The Nyamwezi
The Nyamwezi were one of the Bantu speaking tribes that left the Niger- Congo basin. They were called the Nyamwezi because they were the people of the moon. This was due to the fact that they came from the west, the direction from which a new moon is first seen. The Nyamwezi were located in the central position of Tanzania and they settled in small self governing groups.
Originally, they did not have a single central political system. In other words they are an example of the decentralised states. It had fairly organised political, social and economic features.
Political organisation
The Nyamwezi society was divided into various chiefdoms. These were small with about 1000 inhabitants in each, these chiefdoms later changed when Mirambo and Nyungu ya Mawe organised the society into a centralised political unit. After their death, their states went back to chieftainship.
In case the chiefdoms population increased beyond its capacity to accommodate, the chiefdoms split according to clan ties.
The chiefdoms were headed by the Ntemi chiefs. These tried to maintain law and order in their respective areas of influence. The Ntemi chiefs were helped by a council of elders and lesser chiefs in the administration. These Ntemi chiefs were mostly elders chosen because of their age, knowledge and experience in daily life.
There were other officials such as chief councillors, ritual officers, tax collectors and senior army leaders. These organised law and order in the chiefdom.
Each chiefdom was sub-divided into small political units led by clan heads. Most of those clan heads were appointed from either Ntemi families as would or some of the retired palace officials.
Clan heads also relied on heads of households that is each family had a respected head. These were responsible in the day today administration of the areas. Hence forth, a homestead formed the basis of political and administrative unit in Nyamwezi.
Each chiefdom had an army. This promoted stability and effective administration. The Ntemi was the chief commander and in case of war, the Ntemi had to perform a sacrifice of eating meat. This position changed with the leadership of Mirambo and Nyungu ya mawe.
Social organisation
The Nyamwezi had a fairly organised judicial system. The Ntemi was at the top of the system thus the highest as the final court of appeal. This settled the local disputes.
The Ntemi also had to consult the council of elders in case that justice was done according to the accepted traditions and custom any laws.
The Nyamwezi attached special significance to religion and cultural practices. The Ntemi maintained close contact and co-ordinal relationship with the spirits of ancestors.
Regular sacrifices were made to please the ancestors and were presided over by the Ntemi.
The ancestors were consulted especially in times of troubles for example when natural calamities befell the society. The Ntemi would organise a rain making ceremony.
Elders in each society were highly respected because of their age and the fact that they were about to die. As such, the youth had respect for elders in order to receive blessings not curses. Such practices helped to maintain law and order.
Economic organisation
The Nyamwezi initially depended on agriculture as their major economic activity. Their main crops were grains. The Ntemi mobilised people to participate in crop production.
In case individuals misuse land, the Ntemi would intervene. Land was a central food store directly controlled by the Ntemi. The Ntemi also collected food from the people as a form of tax. The national food store was used to feed Ntemi's bodyguards, members of the court and in times of natural disaster. The affected people would be given food from the reserves.
Besides cultivation, the Nyamwezi kept some animals such as cattle, sheep, and goats. However as a result of harsh conditions the Nyamwezi dropped Pastrolism and took up an active role in long distance trade.
Trade between the Nyamwezi and her neighbours was yet another economic activity. The Nyamwezi would exchange what they produced for what they did not produce.
Between the 18th century and 19th century, the Nyamwezi took an active role in the long distance trade with the coastal Arabs. They supplied ivory, copper, iron, and even traded with people of Katanga region.
The Nyamwezi controlled three caravan routes particularly from Tabora to Ujiji in the west, Tabora to Karagwe in the North west and Tabora in the south.
They gained a lot of wealth and their political leader bought guns which people like Mirambo used to form a centralised Nyamwezi society.
The Nyamwezi taxed foreigners trading through or with the Nyamwezi and this was another source of revenue.
The Empire of Mirambo of Unyamwezi
Mirambo was a legitimate and true son of a Nyamwezi chief and like many men in history who acquired greatness, Mirambo had a humble origin. Though a Nyamwezi by birth, he spent part of his early life as a captive of the Tuta Ngoni at Bagomba. As a captive, he learnt their military tactics which he was to use later to expand his own empire. He gained experience of caravan trade, became a leader of his father's family and made a great contribution to trade.
