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106-711: The area to the west of northern Lake Malawi was occupied by two established indigenous peoples, the Tumbuka and Ngonde, and the recently arrived Ngoni . Although the Tumbuka were already involved in the East African ivory trade, in the 1820s and 1830s Swahili traders from the Indian Ocean coast entered the area and displaced the earlier local merchants. These traders, who were backed by Indian financiers in Zanzibar, were as much interested in slaves as ivory. Finally, in

212-534: 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

318-527: A central organisation, that were spread thinly over this area. By the mid-18th century, traders dressed “as Arabs”, although coming from the Unyamwezi region of what is now Tanzania , were involved in trading for ivory and to some extent slaves as far inland as the Luangwa valley. They formed alliances with groups of Henga, and their leader established a dynasty ruling a federation of small chiefdoms around

424-519: 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

530-575: 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

636-543: 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

742-591: A force of nine Europeans armed with rifles, around 250 Africans, most armed with antiquated muskets, and the gun, attacked one Swahili stockade on 14 February and another on 13 March. Although the field gun caused casualties, its shells did not destroy either stockade. Shortly after the second failure, Lugard left Karonga for Blantyre, which he left on 9 April, arriving at Zanzibar on 3 May 1889 en route to Britain. Six European African Lakes Company employees and an unknown number of armed Africans remained in Karonga, and there

848-583: A force of over 400 Sikh and African riflemen, with artillery and machine guns on steamers at Mangochi , bound for Karonga. Without any prior warning, he assaulted two smaller stockades on 2 December and, on the same day, surrounded Mlozi's large, double-fenced stockaded town, bombarding it for two days and finally assaulting it on 4 December, facing stiff resistance. Mlozi was captured, given a cursory trial and hanged on 5 December. Between 200 and 300 of Mlozi's fighters were killed, many while attempting to surrender, and several hundred non-combatants were also killed in

954-532: A group of Nyakyusa north of the Songwe River, where they were later reinforced by a small group which Hawes, Consul to the Lake Region, back from leave, had brought by a steamer which also carried arms and ammunition. On 23 December 1887, the company force with its Nyakyusa and Ngonde allies attacked Mlozi's headquarters, resulting in an indecisive skirmish, after which the majority of Europeans returned to

1060-510: 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

1166-498: 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

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1272-474: 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

1378-517: A ruling class than an ethnic group, and by 1906 few individuals were of pure Ngoni descent. Only after Ngoni status began to decline did the tribal consciousness of the component groups began to rise, along with their reported numbers. In the early 1930s the Ngonde, Nyasa, Tonga and other groups once again claimed their original tribal status. While the Ngoni have generally retained a distinct identity in

1484-538: A settlement and, in December, hostilities resumed with a Swahili attack on the Chilumba stockade, which Lugard had repaired and garrisoned the previous month. This attack failed and Lugard decided to ensure that Mlozi evacuated his strongholds or to force him out of them. On 16 January 1889, he took delivery of a 7-pounder gun and gave Mlozi an ultimatum to depart by 31 January. After the ultimatum expired, Lugard, with

1590-508: A single boat-load of trade goods, and the creditors and their armed followers were forced to wait for several months for satisfaction, expecting the local Ngonde to supply food in the interim. Quarrels between the Swahili traders and the Ngonde people from whom they demanded supplies began in late 1886 and culminated in a violent assault on a trader in July 1887. This assault was used by Mlozi as

1696-581: 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. 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

1802-541: A treaty— Alfred Sharpe in 1889, and Joseph Maloney in 1895, who were both unsuccessful. In 1897, with over 4,000 warriors, Mpezeni rose up against the British, who were taking control of Nyasaland and North-Eastern Rhodesia , and was defeated. Mpezeni signed the treaty which allowed him to rule as Paramount Chief of the Ngoni in Zambia's Eastern Province and Malawi's Mchinji district. His successors as chief take

1908-564: 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

2014-664: Is an oversimplification to view them as a single group. 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

2120-646: 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. 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

2226-402: 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

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2332-600: Is easily overstated; it is thought that no more than 1,000 Ngoni crossed the Zambezi river in the 1830s. They raided north, taking women in marriage and men into their fighting regiments. Their prestige became so great that by 1921, in Nyasaland alone, 245,833 people claimed membership as Ngoni although few spoke the Zulu dialect called Ngoni. The Ngoni integrated conquered subjects into their warfare and organization, becoming more

