Unyanyembe is a town in

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

(formerly

German East Africa German East Africa (GEA; ) was a German colonial empire, German colony in the African Great Lakes region, which included present-day Burundi, Rwanda, the Tanzania mainland, and the Kionga Triangle, a small region later incorporated into Portugu ...

) near Mwadui Airport in

Shinyanga Region Shinyanga Region (''Mkoa wa Shinyanga'' in Swahili language, Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative Regions of Tanzania, regions. The region covers a land area of . The region is comparable in size to the combined land area of the nati ...

. It was one of the locations visited by

Henry Morton Stanley Sir Henry Morton Stanley (born John Rowlands; 28 January 1841 – 10 May 1904) was a Welsh-American explorer, journalist, soldier, colonial administrator, author, and politician famous for his exploration of Central Africa and search for missi ...

during his search for

Dr Livingstone David Livingstone (; 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, and an explorer in Africa. Livingstone was married to Mary Moffat Livings ...

. In the 19th-century it was the headquarters of a kingdom that controlled

Tabora Tabora is the capital of Tanzania's Tabora Region and is classified as a municipality by the Tanzanian government. It is also the administrative seat of Tabora Urban District. According to the 2012 census, the district had a population of 226, ...

as well as other areas. (

David Livingstone David Livingstone (; 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, and an explorer in Africa. Livingstone was married to Mary Moffat Livings ...

was there in 1872, and borrowed a pocket chronometer, witness the document at the right.)

Kingdom of Unyanyembe

Unyanyembe was a 19th-century kingdom where the main ethnic group was known as the Nyamwezi, although many other ethnic groups were present as well. Ifundikila (reigned 1840–1858) was a king of Unyanyembe who oversaw major cooperation with a large Arab-Swahili commercial class in his kingdom. The two main bases of this population were Tabora and Kwihara. According to descriptions left by Sir Richard Burton this population had large gardens, large numbers of slaves and concubines, and in some cases controlled private armies sometimes numbering up to 300 people. One of the most prominent Arabs, Mohammad ibn Juma, married one of Ifundikila's daughters. However it needs to be kept in mind that the Arabs and Swahili's were a foreign commercial class, they did not exercise political control in the kingdom. The next king of Unyanyembe was Mnywasela. He was able to come to power in large part due to support of the Swahilis and Arabs. He expelled his main rival for the throne, Mkasiwa from the kingdom. After a few years the people of Unyanyembe tried of Mnywasela's rule, and a faction worked to return Mkasiwa from his exile in the Kingdom of Ulyankhulu. 1860 saw this struggle escalate to the point that Mnywasela was driven from power and Mkasiwa made the new ruler. The next four years saw persistent fighting as Mnywasela tried to regain power, but Mksaiwa was able to retain his power. In 1875 Mkasiwa was succeeded as king by Isike. From 1871 to 1884 Unyanyembe was involved in a war with Urambo. This was fought because Urambo's ruler,

Mirambo Mtyela Kasanda (c. 1840–1884), better known as King Mirambo, was a Nyamwezi king, from 1860 to 1884. He created the largest state by area in 19th-century East Africa in present-day Urambo district in Tabora Region of Tanzania. Urambo district ...

, had extended his power to control the main routes of trade between Unyanyembe and the Swahili coast, and both the Arab-Swahili merchants and the Nyamwezi objected to his transit fees. During this war the Barghash the Sultan of Zanzibar sent a force of 3,000 to fight on the side of Unanyembe. Prior to the war he had also appointed a consul of Zanzibar to be based in Tabora. Unyanyembe also had a large population of the Tutsi in the 19th century. Although they came primarily as herdsmen, many were recruited into the army for the war against Urambo''Cambridge History of Africa'', Vol. 5, pp. 306–309

References

Populated places in Shinyanga Region Former countries in Africa

Kingdom of Unyanyembe

See also

References