Factors for the rise of Mirambo to power
Mirambo exploited trade and acquired a lot of wealth or achievements.
He was determined and ambitious as a young man to be a leader so nothing could stand his way.
He learnt the Ngoni military skills that he used to fight and defeat his neighbours.
He befriended other African chiefs e.g. Isike of Tabora and Nyungu Yamawe of Unyanyambe who supported his rise to power.
Death of his father made him a successor of Ugowe and later he developed it.
The weakness of his neighbours e.g. Uliankuru enabled him to capture that chiefdom.
He learnt the skills of good leadership from his further.
He was lucky to survive death or being sold into slavery by the Tuta Ngoni,
The Nyamwezi were disorganised and he later rose over them and reorganised them as a leader
He used the guns he got from coastal Arabs to rise to power.
Prevailing peace in central Tanzania supported his rise to power.
How Mirambo Established and expanded his Urambo Empire
When Mirambo freed himself, he organised a very strong army made up of mercenaries - Rugaruga1. During the 1890, he gained control of the small chiefdom (Ntemi) of his father called Ugowe.
Later, he combined Ugowe with a neighbour chiefdom of Ulianguru belonging to his mother's family and two territories provided him with a nucleus on which he gradually consolidated his power and influence.
Having gained a base, Mirambo started to organise his army and used it to fight his enemies and to strengthen and extend his domination. So, he organised military expeditions against the people of Bulu and Buhu, the Vinza and Tongwe in the West, the Pimbwe and Konongo in the South, the Nyaturu and Iramba in the East, the Sumbwa and Sukuma in the North.
By 1876, he had established his capital of Urambo and his main rival as a market was Unyanyembe which was controlled by the Arabs.
With his empire extended in all directions, he gained control over the territory crossed by the caravan trade route from the coast which on reaching Tabora had branches one to Karagwe, Buganda and Bunyoro and the other which ran to Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika. It was from these two branches he got money from and goods which he used to pay his mercenaries.
He even defeated the Arabs of Tabora in a battle in 1876 and forced them to pay him tribute for using Tabora - Ujiji route. Mirambo by controlling this trade acquired guns which were a vital asset in the expansion of his empire.
Mirambo had unlimited energy as a man and a soldier he had clearness of purpose and courage. He personally led his armies (500 professional fighters and about 7000 other warriors) into war. In addition, Mirambo recruited into his army the youths of the conquered enemies; this added to the military strength.
He was an ambitious, courageous and hardworking man and this enabled him to build his empire. The small weak Ntemiships among the Nyamwezi made the task of conquest an easy one for Mirambo.
Mirambo's other achievement was his relationship with Europeans which was friendly and he extended invitations to the missionaries. He hoped to gain prestige, skill and knowledge. He, therefore, invited them to his empire and they also established stations (missions) in his area.
However, Mirambo's empire was held together with the force of his personality such that when he died in 1884, his brother, Mpanda Shala couldn't run it and so, it fell apart.
The Contribution of Mirambo in the Nyamwezi Society
He built a very strong army using the Rugaruga mercenaries.
He built a small Chiefdom of Ugowe {Uyome) and later acquired Uliankuru from his mother's family.
He expanded the Nyamwezi Empire to Ugowe, Tongwe, Sukuma, and Vinza etc.
He absorbed many conquered youth into his army that made it so strong.
He forced all strangers passing through his country to recognise and to respect him as a ruler.
He obtained tribute from his vassal states which revenue developed the empire.
He participated in the Long Distance Trade and got a lot of wealth.
He acquired guns and gunpowderfrom the coastal Arabs.
He promoted raids to his neighbours using his army.
He promoted agriculture and obtained a lot of food for trade and home consumption.
He developed friendly relations with Europeans and fellow African chiefs.
He welcomed Europeans and invited missionaries to his kingdom.
He created peace and unity among the Nyamwezi that fostered development.
He established his capital at Urambo and developed it into a famous city.
Factors for the collapse of Mirambo's Empire
The death of Mirambo in 1884 left his empire weak and shaky hence it collapsed.
