane (Saccharum sp.), yams (Dioscorea sp.), and sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas).^[29]

The highlands had a diverse range of crops, both generally and in specific fields, and the Shambaa were aware of numerous regional variants within certain species or botanical groups. Although cassava was reportedly known in Zanzibar in 1799, it had little impact on early Shambaa agriculture. The leaves were reportedly consumed more frequently than the tuber itself, and it was only occasionally grown on poorer soils.^[30]

Usambara before colonial times was often a location of surplus productivity. Food was traded through a network of native markets connecting the agroecological zones of the plains and mountains, and Shambaa also coordinated a significant caravan trade to coastal population centers. There is no evidence that bananas have ever been exported, but maize, beans, and sweet potatoes in particular were cultivated in excess of local demand and subsequently sold outside the highlands. This low-value, high-bulk commodity's transportation challenges were undoubtedly a major factor. There is no proof that the rulers of the Shambaa state regulated or even had an interest in the extra-regional commerce in foodstuffs, with the exception of modest fees levied at some of the bigger marketplaces.^[31]

However, the Shambaa Supremacy in northern Tanzania prior to 1900 played a significant role in the large-scale food trade. The entire region between Usambara and the seaside was governed by one governmental system, weak though it was. It is unlikely that Shambaa growers could have organized commercial caravans from the mountains to the sea had other factors been in play.^[32]

The emergence of the European powers had no impact on this regional trading pattern. Usambara was regarded as the "breadbasket" of northeastern Tanzania from the entrance of the Europeans until the late 1930s. While thousands of African sisal estate workers in the Pangani River Valley relied on Usambara corn and beans for their daily needs, the highland food helped supply urban enclaves at Tanga and Mombasa. Most Shambaa prefer to produce maize for their own consumption and for sale to foreign natives employed in the area, so they were notoriously unwilling to engage in wage labor employment as a means of earning money to pay colonially imposed taxes. For many, there were less revolting and disruptive alternatives.^[33]

Administrators had the policy of discouraging any move toward commercial cultivation of non-food crops by African cultivators in the highlands throughout German authority and for the first ten years of British rule. This policy, for the most part, supported the Shambaa's preferences. Even after 1930, when coffee and other cash crops started to interest the populace and the government, between 15 and 20 tons of potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) and comparable amounts of maize and beans were still exported by train from Usambara each month.^[34]

During the 1920s and 1930s, a small group of European farmers who grew the same commodities but in smaller amounts often handled the marketing. For potatoes, vegetables, and other crops, the Europeans developed informal out-grower networks and charged for their services as middlemen and bulkers. There is no documentation of the amount of food that was transported by lorry or in headloads out of the mountains, but we may be sure that rail export made up a small portion of all area exports.^[35]

In precolonial Usambara, the Shambaa people lived mostly in the areas surrounding Vuga, Bumbuli, and Mlalo. It is no accident that these are also the regions best suited for growing bananas. Bananas require approximately 4 inches of rainfall per month and thrive best when mean monthly temperatures don't deviate much from 80°F, in addition to the permeable soil that is practically universal in the highlands. These circumstances exist naturally in Bumbuli, although at relatively drier Vuga and Mlalo, large irrigation works were necessary to hydrate the banana groves. The steep, chilly, and dry interior portions of the mountains were not at all suitable for traditional Shambaa farming.^[36]

Round potatoes have become a mainstay, allowing Shambaa cultivators to move beyond the crowded regions of Mlalo, Vuga, and Bumbuli and into regions that were previously unfeasible or marginal for highland agriculture centered on bananas. The potato was able to take over the agricultural and dietary role that the banana held in warmer regions in the interior and up north. It is reasonable to draw the conclusion that factors such as population pressure, agricultural suitability, and nutritional similarities contributed to the quickening of the transition to a new cultigen that would not have been so well received otherwise.^[37]

It is true that the sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), a crop suitable for interior regions, was already available to the Shambaa. There is proof that this plant was widely planted before 1900 in the very places where the round potato was later enthusiastically embraced, including the Mtae ridge.^[38]

Cassava wasn't particularly important to Usambara before contact. Bananas were the main staple food, followed closely by maize, sweet potatoes, and yams. But in the years following World War 1, cassava started to gain more popularity. The crop was being strongly promoted by the government as a famine reserve by the 1930s, and it's noteworthy to note that there is no indication in Usambara that farmers were reluctant to produce it. By contrast, in the adjoining plains communities of Korogwe and Handeni district police encountered varying degrees of hostility and apathy in their attempts to force residents to produce the crop. Cassava planting was never a problem in Usambara later on.^[39]

References