The Politics of Environmental Control in Northeastern Tanzania, 1840-1940

Historical memory as a foundation for peace: Network formation and ethnic identity in North Mara, Tanzania

“…Famine, disease, and competition for resources with their neighbors in what is now western Kenya drove the immigrants out of their homes. The story of the late 19th-century disasters throughout East Africa has been told many times (Kjekshus, 1977;Koponen, 1988;Giblin, 1992). Among the causes of this widespread social breakdown were el Nin ˜o drought patterns and the introduction of new diseases, like smallpox and syphilis, from the coastal caravan trade.…”

Material assemblages and percolating pasts in Zigua households, north-eastern Tanzania

“…The Zigua are a Bantu-language speaking people mostly found in the space historically referred to as Zigualand, although the sites of Kwa Fungo and Kwengoma are located in a borderland area. In the 19th century, Zigualand underwent rapid socio-political changes in response to the expansion of the caravan trade in elephant ivory and enslaved people (Giblin, 1992;McInneshin, 2009;Lane, 2011). The region was at the time under the overlapping spheres of influence of local polities, until it was brought under the colonial authority of the Deutsch-Ostafrika Protectorate .…”

“…The period was one of widespread religious conversions through the enterprise of Christian missions (Willis, 1993b), while Islamisation also spread inland as a form of resistance to German colonialism (Glassman, 1995;Sperling and Kagabo, 2015). After the defeat of German forces in 1916 during World War I, the British assumed control and maintained their colonial authority via processes of indirect rule until 1961 (Willis, 1993c), when Tanzania gained its independence and Julius Nyerere was elected as the first independent leader (Ekemode, 1973;Giblin, 1992).…”

“…However, the villagers that returned in 1935 were not related to Fungo, and were mainly labourers seeking work on the rubber and sisal estates (JOF, 1991;interview). In the first half of the 20th century, cash-crop estates for rubber and sisal production were established in the Pangani Valley, coinciding with the promotion of wage labour by British colonial administrators, encouraging intra-Tanzania labour migration (Giblin, 1992;Sabea, 2008). The old site of Kwa Fungo was once again abandoned in 1976 during villagization, to be moved to its present location (JOF, 1991;interview;Lane, 2011).…”