ALTERNATE NAMES: Chaga, Waschagga, Jagga, or Dschagga

LOCATION: Kilimanjaro region in northern Tanzania

POPULATION: 832,420

LANGUAGE: Kichagga; Swahili

RELIGION: Christianity; Islam

A secret network of tunnels and caverns connects the huts where Wa-Chagga (plural of “Chagga”) live. Their conical huts, woven of thatch and sealed with mud, are a little like subway stations in the small settlements where they live on the lower slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

The Chagga people have lived for centuries at the base of Kilimanjaro, yet they formerly had no desire to climb it, believing it was full of evil spirits. They’ve told old stories about people who climbed toward the silver top and never came back, or perhaps returned with their hands and feet deformed by frostbite.

Language The main language spoken by the Chagga people is Kichagga. It has various dialects spoken by Chagga in different regions. Despite these differences in dialect, the Chagga people can understand each another.Almost all Chagga people also speak KiSwahili, the national language in Tanzania. KiSwahili is the language of instruction in primary schools and is used in the work-place. English is the language of instruction in secondary schools and institutions of higher learning.

Folklore Chagga legends center on Ruwa and his power and assistance. Ruwa is the Chagga name for their god, as well as the Chagga word for “sun.” Ruwa is not looked upon as the creator of humankind, but rather as a liberator and provider of sustenance. He is known for his mercy and tolerance when sought by his people. Some Chagga myths concerning Ruwa resemble biblical stories of the Old Testament.In the past, chiefdoms had chiefs who rose to power through war and trading. Some famous past chiefs include Orombo from Kishigonyi, Sina of Kibosho, and Marealle of Marangu.

Religion Christianity was introduced to the Chagga people in the middle of the nineteenth century. By the end of the nineteenth century, both Protestants and Catholics had established missions in the region. With the adoption of Western religions, traditional Chagga beliefs and practices have been reduced or adapted to the new Christian beliefs.Islam was introduced to the Chagga people by early Swahili caravan traders. Islam brought a sense of fellowship not only with the Chagga of different regions, but also with Muslims of other ethnic groups.

Family Life Traditionally, the Chagga marriage ceremony was a long process, starting with betrothal proceedings and continuing long after the couple was married. Bridal payments were made over the wife’s lifetime. Today, Christian couples are married in churches. There is much drinking and feasting throughout the marriage negotiations and celebrations.The groom builds the house where he will live with his wife after marriage. After the birth of the first child, the husband moves into a tenge (hut), and the mother lives with her children. Chagga couples have an average of six children. Great importance is placed on having a son to continue the lineage.

Food The staple food of the Chagga people is bananas. Bananas are also used to make beer, their main beverage. The Chagga plant a variety of food crops, including bananas, millet, maize (corn), beans, and cassava. They also keep cattle, goats, and sheep. Due to limited land holdings and grazing areas, most Chagga people today are forced to purchase meat from butcher shops. Pregnant women eat a diet of milk, sweet potatoes, fat, yams, and butter; these are considered female foods. Bananas and beer are considered male and are not to be eaten by pregnant women.

Cultural Heritage Traditional Chagga instruments include wooden flutes, bells, and drums. Dancing and singing are part of almost every celebration. With exposure to other ethnic groups and Western culture, the Chagga have shown a liking for various types of music. These include Swahili songs produced by various Tanzanian bands, and West and Central African music and dance forms. Reggae, pop, and rap are popular with the youth.The Chagga have rich oral traditions and have managed to record most of their history. They have many legends and songs. Proverbs are used to guide youth and convey wisdom. Crafts and Hobbies Traditionally, the Chagga made their own utensils, mainly from wood. These items included small bowls, huge beer tubs, spoons, and ladles. Iron items included bells, ornaments, hoes, and spears. The Chagga also made their own weapons and animal traps.

Chagga musical instruments include wooden flutes, bells, and drums. Basket weaving was also common. This art is now dying out as more items are bought at local stores.

Compiled from: everyculture.com, somthonsafaries.com

Picture: www.wikipedia.org

However, with the influence of Mwalimu Nyerere, Kiswahili was therefore promoted to unite people from their different tongue as formal medium of communication along with English Language. Massawe are Chagga people; and it is a name of one of the clans in Tanzania, found in the northern part of the country and on the slopes of Mountain Kilimanjaro in the Kilimanjaro region of the country.

Massawe people are now days located in different parts of the country and even in the outside world searching for better lives, serving other people, communities and organizations. It is believed that, their emigration is due to land tenure system of which small peaces of land they inherit from their parents throughout generations made it difficult for them to remain in their motherland due to land scarcity. This scenario also affects other clans like Munishi, Chami, Mushi, and Makishe, located in the Kilimanjaro region. It is also believed that when it was raining, and when snows felled on the grounds they were termed as “Massaawe”, reflecting a huge sound developed while snows were felling down.

