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Tribe Snapshots Zaramo |
| Location: |
East central Tanzania |
| Population: |
200,000 |
| Language: |
Kizaramo, Kiswahili |
| Neighboring
Peoples: |
Kwere, Luguru,
Kami, Swahili |
| Types
of Art: |
Zaramo produce various wood sculpture, best
known of which are small doll-like figurines known
as mwana hiti. |
| History: |
Zaramo are an east central Bantu peoples whose
ancestors most likely immigrated into modern day
Tanzania sometime during the first millennium
A.D. Oral histories suggest that the Zaramo moved
eastward into their current location from the
mountainous Luguru and Kutu areas around the turn
of the 18th century. Linguistic evidence supports
this history. Trade and slave caravans in the
18th century passed through Zaramo territory on
their way to Lake Tanganyika, bringing Islam along
with them. As Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania,
has grown exponentially in the last 20 years many
Zaramo settlements have been incorporated into
the city, and many more Zaramo people have immigrated
into the city in search of work. |
| Economy: |
Most Zaramo cultivation is done by women using
a hand-held hoe. They grow maize, millet, and
rice near the coast. Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers,
casava, cucumbers, and various other vegetables
are grown. Tropical fruits, including mango, bananas,
and coconut are abundant. In the past fishing
and hunting were important, but have largely been
replaced by raising domestic animals. Dried fish,
brought inland from the coast, are commonly eaten.
The Zaramo supply much of the fruit and vegetables
that are sold in the markets of Dar es Salaam.
Sisal, which is used for making ropes, is grown
on large plantations throughout eastern Tanzania.
Tanzania is the number one exporter of sisal.
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| Political
Systems: |
Zaramo did not have centralized political systems.
Their social organization was based on small-scale
matrilineal kin groups which were self governing.
Lineage heads were chosen by community leaders.
These leaders held the land rights of the lineage.
Occasionally a powerful leader emerged in the
area who had greater influence. Land ownership
was determined by the original members who inhabited
it. The leader was responsible for distributing
the land and maintaining lineage rituals. Most
of the leaders in Zaramo communities were men,
but on occasion they could be women. They settled
disputes between family members, and were often
attributed with spiritual powers, such as the
ability to make rain, or to communicate with the
spirit world. Despite colonial reports indicating
a lack of political unity in the area, Zaramo
peoples were able to assemble between four and
five thousand people to March on Bagamoyo in 1875
in protest of the Sultan failing to pay tribute. |
| Religion: |
Most Zaramo believed in a supreme God, Mulungu,
who was associated with rainfall. Most prayers
were directed to familial spirits. Religion among
the Zaramo was a household affair. Every family
was responsible for appeasing its ancestral spirits.
Shrines were built to the spirits on the ancestral
homeland, and members of the family were expected
to journey to these sites to make the proper offerings.
Zaramo believed that major disasters and illnesses
were sent by Mulungu, but appeals and prayers
must be made to the ancestral spirits who served
as a liason between living men and God. In order
to determine the proper course of action necessary
to appease an offended spirit, a spirit medium,
or mganga would be consulted. Through various
divination techniques, the mganga would communicate
with the spirits and then prescribe treatment
for an illness or social imbalance. |
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