The Meru (''Wameru'' in Swahili), also known as the ''Va-Rwa'' (''Rwa'' being the root word), are a

Bantu Bantu may refer to: *Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages *Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language * Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle * Black Association for Nationa ...

ethnic group native to the slopes of

Mount Meru Mount Meru (Sanskrit/Pali: मेरु), also known as Sumeru, Sineru or Mahāmeru, is the sacred five-peaked mountain of Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist cosmology and is considered to be the centre of all the physical, metaphysical and spiritu ...

Arusha Region Arusha City is a Tanzanian city and the regional capital of the Arusha Region, with a population of 416,442 plus 323,198 in the surrounding Arusha District Council (2012 census). Located below Mount Meru on the eastern edge of the eastern ...

. The Meru people share the same name with the

Meru people The Meru or Amîîrú (including the Ngaa) are a Bantu ethnic group that inhabit the Meru region of Kenya on the fertile lands of north and eastern slopes of Mount Kenya, in the former Eastern Province of Kenya. The word Meru means Shining ...

of Kenya, but they are completely different ethnic groups each with their own unique history and identity. The Meru people are said to have arrived to the slopes of the great mountain around 800 years ago coming from the

Usambara Mountains The Usambara Mountains of northeastern Tanzania in tropical East Africa, comprise the easternmost ranges of the Eastern Arc Mountains. The ranges of approximately long and about half that wide, are situated in the Lushoto District of the Tan ...

Tanga Region Tanga Region (''Mkoa wa Tanga'' 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 Burundi. The regional capital is the mu ...

. According to the inhabitants, migration occurred back and forth throughout the region, and the Meru people should be viewed as a part of the bigger population inhabiting the entire Kilimanjaro Corridor. Upon arriving at the southeastern slopes of Mount Meru they were met by the

hunter-gatherer A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fung ...

group called the

Koningo The Koningo ( Swahili: Wakinongo) are an extinct Tanzanian ethnic and linguistic group that lived on the slopes of Mount Meru in present day Arusha City District, Meru District and Arusha District of Arusha Region. They were described as a hunter- ...

whom they absorbed into Meru society. The waMeru are known for their intensive agricultural practises. Today many descendants of Meru people still live in their homeland and

and Arumeru District are named in their honor. Upepo wa kisulisuli is named after UMALEE in meru language.

References

Ethnic groups in Tanzania Indigenous peoples of East Africa Indigenous peoples of Arusha Region {{Tanzania-ethno-group-stub