2438-574: Is now the Mzimba district of northern Malawi around 1855. Mbelwa’s Ngoni treated the Henga as a subject population, exacting tribute and taking captives through raiding. These captives were rarely sold to the Swahili traders, but retained as unfree agricultural workers or enrolled in Ngoni regiments. Some Henga soldiers fled back to their original homeland around 1879 but were attacked by the Ngoni in 1881 and forced to move north into Ngonde territory, where

2544-506: 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

2650-748: 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. 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

2756-666: The Nguni people from what is now kwaZulu-Natal . One of the military commanders of the army of king Thunziani Mabaso The Great, Zwangendaba Gumbi ( c. 1780–1848), was the head of the Jele or Gumbi clan, which itself formed part of the larger emaNcwangeni alliance in what is now north-east KwaZulu-Natal . In 1819, the Zulu army under Mabaso defeated the Ndwandwe alliance at the Battle of Mhlatuze River , near Nkandla . The battle resulted in

2862-616: The Zambezi river, sometimes given in early writings as 1825, has been argued to have been on 20 November 1835. Following Zwangendaba's death in 1848, succession disputes split the Ngoni people. Zwangendaba's following and the Maseko Ngoni eventually created seven substantial Ngoni kingdoms in Tanzania, Zambia and Malawi. While the Ngoni were primarily agriculturalists, cattle were their main goal for raiding expeditions and migrations northward. Their reputation as refugees escaping Shaka

2968-599: 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

3074-399: The 16th century, and originally living in a mosaic of small and independent chiefdoms slowly carved out by ruling dynasties. According to a Catholic missionary , these 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, their care

3180-535: 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. 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

3286-794: The African Lakes Company headquarters in Blantyre for assistance, and the British Consul at Mozambique, O'Neill, who normal area of consular authority did not include the Karonga area but acting on behalf of Hawes, the absent Consul to the Lake Region, organised a relief expedition. On 4 November, O'Neill reached Karonga by lake-steamer with three other Europeans. After some weeks of stand-off, Mlozi's men made several armed attacks between 23 and 28 November but were beaten off and retired. However, O'Neill and Fotheringham abandoned Karonga as too difficult to defend, and sought shelter with

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3392-686: The African Lakes Company’s depot at Karonga. Contemporary Europeans in East Africa described these traders as Arabs, one writer dividing them into three classes: a few “White Arabs” from Oman , other Arab states of the Persian Gulf , Iran or Balochistan and the majority, either Muslim “Mswahili” from the east coast of Africa or Nyamwezi people from Unyamwezi, who imitated Arab dress and customs but were only rarely Muslim. Other Nyamwezi who had not adopted Arab ways and who acted as

3498-578: 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

3604-411: 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

3710-590: 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,

3816-442: 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

3922-427: 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

4028-590: 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. 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

4134-698: The Indian Army, later Frederick Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard arrived in Blantyre, having earlier met O’Neill in Mozambique . O’Neill had told him that the forces at Karonga needed a competent commander. When he reached Blantyre he told Buchanan that, in his opinion, immediate military action against Mlozi and his followers was necessary to protect the missions and the Ngonde people, and to prevent other Swahili traders who had not previously supported Mlozi from joining forces with him, However, Buchanan declined to give him official support in view of Hawes’ opposition and

4240-487: The Ngonde country and destroy their stockades, but later declined to sign an agreement to that effect, so Buchanan left. Meanwhile, Frederick Moir and Fotheringham, manager of the Karonga depot, had recruited some 500 African fighters, 270 with firearms, and rebuilt the Karonga stockade, after which they launched an abortive attack on a Swahili-controlled village in which Moir was severely wounded In May 1888, Captain Lugard of

4346-545: The Ngonde people and, the African Lakes Company claimed, threatened to attack Karonga again. Mlozi refused either to meet Johnston, who visited Karonga in June 1895, or curtail his raiding activities, so Johnston decided on military action. Johnston first secured the neutrality of the Swahili ruler of Nkhotakota by paying him a subsidy and prepared to attack the Mlozi and the so-called “north end Arabs”. In November 1895, he embarked

