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61-571: The oldest site in Monduli district is the Engaruka historical site located in northwest of the district and was originally inhabited by the Iraqw peoples before they migrated south towards Karatu. The word Monduli was originated in the ward Monduli Juu . There was a wealthy Maasai ancestor with the name of Monduli, who lived in the area during the times of German colonization. The Germans colonized

122-645: A Nilotic ethnic group inhabiting northern, central and southern Kenya and northern Tanzania , near the African Great Lakes region. Their native language is the Maasai language , a Nilotic language related to Dinka , Kalenjin and Nuer . Except for some elders living in rural areas, most Maasai people speak the official languages of Kenya and Tanzania— Swahili and English . The Maasai population has been reported as numbering 1,189,522 in Kenya in

183-600: A chilly climate at high elevations. Temperatures range from 20°C to 35°C, while rainfall ranges from less than 500mm in the lowlands to 900mm in the highlands. The district is divided into three climate zones: the Highlands, the Flat and Rolling Plains, and the Rift Valley. Because of the mountains, which absorb more rain at higher altitudes, the Monduli highlands zone has a mild and sub-humid climate. The average temperature

244-568: A dance". ) Traditionally, the Maasai diet consisted of raw meat, raw milk, honey and raw blood from cattle —note that the Maasai cattle are of the Zebu variety. Most of the milk is consumed as fermented milk or buttermilk (a by-product of butter making). Milk consumption figures are very high by any standards. The Maasai herd goats and sheep, including the Red Maasai sheep , as well as

305-664: A descending scale, and singers responding to their verses are characteristic of singing by women. When many Maasai women gather together, they sing and dance among themselves. Eunoto, the coming-of-age ceremony of the warrior, can involve ten or more days of singing, dancing and ritual. The warriors of the Il-Oodokilani perform a kind of march-past as well as the Adumu , or aigus, sometimes referred to as "the jumping dance" by non-Maasai. (Both adumu and aigus are Maa verbs meaning "to jump" with adumu meaning "To jump up and down in

366-583: A dual nature, represented by two colours: Engai Narok (Black God) is benevolent, and Engai Na-nyokie (Red God) is vengeful. There are also two pillars or totems of Maasai society: Oodo Mongi, the Red Cow and Orok Kiteng, the Black Cow with a subdivision of five clans or family trees . The Maasai also have a totemic animal, which is the lion. The killing of a lion is used by the Maasai in the rite of passage ceremony. The "Mountain of God", Ol Doinyo Lengai ,

427-425: A multitude of ways including being boiled in soups and ingested to improve digestion and cleanse the blood. Some of these remedies can also be used in the treatment or prevention of diseases. The Maasai people also add herbs to different foods to avoid stomach upsets and give digestive aid. The use of plant-based medicine remains an important part of Maasai life. Maasai clothing symbolises ethnic group membership,

488-667: A population of 30,000, but this figure is now considered exaggerated. John Sutton of the British Institute in Eastern Africa later conducted excavations at Engaruka, and in 2002–2005 Ari Siiriainen led a research team from the Department of Archaeology at the University of Helsinki . In 2001–2004, studies were conducted by Daryl Stump of University College London as part of his PhD thesis work. In 2006,

549-560: A reputation as fearsome warriors and cattle rustlers. The Maasai and other groups in East Africa have adopted customs and practices from neighbouring Cushitic-speaking groups, including the age-set system of social organisation, circumcision , and vocabulary terms. Many ethnic groups that had already formed settlements in the region were forcibly displaced by the incoming Maasai. Other, mainly Southern Cushitic groups, were assimilated into Maasai society. The Nilotic ancestors of

610-405: A small basis, coffee and sunflowers are grown. The annual per capita income in the district was estimated to be TZS 199,630/=. (2002). The regional per capita income was predicted to be TZS. 350,952 per year (2004). The national per capita income in 2004 was predicted to be Tshs. 320,044 and TZS 399,594 in 2006. In 2008, the district per capita income was estimated to be TZS 500,010. Monduli

