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Tribe Snapshots Shambaa |
| Location: |
Northeast Tanzania
in the Usambara Mountains |
| Population: |
200,000 |
| Language: |
Kishambaa (central Bantu) |
| Neighboring
Peoples: |
Bondei, Zigua, Pare, Chagga |
| Types
of Art: |
Shambaa art forms include wooden sculpture and
medicine gourds that are used in healing ceremonies. |
| History: |
Shambaa history can be divided into three periods.
The first begins with the settling of Shambaa
peoples in the Usambara mountains over 200 years
ago and extends until the early 19th century when
the Kilindi ruled supreme in Shambaa territory.
The first Kilindi king was Mbegha, an exile from
neighboring Ngulu. According to oral traditions,
he was awarded with the kingship of the Shambaa
peoples, after he demonstrated his hunting prowess
by killing the bush pigs that had been destroying
Shambaa land and distributing the meat to the
citizens. The Kilindi ruled Shambaa territory
for close to a hundred years. In the late 1800s,
German colonial officials executed the last Kilindi
king and brought about the collapse of the empire.
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| Economy: |
In the higher altitudes of the Usambara mountains
banana and other fruit trees provide Shambaa peoples
with an ample food supply when droughts and famine
threaten those living below in the plains. In
fact, it is believed that Shambaa communities
first ascended the mountains in an effort to escape
the famine they experienced as members of Zigua
communities. Shambaa are mostly farmers who plant
various crops in terraced fields on the sides
of the steep mountains they inhabit. Shambaa territory
was not situated along the ivory and trade routes
that crossed Tanzania throughout the 19th century.
As a result, those living in the mountains remained
fairly isolated from the outside world. |
| Political
Systems: |
Before the emergence of Kilindi domination,
Shambaa participated in a non-centralized governing
system. Each family established its own community
around its own demarcated territory. Disagreements
between these extended families were solved by
a council of elders from the area. Marriage served
to cement political bonds between clans. Under
the Kilindi, Shambaa territory became unified
and authority rested in the hands of a centralized
chieftancy. He ruled surrounding territories through
proxy, most often by establishing his sons as
local leaders. The Kilindi king was thought to
have supernatural powers, including the ability
to control the rain. |
| Religion: |
Shambaa religion is family based, with the most
significant ritual obligations being made to the
ancestors of the lineage. The deities are divided
into two main groups, those spirits associated
with the ancestors and those associated with nature.
Spirits preside over healing ceremonies, purification
rites, the settlement of disputes, the identification
of criminals, and rain-making ceremonies. They
provide the living with guidance, insight, and
medicinal knowledge. If, however, these spirits
are angered by the actions of the living, they
can also cause humans the kinds of afflictions
they are called upon to cure. |
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