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4452-519: The Ngonde settled them as a buffer against their enemies. Zwangendaba’s Ngoni had raided the Ngonde in the 1840s and Mbelwa’s Ngoni did so in the 1850s and 1870s. Each time, the Ngonde had been forced to surrender many cattle, so they feared further raids. Around 1880, a group of Swahili traders who were established in the elephant-rich Luangwa valley sent one of their number, Mlozi bin Kazbadema from Ujiji , now in Tanzania , to act as their agent in

4558-481: The Ngonde signed treaties with the African Lakes Company which claimed to cede large areas of land to it without consulting the paramount chief, and one Ngonde faction planned to massacre the Henga without the Kyungu's knowledge. This faction wished to use the African Lakes Company to oppose and possibly replace their paramount chief, who consequently attempted to use the Swahili to strengthen his position. In addition to

4664-526: The Ngonde, but as many of their stockades were built in the area where the Henga had been settled, the Ngonde began to distrust both the Henga and the Swahili. Initially, relations between Mlozi and Low Monteith Fotheringham, the African Lakes Company's local representative, were cordial, but their relationship later deteriorated, partly because of the company's delays in supplying goods in exchange for ivory, its unwillingness to provide guns or ammunition and its limited supply of other trade goods, and also because

4770-559: The Ngonde. Although Mlozi was careful not to antagonise the Europeans directly, after this attack he proclaimed himself Sultan of Nkonde and demanded tribute from the African Lakes Company in October 1887, although did not attack when this was refused. The Ngonde sought protection from the African Lakes Company, which was initially refused. However, after further fighting in which the Ngonde were defeated and their paramount chief's village

4876-533: The Ngoni, which is what the company had intended. Although the African Lakes Company was formed with the benevolent aims of cooperating with the Scottish missions and combating the slave trade, its local agents claimed to have made a series of treaties with local chiefs around its trading station at Karonga. There was little documentation for these, some of which may have been spurious, but several treaties offered protection and claimed to transfer sovereignty over

4982-637: The Nguni people in the great scattering following the Zulu wars had repercussions in social reorganization as far north as Malawi and Zambia. The rise of the Zulu nation to dominance in southern Africa in the early nineteenth century (~1815–~1840) disrupted many traditional alliances. Around 1817, the Mthethwa alliance, which included the Zulu clan, came into conflict with the Ndwandwe alliance, which included

5088-404: 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. The Nyamwezi had long been a settled agricultural and cattle-owning people, arriving on the western plateau in

5194-724: The Portuguese controlled coast. Johnston arrived at Blantyre in March 1889: at that time he had no significant military forces, and agreed a truce with Mlozi in October 1889 to avoid confrontation with him and other slave traders in the north. However, despite the provisions in the truce agreement for the Swahili to allow the Ngonde to return to their villages unmolested and to reduce the number of their stockades, Buchanan, who visited Karonga in March 1891 and met Mlozi, reported to Johnston that, rather than expelled Ngonde being allowed to return, others were still being forced out of their homes, and

5300-401: The Swahili preferred to remain on good terms with the Ngoni. The Henga, who were trained soldiers, could not adapt to life as farmers and remained unassimilated into Ngonde society, although they initially prevented Nyakyusa raids. After the death of an unusually strong Ngonde Kyungu in 1878 or 1879, his successor was weak and unable to provide firm leadership. In 1885 several powerful men among

5406-865: The Swahili stockades. His attack, on 16 June, failed after he was wounded, and most of the expedition withdrew in August, leaving a small party in Karonga. Although several of the missions with interests in the area around Lake Malawi petitioned the British government to declare a protectorate and send troops, Lord Salisbury declined to do so, but agreed that the African Lakes Company and the missions were entitled to defend themselves. Lugard returned to Karonga in October and, on 28 November, he there met an envoy of Sultan of Zanzibar , Khalifa bin Said, who claimed suzerainty over Swahili communities in East and Central Africa. The envoy failed to convince Mlozi and his associates to reach

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5512-444: The Swahili traders turned more to slaving and began to attack the Ngonde communities that the company had promised to protect. The African Lakes Company's failure lay in part with its lack of sufficient finances to realise its ambitious plans, but also because it thought that trading in ivory and in slaves were intimately connected, as David Livingstone among others had observed recently enslaved Africans being forced to carry ivory to