671-601: A stone-block canal channeling water from the Crater Highlands rift escarpment to stone-lined cultivation terraces. Measures were taken to prevent soil erosion and the fertility of the plots was increased by using the manure of stall fed cattle. For an unknown reason Engaruka was abandoned at latest in the mid-18th century. The site still poses many questions, including the identity of the founders, how they developed their farming system, and why they left. Construction of Engaruka has traditionally been credited to

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732-439: A total area of 6,419 square kilometers, of which 6290.62 square kilometers are land and 128.38 square kilometers are water. Grazing land covers 3,983.855 square kilometers, arable land covers 1,055.475 square kilometers, and woodland covers 374.965 square kilometers. A number of isolated mountains (Monduli, Lepurko, Loosimingori, and Lengai) and broad rolling plains characterize the land landscape. The heights range from 600m in

793-506: Is shaved off ; elders must wear their hair short. Warriors who do not have sexual relations with women who have not undergone the "Emuatare" ceremony are especially honoured at the Eunoto gathering. This would symbolise the healing of the woman. Two days before boys are circumcised, their heads are shaved. When warriors go through the Eunoto and become elders, their long plaited hair

854-530: Is 20 degrees Celsius, and the annual rainfall is 1000 millimeters. Temperatures in the semi-arid zone range from 20°C to 30°C, with annual rainfall ranging from 400mm to 600mm. The desert zone of the Monduli Rift Valley has a warm climate. Temperatures range from 23°C to 35°C, and annual rainfall is less than 500mm. Monduli District's main economic activities are livestock husbandry, agriculture production, and wildlife conservation. More than 90% of

915-714: Is an educational center for surrounding regions. Irkisongo, Moringe Sokoine, Engutoto and Orkeeswa. Secondary Schools are located there, as is the Monduli Teachers' College and the MaaSae Girls' Lutheran Secondary School . Land has been set aside for a proposed branch of the Lutheran founded Tumaini University at Makumira near Arusha . Also in the district is the Tanzania People's Defence Force Tanzania Military Academy .There are also primary schools in

976-472: Is around 35 kilometers from Monduli Town, while Kilimanjaro International Airport is about 90 kilometers away. Makuyuni Airstrip, located inside the District, permits light aircraft. The district is serviced by telephone lines and radio calls, and it has subpost offices and telephone offices at Monduli Headquarters, Mto wa Mbu, and Makuyuni. The district is also served by cellular phones that cover practically

1037-596: Is considered one of the most important Iron Age archaeological sites in Tanzania. The site is located in the ward of Engaruka . The site is registered as one of the National Historic Sites of Tanzania . Sometime in the 15th century, an Iron Age farming community built a large continuous village area on the footslopes of the Rift Valley escarpment, housing several thousand people. They developed an intricate irrigation and cultivation system, involving

1098-511: Is known to be home to the national historic site of Engaruka and also being the gateway to national parks like Tarangire and Serengeti . The district has a total road network of 617kms. Tarmac road been 8.1 km, 138 km gravel and 470.9 km is earth surfaced road. Trunk roads (96 km) and Regional roads (156 km). District roads, feeder roads and village access roads are mostly earth surfaced - they are passable with difficult during rainy seasons. Arusha Airport (Kisongo)

1159-408: Is located in northernmost Tanzania and can be seen from Lake Natron in southernmost Kenya. The central human figure in the Maasai religious system is the laibon whose roles include shamanistic healing , divination and prophecy , and ensuring success in war or adequate rainfall. Today, they have a political role as well due to the elevation of leaders. Whatever power an individual laibon had

1220-400: Is named and the head is shaved clean apart from a tuft of hair, which resembles a cockade , from the nape of the neck to the forehead. Among the men, warriors are the only members of the Maasai community to wear long hair, which they weave in thinly braided strands. Graduation from warrior to junior elder takes place at a large gathering known as Eunoto. The long hair of the former warriors

1281-425: Is not uncommon for bodies to be covered in fat and blood from a slaughtered ox . Traditional Maasai lifestyle centres around their cattle , which constitute their primary source of food. In a patriarchal culture that views women as property, a man's wealth is measured in cattle, wives and children. A herd of 50 cattle is respectable, and the more wives and children the better. A man who has plenty of one but not

