Nathaniel Mtui

Nathaniel Mtui was a Tanzanian historian of Chagga origin born in 1892 in the mtaa of Mshiri in Marangu, Kilimanjaro Region, Tanzania. He was a teacher at the Colonial German Lutheran mission in Marangu. He is known for being the first person of Chagga origin to write history of the Chagga people. He wrote the Chaggan history in Kichagga, German, and Swahili from 1913 to 1916.

Nathaniel Mtui attended the Lutheran Mission school in Ashira from 1902, receiving instruction primarily from native teachers as well as missionaries Johannes Schanz, Friedrich Stamberg, and Bruno Gutmann, who taught him singing and scripture. In 1908, he began learning German from Elisabeth Seesemann, to whom he, in turn, taught Kichagga.

As historian

During the German occupation, he wrote for German Lutheran pastors, Johannes Raum and Bruno Gutmann, who then used Mtui's notes for their own books on the Chagga people. During the British occupation Nathaniel was hired by Major Dundas, paying him 16 shillings for each full note book wrote about the Chaggan people. No one knows how many note books Mtui wrote for the 3 men, as many are missing, Gutmann preserved 9 of Mtui's note books. These 9 of Mtui's notebooks focus more on the histories of the central and eastern Chaggaland.

In 1911, Mtui started collecting ethnographic material for missionary Johannes Raum. His work was recommended by Johannes Schanz to Bruno Gutmann, who commissioned Mtui to collect oral historical traditions from southern and south-eastern Kilimanjaro between 1913 and 1919. Mtui documented these traditions in Kichagga, producing nine notebooks totaling approximately 1,000 handwritten pages. These notebooks were later used by Gutmann and Raum in their own publications, sometimes without proper attribution to Mtui.

From 1913, Mtui served as a teacher at the German Lutheran mission in Ashira and Marangu and became the headman of the Mtui clan under Mangi Mlang’a in the same year.

During the British occupation, Mtui was employed by Major Charles Dundas, the British administrator, to gather information about the Chagga past. Mtui visited various chiefdoms, conducting interviews and recording his findings in Swahili for Dundas. He was compensated for each notebook he produced, though the exact number of notebooks is unknown, as many are missing. Gutmann preserved nine of these notebooks, which provide significant insights into the history of the Marangu chiefdom and other regions in central and eastern Kilimanjaro.

In 1924 Nathaniel Mtui together with Joseph Merinyo founded The Kilimanjaro Native Planters Association (KNPA). It began as a cooperative association with the goal of buying and sharing spray equipment, but it swiftly developed into an organization that markets African coffee and serves as the political arm of the mountain's growers. The KNPA vigorously lobbied the British run Moshi district office to defend their water rights, protect their coffee privileges, and give more land for the development of homesteads. They also denied the claims made by the settlers. Nathaniel Mtui died in 1927 at the age of 35.

Personal life and death

In 1922, Nathaniel Mtui married a second wife, leading to his excommunication. After abandoning his second wife in 1926, he was readmitted to his parish. In 1926, he received a scholarship to study in the United Kingdom. However, before he could depart for Britain, he was brutally murdered in early 1927 at the age of 35 while returning home to Mshiri.

Following his death, Mangi Mlang’a's men confiscated all his papers from his residence. The High Court was unable to identify or punish his murderers. The murder of Nathaniel Mtui caused widespread concern throughout the Kilimanjaro region, and his name remains well-known today.Andreas Eckert, ‚Herrschen und Verwalten‘, Oldenbourg München, 2007;
Georg Fritze: ‚Der neue Name. Das neue Leben der Dschaggachristen im Lichte ihrer Taufnamen‘, Leipzig: Ev.-Luth. Mission, 1930)

See also

* The Chagga States

References

People from Kilimanjaro Region
Tanzanian historians
1892 births
1927 deaths
20th-century historians
Historians of Tanzania

{{Africa-historian-stub