5618-555: The Swahili traders were building more fortified villages and restricting the African Lakes Company's trading activities. Although on the formation of the British Central Africa Protectorate in 1891, Johnston was provided with a small force of Indian troops and trained more African soldiers over the next few years, he was fully engaged in the south of the protectorate until 1894. Between 1891 and 1894, Mlozi and his Henga allies had made further attacks on

5724-434: The Swahili trading networks, by 1884 the African Lakes Company was almost bankrupt. It blamed the Swahili for this, and tried to revive its fortunes by making treaties with Ngonde chiefs on the Karonga lakeshore, with a view to preventing them trading with the Swahili traders. These treaties were not only commercial but promised protection, which the Ngonde interpreted as protection against the Swahili and Henga and not only from

5830-495: 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

5936-405: The advance of the Swahili would jeopardize the company's independent position and reduce it to dependence on Mlozi. Although it was portrayed as a fight against slavery, it was as much a trade war. The small African Lakes Company presence at Karonga consisted of Fotheringham, his assistant and about 60 African company workers: they had had few firearms and little ammunition. Fotheringham appealed to

6042-458: The area between the Songwe and North Rukuru rivers. Their political organisation involved with relatively strong local chiefs, and a paramount chief or Kyungu from one of two princely lineages. The Kyungu was primarily a religious leader with limited power over the local chiefs. Because the environment of the Karonga plain was favourable for their mixed farming practices, the Ngonde gradually extended

6148-484: The area they occupied, but were not involved in ivory trading networks before the late 19th century. The Ngoni of Mbelwa (also known as M'mbelwa or Mombera) were a branch of Zwangendaba ’s Ngoni, which began its migration from South Africa between 1819 and 1822, eventually reaching southern Tanzania and remained there until Zwangendaba’s death in the mid-1840s. After this, his followers split into several groups, one of which under his son Mbelwa settled permanently in what

6254-409: The area to the north-west of Lake Malawi. He headed a party which established a camp near Mbande Hill , the seat of the Ngonde paramount chief, about 25 kilometres (15 mi) inland from the lake, and a stockade at Chilumba on Lake Malawi, from where ivory and slaves could be shipped across the lake. This was followed by other stockades, from which Mlozi also carried out an active trade in ivory with

6360-532: The area west and south of Lake Malawi, but without Britain assuming any sovereignty over that area. It changed to one where Britain felt it necessary to proclaim a protectorate. Like the roughly contemporaneous Abushiri revolt in German East Africa , the war represented the end of the political influence of Swahili traders acknowledging the Sultan of Zanzibar's authority in East and Central Africa, and

6466-523: 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

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6572-553: The bombardment. The other Swahili stockades did not resist and were destroyed The Karonga War was minor in terms of combatants and casualties compared to the First or Second Matabele War in Southern Rhodesia but it had major significance for the history of Malawi, particularly the north of the country, because it forced a change in British government policy. This had originally been to ensure that no other power controlled

6678-491: 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

6784-453: 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

6890-456: The coast. However, by the 1870s, most ivory porters were paid specialists, not slaves, and the relation between in ivory and slaves was an inverse one: the increasing European demand for ivory led to a depletion of the elephant herds in many areas, whose people were then forced to sell slaves in exchange for the trade goods they wanted, which they had formerly bartered ivory to acquire. After spending several years trying unsuccessfully to undermine

6996-501: The company set up a base in Karonga to exchange ivory for trade goods. The popularity of the so-called Arab traders arose from the ready supply of a wide range of trade goods they brought, not only guns and ammunition, but also iron tools and utensils, and cloth. This varied supply, for which African chiefs were prepared to exchange slaves as well as ivory, could not be matched by the African Lakes Company's intermittent supplies of European goods. The Swahili initially had good relations with

7102-574: The diaspora of many indigenous groups in southern Africa. In the following decades, Zwangendaba led a small group of his followers north through Mozambique and Zimbabwe to the region around the Viphya Plateau. In this region, present-day Zambia ( Chipata district), Malawi ( Mzimba , Ntcheu and Karonga district) and Tanzania ( Matema district), he established a state, using Zulu warfare techniques to conquer and integrate local peoples. The date on which Zwangendaba's party crossed

7208-471: The end of attempts of Chartered companies to assume or retain control in place of their home governments. Ngoni people The Ngoni people are an ethnic group living in the present-day Southern African countries of Malawi , Mozambique , Tanzania , Zimbabwe , and Zambia . The Ngoni trace their origins to the Nguni and Zulu people of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa . The displacement of