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1342-515: Is now Tanzania. Maasai are pastoralists and have resisted the urging of the Tanzanian and Kenyan governments to adopt a more sedentary lifestyle. They have demanded grazing rights to many of the national parks in both countries. The Maasai people stood against slavery and never condoned the traffic of human beings, and outsiders looking for people to enslave avoided the Maasai. Essentially there are twenty-two geographic sectors or sub-tribes of

1403-467: Is shaved off. Maasai music traditionally consists of rhythms provided by a chorus of vocalists singing harmonies while a song leader, or olaranyani, sings the melody. Unlike most other African tribes, Maasai widely use drone polyphony . Women chant lullabies, humming songs, and songs praising their sons. Nambas, the call-and-response pattern, repetition of nonsensical phrases, monophonic melodies, repeated phrases following each verse being sung on

1464-532: The Arabian Peninsula , and later spread this ancestry component southwards into certain Khoisan groups roughly 2,000 years ago, resulting in ~5% West-Eurasian ancestry among Southern African hunter-gatherers. A 2019 archaeogenetic study sampled ancient remains from Neolithic inhabitants of Tanzania and Kenya, and found them to have strongest affinities with modern Horn of Africa groups. They modelled

1525-739: The Barbaig sub-group of the Datoga , herders who are known to have occupied the Crater Highlands above Engaruka prior to the arrival of the Maasai . This population movement is reportedly consistent with the date of the Engaruka site's desertion, which is estimated at somewhere between 1700 and 1750. It also roughly coincides with the start of the diminishment of the Engaruka River's flow as well as those of other streams descending from

1586-562: The Ngorongoro highlands ; water sources around which Engaruka's irrigation practices were centered. According to the Maasai, who are the present-day occupants of Engaruka, the Iraqw also already inhabited the site when their own ancestors first entered the region during the 18th century. Engaruka has also been linked to the Sonjo , a numerically small Bantu -speaking living some 60 miles to

1647-453: The ethnogenesis of the Maasai people. Genetic genealogy , a tool that uses the genes of modern populations to trace their ethnic and geographic origins, has also helped clarify the possible background of modern Maasai. The Maasai's autosomal DNA has been examined in a comprehensive study by Tishkoff et al. (2009) on the genetic affiliations of various populations in Africa. According to

1708-455: The 111 children examined exhibited missing mandibular or maxillary deciduous canines. Traditionally, the Maasai conduct elaborate rite of passage rituals which include surgical genital mutilation to initiate children into adulthood. The Maa word for circumcision , "emorata," is applied to this ritual for both males and females. This ritual is typically performed by the elders, who use a sharpened knife and makeshift cattle hide bandages for

1769-516: The 2019 census, compared to 377,089 in the 1989 census, though many Maasai view the census as government meddling and therefore either refuse to participate or actively provide false information. The Maasai inhabit the African Great Lakes region and arrived via South Sudan . Most Nilotic speakers in the area, including the Maasai, the Turkana and the Kalenjin , are pastoralists and have

1830-840: The Kalenjin likewise absorbed some early Cushitic populations. The Maasai territory reached its largest size in the mid-19th century and covered almost all of the Great Rift Valley and adjacent lands from Mount Marsabit in the north to Dodoma in the south. At this time the Maasai, as well as the larger Nilotic group they were part of, raised cattle as far east as the Tanga coast in Tanganyika (now mainland Tanzania). Raiders used spears and shields but were most feared for throwing clubs (orinka) which could be accurately thrown from up to 70 paces (approx. 100 metres). In 1852, there

1891-474: The Maasai as goat leaves). One common misconception about the Maasai is that each young man is supposed to kill a lion before he can be circumcised and enter adulthood. Lion hunting was an activity of the past, but it has been banned in East Africa – yet lions are still hunted when they maul Maasai livestock. Nevertheless, killing a lion gives one great value and celebrity status in the community. The piercing and stretching of earlobes are common among