The rise of weak leaders who succeededIVlirambo after his death e.g. Mpandashalo.
The decline of the Long Distance Trade led to the decline of Nyamwezi Empire.
Civil wars from his vassal states weakened the empire and led to its eventual collapse.
Mirarnbo failed to establish a lasting administrative system that could survive after his death.
He lost the taxes he used to collect from traders passing through his country.
His empire had become too large and therefore difficult to manage effectively.
The vassal states become stubborn and refused to pay tribute (taxes).
Mirambo had grown old and weak and therefore unable to manage his empire successfully.
His hired mercenaries the Rugaruga later withdrew and left his empire weak.
The arrival of German rulers in 1884 disorganised the Nyamwezi and led to its collapse.
There was great freedom given to the vassal states. Therefore after Mirambo's death the vassal states broke away.
Mirambo's Dealings with Arabs, Europeans and Mutesa I
In Mirambo's dealings with the Arabs, he demanded transit fee through his empire from Arab and Swahili traders and respect as a great ruler. The Arabs refused to give him both and he closed the caravan routes through his empire for some time until they finally gave in. This was about 1875.
He was at peace with Europeans who visited his court and who went through his empire because this gave him prestige and he hoped to gain from their skills. He therefore extended invitations to the missionaries to establish a mission in his empire.
He tried to establish diplomatic relations with Mutesa I of Buganda but he failed because Mutesa was pre-occupied with the troubles from Egypt during the early 1870s.
However, Mirambo's empire had no tradition. He created no elaborate machinery of administration to leave behind. No wonder therefore that when he died in 1884 his empire crumbled. Each chiefdom began to rule itself.
His Rugaruga mercenaries became wild and began to loot people's property while they killed many people. The Germans who took over Tanzania in 1886 stopped that habit.
Nyungu ya mawe was a one eyed prince born in the royal family of Unyanyembe. He became a very merciless and strict Ukimbu leader who was born in around 1830. Nyungu ya mawe was one of the most outstanding princes of his family. Nyungu ya mawe is a praise name meaning ‘pot of stone', one which does not break even when it falls down.
After Arabs had beheaded the chief of Unyanyembe, Munwa Sele, Nyungu ya mawe was terrified and so in 1865 ran away from home and established himself at Kiwele, south of Unyanyembe, from where he systematically attacked and defeated people of Ukimbu region.
He carried out an expansionist policy using Kiwele as a base and by 1880, he had conquered as far south as Lake Rukwa.
He worked well with the Sangu in the south east and the Nyaturu in the North east. He was therefore one of the Ntemi chiefs of the Nyamwezi. He began ruling during the 1880s
He took advantage just like Mirambo of the disorganisation caused by the Ngoni invaders and by the slave traders to create an empire for himself during the second half of the 19th Century.
He bought fire arms from the coastal traders to fight other Ntemi chiefs who had been weakened by the Ngoni invaders.
He also learnt the Ngoni ways of fighting especially of having a large standing army of mercenaries called Rugaruga which was about 10,000 fighters.
Small chiefdoms, which had a few thousand inhabitants in all, could not stand against such an army.
The empire of Nyungu ya mawe in Nyamwezi had its capital of Kiwele.
Between 1870 and 1880, he controlled the area east and South of Tabora and all the trade routes from the coast to Lake Tanganyika.
Unlike Mirambo, Nyungu ya mawe centralised his administration.
He divided the empire in to seven provinces; each province was ruled by his nominee called Mutwale.
The Vatwale (plural of Mutwale) were directly under him and controlled chiefs within his province.
The Vatwale were especially responsible for trade goods from the chiefdoms which had to be taken to the capital of Kiwele.
Nyungu ya mawe died in 1884 in the same year his comrade Mirambo also died.
He left behind a very big empire which was very well administered.
Because of the central control created by him, the empire did not break up like of that of Mirambo.
His Rugarugas did not break loose into looting and killing people like those of Mirambo.
The empire only broke down when the Germans took over the territory in 1895.
They replaced all the Vatwale with Arab and Swahili Akidas and Jumbes and new chiefs.
1 Rugarugas were Mercenary forces who could be hired to fight for money.
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