Political Organisation

They were many small chiefdoms or states under the leadership of Ntemis. However, their participation in slave trade and ivory trade enabled them to create large states.

They were found in Tanganyika, present day Tanzania where the chiefs ruled by decentralized powers.

They had clans and each of them had its leader with a strong regular army, which backed up their political power.

The chiefs also had all the judicial powers and acted as chief judges and priests. They had councils of elders who assisted in supervision of the states as well as in administration.

Social Organisation

They had several clans into which they were divided.

They were religious and believed in Ihe powers of the ancestors and the living dead.

They had a traditional god they called Ruwa who did not only bind them together but he was also responsible for peoples* freedom.

They offered several sacrifices to appease the spirits of the ancestors, the living dead and their god Ruwa.

Chiefs presided over ceremonies and other rituals in the society. They stressed marriage and theirs was exogamous where they married from outside other clans.

Economic Organisation

Some carried out fishing in water bodies found in their areas.

Hunting wild animals and food gathering existed among them.

The chief was the custodian of tribal land.

They irrigated their land and practiced agriculture. They grew bananas by the use of fertilizers on the slopes of Mountain Kilimanjaro. They grew other crop items on crop rotation basis.

They carried out raiding against their neighbours and got cattle and slaves.

They reared animals especially goats and cattle.

They carried out both local and external trade and traded with the Arabs and Swahilis from the coast.

They also worked out salt from their areas.

In trade they sold ivory, slaves, iron ware, salt and imported firearms.

They did iron working and produced tools like the short stabbing spears.