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1952-401: The Maasai as with other tribes, and both men and women wear metal hoops on their stretched earlobes. Various materials have been used to both pierce and stretch the lobes, including thorns for piercing, twigs, bundles of twigs, stones, the cross-section of elephant tusks and empty film canisters. Women wear various forms of beaded ornaments in both the ear lobe and smaller piercings at the top of

2013-440: The Maasai community as having ancestry that is ~47% Pastoral Neolithic Cushitic-related and ~53% Sudanese Dinka-related. A Y chromosome study by Wood et al. (2005) tested various Sub-Saharan populations, including 26 Maasai men from Kenya, for paternal lineages. The authors observed haplogroup E1b1b -M35 (not M78) in 35% of the studied Maasai. E1b1b-M35-M78 in 15%, their ancestor with the more northerly Cushitic men, who possess

2074-585: The Maasai community, each one having its customs, appearance, leadership and dialects. These subdivisions are known as 'nations' or 'iloshon' in the Maa language : the Keekonyokie , Ildamat, Purko, Wuasinkishu, Siria, Laitayiok, Loitai, Ilkisonko, Matapato, Dalalekutuk, Ilooldokilani, Ilkaputiei, Moitanik, Ilkirasha, Samburu , Ilchamus, Laikipiak , Loitokitoki, Larusa, Salei, Sirinket and Parakuyo . Recent advances in genetic analyses have helped shed some light on

2135-556: The University of Helsinki resumed Siiriainen's work, concentrating on the connections between Engaruka and the Sonjo area. Engaruka is also the name of a modern village not far from the archaeological site. The Maasai conduct tourist tours of the site. Maasai people Modern ethnicities Diaspora Performing arts Government agencies Television Radio Newspapers The Maasai ( / ˈ m ɑː s aɪ , m ɑː ˈ s aɪ / ; Swahili : Wamasai ) are

2196-570: The ancestors of the Iraqw , a Cushitic -speaking group of cultivators residing in the Mbulu Highlands of northern Tanzania. The modern Iraqw practice an intensive form of self-contained agriculture that bears a remarkable similarity to the ruins of stone-walled canals , dams and furrows that are found at Engaruka. Iraqw historical traditions likewise relate that their last significant migration to their present area of inhabitation occurred about two or three centuries ago after conflicts with

2257-467: The area (later Tanganyika , Rwanda and Burundi ) in the 1880s. They brought forced labour and land alienation but also Christianity and European education, teaching science, math, engineering, and even German. Tanganyika gained its independence on December 9, 1961, under the leadership of Prime Minister Julius Nyerere . In April 1964 Tanganyika and Zanzibar , a former British protectorate, united to form Tanzania under President Nyerere. The District has

2318-544: The ceremony that initiates young Maasai girls into adulthood through ritual mutilation and then into early arranged marriages. The Maasai believe that female genital mutilation is necessary and Maasai men may reject any woman who has not undergone it as either not marriageable or worthy of a much-reduced bride price. In Eastern Africa, uncircumcised women, even highly educated members of parliament like Linah Kilimo , can be accused of not being mature enough to be taken seriously. The Maasai activist Agnes Pareyio campaigns against

2379-478: The district. The district's population was 158,929 in 2012 (males 75,615 and females 83,314), with an annual growth rate of 2.77. The population is predicted to be 177,346 in 2016. For parliamentary elections, Arusha Region is divided into constituencies. As of the 2010 elections Monduli District had one constituency, Monduli Constituency. As of 2012, Monduli District is administratively divided into 15 wards: Monduli town, located in Monduli district,

2440-480: The ear. Among Maasai males, circumcision is practised as a ritual of transition from boyhood to manhood. Women are also circumcised (as described below in social organisation ). This belief and practice are not unique to the Maasai. In rural Kenya, a group of 95 children aged between six months and two years were examined in 1991/92. 87% were found to have undergone the removal of one or more deciduous canine tooth buds. In an older age group (3–7 years of age), 72% of

