The Kwere also known as Ngh'wele (''Wakwere'' in
Swahili) are a
matrilineal
Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline – their mother's lineage – and which can involve the inheritance ...
ethnic and linguistic group native to
Bagamoyo District and
Chalinze District
Chalinze (''Wilaya ya Chalinze'' in Swahili) is one of nine administrative districts of Pwani Region in Tanzania. The district covers an area of . The district is comparable in size to the land area of Puerto Rico. Chalinze District is bordere ...
in
Pwani Region
Pwani Region (''Mkoa wa Pwani'' in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The word "''Pwani''" in Swahili means the "''coast''". The regional capital is the town of Kibaha. The Region borders the Tanga Region to the north, M ...
of coastal
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 ...
. The primary language spoken is
Ngh'wele, called Kikwere in
Swahili. The most famous person of Kwere descent is former President of Tanzania
Jakaya Kikwete
Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete (born 7 October 1950) is a Tanzanian politician who was the fourth president of Tanzania, in office from 2005 to 2015. Prior to his election as president, he was the Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1995 to 2005 under hi ...
.
History
In 1987, the Kwere population was estimated to number 98,000. The government of Tanzania released data for the 2012 census, but it was not by ethnic group and such detail may not be published in the near future. In the country's 1967 population census, 48,132 people on the mainland identified themselves as belonging to the Ngh’wele ethnic group. The overwhelming majority of them lived in their traditional residential areas in Bagamoyo district (35,404 people), with another 3,857 people living in neighboring Kisarawe district. In addition, small groups of Ngh’wele people were said to be residents of the
Morogoro Region
Morogoro Region (''Mkoa wa Morogoro'' 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 Ireland. Morogoro Region is border ...
(3,764) and
Dar es Salaam (2,902). Reliable census data since 1967 are not available, as subsequent government demographic collections no longer record ethnicity.
The total population of the Pwani Region for 2012 was 1,098,668. In the past, the overwhelming majority of the Kwere lived in their traditional residential areas in
Bagamoyo district on the coast.
Culture
The pervasive dominance of the Swahili language in coastal affairs throughout East Africa for many centuries have led to most peoples indigenous in the area to be at least bilingual, the Ngh'were are no different. This was confirmed in 2002 by Bagamoyo elders who attended a conference held in the city championing its nomination as a
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
World Heritage site. In 2011, Bagamoyo was reported as the recipient of Tanzania’s seventh world heritage site. What impact this award will have on Ngh'were residency in the city is not yet known, but the tour handlers are advertising globally.
World Heritage tours to Tanzania
/ref>
References
Ethnic groups in Tanzania
Indigenous peoples of East Africa
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