7314-704: 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. Most follow

7420-495: 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

7526-402: The gardens and twenty-two were taken away as prisoners. An old man and one of the headman's children had been severely wounded. Their entrails hung out of frightfully torn wounds, inflicted most likely by barbed spears. It was a pitiful sight — the groans of the wounded, the women crying over their dead, whose bodies were brought from the gardens, the men standing about helplessly and depressed. As

7632-457: 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

7738-640: The internal conflict within the Ngonde state, the Henga leader died in 1887 and his following split into two groups, one led by his son, which represented the warriors, the other included those that had adapted to agricultural life. Although conflict between the Swahili traders their guards and their Henga allies continued with greater or less intensity from mid 1887 to 1895, the accounts of Fotheringham and Lugard, which only record fighting which involved Europeans, identify four distinct periods: in October to December 1887, March 1888, May to August 1888 and February to March 1889. Minor incidents occurred at other times, and

7844-406: 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

7950-615: The lakeshore. By the 1830s, this Chikulamayembe (also called Chikuramaybe) dynasty was in decline and the area reverted to a state of political and military disorganisation. The Ngonde (as they are known in Malawi) occupy the north-western shore of Lake Malawi south of the Songwe River are an offshoot of the Nyakyusa people , who live north of that river in Tanzania. The Ngonde probably moved into Malawi around 1600 and densely settled

8056-517: 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

8162-501: The late 1870s, the African Lakes Company began trading in ivory along the shores of Lake Malawi, establishing its trading posts there in the early 1880s. The Tumbuka probably entered the area between the Luangwa valley and northern Lake Malawi in the 15th century. At the start of the 18th century, they formed a number of groups, of which that known as the Henga was an important one, and they lived in small, independent communities without

8268-486: 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

8374-407: 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 km ) of rolling land at an elevation of about 4,000 feet (1,200 m). According to oral tradition , the Nyamwezi are thought to have settled in west central Tanzania (their present location) some time in

8480-599: The post-colonial states in which they live, integration and acculturation has led to them adopting local languages; nowadays the Zulu language is used only for a few ritual praise poems and songs. Mpezeni (also spelt Mpeseni ) was the warrior-king of one of the largest Ngoni groups, based in what is now the Chipata District of Zambia , and was courted by the Portuguese and British . The British South Africa Company of Cecil Rhodes sent agents to obtain

8586-530: 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

8692-470: The pretext to strike at the Ngonde before they decided that the Swahili were superfluous to their needs. After the killing of a local chief in reprisal, the Swahili, their Ruga-Ruga guards and their Henga allies drove out the Ngonde villagers from the Karonga Plain to a distance of 19 kilometres (12 mi) from the lake over the next few months and, in October 1887, killed a paramount chief or king of

8798-806: The raiding party could not have been far off, I proposed to the men to follow them up at once, and try to release the prisoners, but they were disheartened by the misfortune that so suddenly had overtaken them. The Ngoni people celebrate a festival of first fruits known as Nc'wala in late February at Mutenguleni about 25km from Chipata. Fifteen folk tales of the Ngoni, as retold by an old Ngoni man who had heard them from his grandmother, written down by Margaret Read and edited by Geraldine Elliot, were published in London in 1939. There have been many reprint editions in both America and UK. [REDACTED] Media related to Ngoni people at Wikimedia Commons Nyamwezi people The Nyamwezi , or Wanyamwezi , are one of

8904-450: 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

9010-512: 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. With

9116-478: The south, and about the Nyakyusa people to the north. Although the Nyakyusa were closely related to the Ngonde, they nevertheless raided their more affluent relatives. To protect their northern border, the Ngonde resettled those Henga warriors who had been drafted into Ngoni regiments but had later revolted, and also hoped to use the Swahili traders and their well-armed guards to protect their southern flank. However,

9222-504: The south. There followed a dispute between the two consuls, Hawes wishing to discontinue the armed conflict while O'Neill wanted to attack Mlozi again. As a result, O'Neill returned to Mozambique, but Hawes also quarrelled with John Moir, the African Lakes Company's representative in Blantyre who was supported by most of the European settlers that settlement. O'Neill departed on leave after appointing John Buchanan as Acting Consul. Hawes