2501-401: The entire area.Forest Reserves cover 23,022 of the district's 641,900 Hectares. The Wa maasai are the most populous ethnic group, accounting for over 40% of the total population. Their main source of income is livestock raising. The Waarusha are the second largest ethnic group, accounting for around 20% of the total population. Also the first communities were the Iraqw and Sonjo people in

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2562-441: The fertile lands between Mount Meru and Mount Kilimanjaro , and most of the fertile highlands near Ngorongoro in the 1940s. More land was taken to create wildlife reserves and national parks: Amboseli National Park , Nairobi National Park , Maasai Mara , Samburu National Reserve , Lake Nakuru National Park and Tsavo in Kenya; and Lake Manyara , Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tarangire and Serengeti National Park in what

2623-570: The haplogroup at high frequencies lived more than 13,000 years ago. The second most frequent paternal lineage among the Maasai was Haplogroup A3b2 , which is commonly found in Nilotic populations, such as the Alur ; it was observed in 27% of Maasai men. The third most frequently observed paternal DNA marker in the Maasai was E1b1a1-M2 (E-P1), which is very common in the Sub-Saharan region; it

2684-517: The higher altitude of the area, mosquitoes are not as common. Monduli has one hospital, one health centre, and 22 dispensaries. Engaruka Engaruka is an abandoned system of ruins located in northwest Monduli District in central Arusha Region . The site is in geographical range of the Great Rift Valley of northern Tanzania . Situated in the Monduli District , it is famed for its irrigation and cultivation structures. It

2745-402: The low elevations to 2900m in the high elevations. The District's vegetation includes a combination of forest, bushland , woodland grassland, and meadows. The District has both perennial and seasonal rivers. Simba, Kirurumo, Mto wa Mbu, Selela (Kabambe), and Engaruka are the primary perennial streams. Monduli is one of Tanzania's driest districts. It features a warm climate at low elevations and

2806-442: The more prized cattle. Although consumed as snacks, fruits constitute a major part of the food ingested by children and women looking after cattle as well as morans in the bush. Medicine The Maasai people traditionally used the environment when making their medicines, and many still do, due to the high cost of Western treatments. These medicines are derived from trees, shrubs, stems, roots, etc. These can then be used in

2867-488: The northwest. Like the Iraqw, they are known for their use of irrigation systems in agriculture. The Sonjo also maintain terraced village sites, albeit of considerably more rudimentary form than what is found at Engaruka. New studies have also revealed new information about the Middle Stone Age and Pastoral Neolithic occupational histories of the area. The first European to record the existence of these ruins

2928-486: The other is considered to be poor. All of the Maasai's needs for food are met by their cattle. They eat their meat, drink their milk daily, and drink their blood on occasion. Bulls, goats, and lambs are slaughtered for meat on special occasions and ceremonies. Though the Maasai's entire way of life has historically depended on their cattle, more recently with their cattle dwindling, the Maasai have grown dependent on food such as sorghum , rice, potatoes and cabbage (known to

2989-564: The past 3000 years and with the high frequency of a shared East African–specific mutation associated with lactose tolerance." Maasai display significant West-Eurasian admixture at roughly ~20%. This type of West-Eurasian ancestry reaches up to 40-50% among specific populations of the Horn of Africa , specifically among Amharas . Genetic data and archeologic evidence suggest that East African pastoralists received West Eurasian ancestry (~25%) through Afroasiatic-speaking groups from Northern Africa or

3050-433: The population works in livestock and agriculture. The District is expected to contain 105,547.5 hectares of potential arable land, but only 87,632.5 hectares, or 13.65%, are under cultivation. Although large-scale farming is performed in the District's southern region (Lolkisale), subsistence farming is the predominant mode of production. Maize , beans , and rice are major food and cash crops that are staple food crops. On

3111-404: The practice. The female rite of passage ritual has recently seen excision replaced in rare instances with a "cutting with words" ceremony involving singing and dancing in its place. However, despite changes to the law and education drives, the practice remains deeply ingrained, highly valued, and nearly universally practised by members of the culture. Upon reaching the age of 3 "moons", the child

