The Kinga are an ethnic and linguistic group native to

Mbeya Region Mbeya Region (''Mkoa wa Mbeya'' in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The region covers an area of . The region is comparable in size to the combined land area of the nation state of Guinea Bissau. Mbeya Region is borde ...

and

Njombe Region Njombe Region (''Mkoa wa Njombe'' in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The region covers a land area of . The region is comparable in size to the combined land area of the nation state of El Salvador. Njombe Region is bor ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

, in the great

Kipengere Range The Kipengere Range, also known as the Livingstone Mountains, lies entirely in Njombe Region in southwest Tanzania at the northern end of Lake Nyasa. Near Lake Nyasa they are known as the Kinga Mountains. It is a plateau-like ridge of mountains r ...

northeast of

Lake Malawi Lake Malawi, also known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Lago Niassa in Mozambique, is an African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the East African Rift system, located between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. It is the fifth largest fr ...

. In 2003 the Kinga population was estimated to number 140,000.

Background

They are said to have originated from South Africa, then moved to Ruvuma, then finally settled in Makete Iringa. The Kinga are primarily agriculturists with millet, beans,

bananas A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...

, cultivating bamboo for a strong good beer, and finally in 1905, growing wheat and potatoes. They inhabited the

to a height of 10,000 feet and maintained a moderate amount of

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...

but mostly

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated ...

and

goats The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of th ...

. The Nyakyusa, who are the Wakinga's closest neighbors, consider the Kinga to be distinct and different. According to them, the Kinga are warriors who were good enough to fight with in the

Konde Revolt The Nyakyusa (also called the Sokile, Ngonde or Nkonde) are a Bantu ethnolinguistic group who live in the fertile mountains of southern Tanzania. They speak the Nyakyusa language, a member of the Bantu language family. In 1993 the Nyakusa population ...

against the Germans, and are eager to acquire Kinga iron implements in exchange for food, cattle's etc.

Metalwork

The Nyakyusa considered iron a scarce and precious commodity normally needing the secret skills of the Kinga smiths. With the invasion of the Ngoni the Nyakyusa found their wood-tipped

spear A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fasten ...

s to be ineffective against tough shields and went to the Kinga for well-made iron-tipped spears.

Iron Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundanc ...

, melting at about 2,804 °F, was heated to about 2,200 °F and then layered in charcoal until the slag drained off. The remainder was a solid spongy mass called bloom, which was then reheated and hammered in a forge with no guarantee of success. Each operation required the building of a new furnace with demands on charcoal, labor, and skills. The production of only three hoes or spears may have needed a ton of charcoal and a long

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

. It also required a vast amount of wood. The Nyakyusa contributed by making the shields.

Beliefs

Kinga priests claimed they belonged to an ancient heritage, a line older than their chiefs. The priests also seemed to interpret subterranean water movement (much as a Rutengänger). The Nyakyusa would watch with fear and dismay as these pilgrims descended the mountain paths each year heading for 'Lwenbe's' shrine.

Characteristics

The Kinga were to be found in hidden areas, probably having been driven there by the Magwangwara Ngoni, and then the Wasangu, and even the Hehe, and were not easily located. They had little interaction with their neighbors, and felt comfortable only in their mountains. While they provided early warning posts against invasion of the Nyakyusa territory from the south and east, the Nyakyusa were not thankful, and generally held the Kinga in contempt.

Alexander Merensky Alexander Merensky (8 June 1837 in Panten near Liegnitz – 22 May 1918 in Berlin) was a German missionary, working in South Africa (Transvaal) since 1859. Life Alexander was orphaned early in life and grew up among relatives. In 1855, he ...

describes them as having no particular physical type, their facial features and physique all being different. He thought them a mixed group of runaway slaves hiding in the mountains. Merensky found only one common characteristic: due to their mountain climbing the muscles on their legs were very well developed and they had acquired a distinct type of

jogging Jogging is a form of trotting or running at a slow or leisurely pace. The main intention is to increase physical fitness with less stress on the body than from faster running but more than walking, or to maintain a steady speed for longer periods ...

while going up and down these heights. Merensky, like the Nyakyusa, found them personally dirty and their homesteads of cylindrical and conical shaped

huts A hut is a small dwelling, which may be constructed of various local materials. Huts are a type of vernacular architecture because they are built of readily available materials such as wood, snow, ice, stone, grass, palm leaves, branches, hid ...

disorderly and surrounded by hedges of thorn. Seemingly they were adept only at navigating their mountains and skillfully creating beautiful hoes, knives, iron spears, and a very pleasing

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

from

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...

, which was plentiful in their area. Kinga are found within Njombe region not but not Iringa, also is better to include a number of kinga name to be included in Swahili language

Demographics

The Kinga speak the Kinga language almost exclusively at home. They usually know Swahili, but are not fluent. 57,000 Kinga live in the Makete district, the rest in the

Iringa Region Iringa Region (''Mkoa wa Iringa'' in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The region covers an area of . The region is comparable in size to the combined land area of the nation state of Guinea Bissau. Iringa Region is borde ...

of the

References

* Bauer, Andreus. (The Emperial Rugaruga Raise the Flag of War) * Iliffe, John. (A History of Modern Tanzania) * Merensky, A. (Deutsche Arbeit am Nyaßa) * Reader, John. (Africa) * Tew, Mary. (People of the Lake Nyasa Area) * Weule, Karl. (Deutsches Kolonial Lexikon, Band III, S. 660) * Wilson, Monica. (Good Company)

Notes

{{authority control Ethnic groups in Tanzania