9328-536: The territory involved to the company, which may have had the ambition to become a Chartered company . This ambition was strongly opposed by missionaries based in Blantyre, south of Lake Malawi and Hawes, the Consul to the Lake Region, but initially supported by missionaries based further north in Livingstonia . The Ngonde were concerned both about Mbelwa's Ngoni, even though the latter were settled some distance to

9434-574: 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. The war lasted until Mirambo's death in 1884. 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

9540-433: 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

9646-413: The title Paramount Chief Mpezeni to this day. The cruelty and ruthlessness of Mpezeni's raids can be understood from this account written by a British hunter who came across a Chewa village a few hours after a raid in 1897: On my arrival I found the male population all under arms, and the women crying. A raiding party of Mpezeni's people had attacked them suddenly that morning. Ten women were killed in

9752-578: 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

9858-462: The traders’ armed guards were known as Ruga-Ruga . The African Lakes Company, which cooperated closely with the Scottish missions, began its transport and trading concern that aimed to replace the slave trade by legitimate commerce and develop European influence in 1878. Its local managers, the brothers John Moir and Frederick Moir concentrated on trading ivory rather than cash crops, facing stiff completion from established Swahili merchants. In 1883,

9964-411: The usefulness of Henga and Swahili as buffers was reduced. Both groups were aliens in the Ngonde state and were suspicious of cooperation between the company and the Ngonde, so they allied with each other. Fotheringham's own account admits that one of the main sources of the company's problems in 1887 was that it had bought a large quantity of ivory from the “Arabs” on credit, more than could be paid for by

10070-424: The war was formally ended by a treaty on 22 October 1889. Both Fotheringham and Lugard's accounts are written from the British perspective and give no clear indications of the size of the forces employed by the Swahili and their allies or the Ngonde. After the African Lakes Company set up its Karonga trading base, it brokered a settlement between the Ngonde and Nyakyusa, and as the threat of Ngoni raids also declined,

10176-613: The wish of the British government to avoid involvement. Although Buchanan, and later the Foreign Office and War Office , gave Lugard no official support, they did not oppose his actions on the basis that they were ostensibly to protect the missions rather than the African Lakes Company. Lugard left Blantyre in mid-May 1888 and, with around 20 Europeans including John Moir and six other company employees, travelled up Lake Malawi by steamer, pausing at Bandawe to recruit 200 Tonga as soldiers, who were to march to Karonga His first aim

10282-419: 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. 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

10388-423: 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 was important and chiefs and other government officials owned

10494-419: 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

10600-418: Was later reassigned to Zanzibar and Buchanan remained in post until Henry Hamilton Johnston arrived in March 1889 Frederick Moir, John's brother took a small party of armed men north, arriving at the abandoned site of Karonga on 3 March 1888; Buchanan arrived a few days later, and met Mlozi and other Swahili leaders with the aim of negotiating a settlement on 20 March. The Swahili apparently agreed to evacuate

10706-400: Was not part of tribal life. The Nyamwezi often hired professional herdsmen, the immigrant Tutsi , to care for their cattle herds. In the early 1800s, 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

10812-506: 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

10918-407: Was sacked, many fled to Karonga, where they were given shelter in the African Lakes Company's compound. Fotheringham claimed that the Swahili wished to drive the Ngonde from their homeland and replace them with the Henga mercenaries they had recruited, and that they also intended to attack Karonga, so he issued arms to company employees and strengthened Karonga's defences. Fotheringham also feared that

11024-407: 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

11130-620: Was stalemate as neither the company nor the Swahili traders could expel the other. The company's failure to expel Mlozi and the other hostile traders put an end to its political claims to become a chartered company with a protectorate over this area. Lugard never returned to Nyasaland but his activities put pressure on the British government to intervene and, in November 1888, it appointed Harry Johnston as Consul in Mozambique, with an area of consular authority covering Central Africa as well as

11236-478: Was to attack Mlozi's stockade at Chilumba, where slaves and ivory were ferried across the lake. This was captured in a surprise attack and destroyed, after which the steamer continued to Karonga, arriving on 28 May, to reinforce the African Lakes Company employees and numerous Ngonde refugees in the company stockade, which Lugard strengthened and extended. After the arrival of the Tonga troops, Lugard prepared to attack

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