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3172-583: The procedure. The male ceremony refers to the excision of the prepuce (foreskin). In the male ceremony, the boy is expected to endure the operation in silence. Expressions of pain bring dishonour upon him, albeit only temporarily. Importantly, any exclamations or unexpected movements on the part of the boy can cause the elder to make a mistake in the delicate and tedious process, which can result in severe lifelong scarring, dysfunction, and pain. Young women also undergo female genital mutilation as part of an elaborate rite of passage ritual called "Emuatare,"

3233-488: The region, such as the Samburu . Most of the tested Maasai belonged to various macro-haplogroup L sub-clades, including L0 , L2 , L3 , L4 and L5 . Some maternal gene flow from North and Northeast Africa was also reported, particularly via the presence of mtDNA haplogroup M lineages in about 12.5% of the Maasai samples. The monotheistic Maasai worship a single deity called Enkai , Nkai , or Engai . Engai has

3294-675: The result of smallpox. This period coincided with drought. Rains failed in 1897 and 1898. The Austrian explorer Oscar Baumann travelled in Maasai lands between 1891 and 1893 and described the old Maasai settlement in the Ngorongoro Crater in the 1894 book Durch Massailand zur Nilquelle ("Through the lands of the Maasai to the source of the Nile"). By one estimate two-thirds of the Maasai died during this period. Maasai in Tanganyika (now mainland Tanzania) were displaced from

3355-521: The study's authors, the Maasai "have maintained their culture in the face of extensive genetic introgression". Tishkoff et al. also indicate that: "Many Nilo-Saharan-speaking populations in East Africa, such as the Maasai, show multiple cluster assignments from the Nilo-Saharan [...] and Cushitic [...] AACs, in accord with linguistic evidence of repeated Nilotic assimilation of Cushites over

3416-405: The town of Monduli such as Mazoezi, Mlimani, Sinoni and Ngarash primary schools. Nearly every village has a primary school and nearly each ward has a secondary school for ordinary level except for the newly established in 2015. Disease in this area is a problem. People suffer from various diseases, such as malaria . The majority of diseases are mosquito-borne and difficult to avoid. However, due to

3477-432: Was Gustav Fischer , who passed them on 5 July 1883, and compared them to the tumbled-down walls of ancient castles. Scoeller and Kaiser mentioned the ruins of "Ngaruku" including great stone circles and dams in 1896–97. The first detailed and archaeological investigation was by Hans Reck , in 1913. Louis Leakey and Mary Leakey investigated the site in 1935, but were disappointed by the lack of burial sites. They estimated

3538-469: Was a function of personality rather than position. Many Maasai have also adopted Christianity or Islam . The Maasai produce intricate jewellery and sell these items to tourists. Educating Maasai women to use clinics and hospitals during pregnancy has enabled more infants to survive. The exception is found in extremely remote areas. A corpse rejected by scavengers is seen as having something wrong with it, and liable to cause social disgrace; therefore, it

3599-459: Was a report of a concentration of 800 Maasai warriors on the move in what is now Kenya. In 1857, after having depopulated the "Wakuafi wilderness" in what is now southeastern Kenya, Maasai warriors threatened Mombasa on the Kenyan coast. Because of this migration, the Maasai are the southernmost Nilotic speakers. The period of expansion was followed by the Maasai "Emutai" of 1883–1902. This period

3660-423: Was found in 12% of the Maasai samples. Haplogroup B-M60 was also observed in 8% of the studied Maasai, which is also found in 30% (16/53) of Southern Sudanese Nilotes. According to an mtDNA study by Castri et al. (2008), which tested Maasai individuals in Kenya, the maternal lineages found among the Maasai are quite diverse but similar in overall frequency to that observed in other Nilo-Hamitic populations from

3721-399: Was marked by epidemics of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia , rinderpest (see 1890s African rinderpest epizootic ), and smallpox . The estimate first put forward by a German lieutenant in what was then northwest Tanganyika , was that 90% of cattle and half of wild animals perished from rinderpest. German doctors in the same area claimed that "every second" African had a pock-marked face as

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