On the same note, as the said community of people were very prosperous, famous and very strong in trade, warfare, intellectuals, animal keepers, and traditional healers; as such, the head of the area (the Mangi) named them Massaawe, reflecting on the powerful voice of snows when felled down!

To date, the term has been shorten from “Massaawe” to “Massawe”, may be because of pronunciation problems or other reasons; studies does not indicate anything on its reality. In the present time, some people whom have happened to like the name, have decided to name their children Massawe, knowing or unknowingly that it was meant to be one of the Clans’ names from northern parts of Tanzania.

Picture; africatravelwaves.com

It was formed 750, 000 years ago and is made up of three extinct volcanoes – Kibo (5 895m), Mawenzi (5 149m) and the Shira Plateau (3 962m). Kibo is the best preserved centre; it has three concentric craters and the outer crater rim rises to Uhuru Point – the chief summit.

Mount Kilimanjaro is divided into five distinct zones, starting with cultivated farmlands on the lowest levels. Higher up is the rainforest zone, followed by heath and moorland with alpine vegetation. Just before the barren, snowy summit is highland desert. Compared to Mt. Kenya Africa’s highest mountain Kilimanjaro is arelatively easy climb and the main summit of Uhuru peak (5895m) can bereached by most climbers.

The mountain, though the highest is relativelya boring climb with not much scenery or change in landscape. The origin of the name Kilimanjaro still remains a mystery and is thought mean agreat hill in Kiswahili. It is also thought that Mount Kilimanjaro once belonged to Kenya up until the division of the British empire in eastAfrica when the Queen of England altered the border of the two nations toaccommodate the mountain onto Tanzania.

After that local history has itthat the presidents of the two nations agreed on a trade; MountKilimanjaro will be part of Kenya if Kenya hand over Mombasa to Tanzaniawhich did not happen as Kenya would loose a strategic port and its secondlargest city.

source:

http://www.mountkenya.org/

 http://www.kenya-safari-wildlife.com/

The authors note that the recent, dramatic decline in Kilimanjaro’s ice cap is particularly remarkable given its persistence through many previous shifts in climate, including a severe 300-year-long drought that impacted human populations living in the area about 4,000 years ago.

The images above show two perspective views of Mt. Kilimanjaro on Feb. 17, 1993 (top), and on Feb. 21, 2000 (bottom). These images were acquired by the Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 satellites, respectively. The scenes show heavily vegetated terrain (green colors) around the foot of Kilimanjaro, while the vegetation is relatively sparse up the flanks of the 5,895-meter-tall (19,335-foot) stratovolcano.

The light browns at higher elevations show mostly rock and bare land surface, revealing the crisscrossing drainage patterns etched into Kilimanjaro’s face over the millennia by rain and snowmelt. Here, the images have been draped over a digital elevation model to give a better sense of the mountain’s three-dimensional shape.

It should be noted that the differences in the summit’s appearance in these scenes are due in large part to seasonal variations in snow cover. It is not possible to distinguish seasonal snow from ice in these images, so they cannot be used as an indication of the rate of the loss of ice.

The earliest well-documented map of the ice fields atop Kilimanjaro was made in 1912. At least four surveys made since 1912 reveal there has been an ongoing decline in the extent of the ice. Images courtesy Jim Williams,

Initially, these new immigrants were a disparate bunch, with different beliefs, customs and even languages. With no feelings of kinship or loyalty to their neighbour, they instead settled into family groups known as clans.

According to Dundas, in his day some 732 clans existed on Kilimanjaro; by 1924, however, when his book was published, some of these clans were already down to just a single member.

These family ties were gradually cut and lost over time as people moved away to settle on other parts of the mountain. Thus, in place of these blood ties, people developed new loyalties to the region in which they were living and the neighbours with whom they shared the land. Out of this emerged twenty or so states or chiefdoms, most of them on a permanent war footing with the other nineteen. Wars between the tribes, and indeed between villages in the same tribe, were commonplace, though they usually took the form of organized raids by one village on another rather than actual pitched battles. Slaves would be taken during these raids, cattle rustled and huts burned down, though there was often little bloodshed — the weaker party would merely withdraw at the first sign of approaching hostilities and might even try to negotiate a price for peace.

Eventually the number of different groups was whittled down to just six tribes, or states, with each named after one of the mountain’s rivers. So, for example, there are the Wamoshi Chaggas (after the Moshi River) and the Wamachame Chaggas who settled near the Machame River. With all this intermingling going on, a few words inevitably became used by all the people living on the mountain — and from this unlikely start grew a common language, of which each tribe had its own dialect. Similar customs developed between the tribes, though as with the language they differed in the detail. However, it was only when the Germans took control of the region during the latter part of the nineteenth century and the local people put aside their differences to present a united front in disputes with their colonial overlords that a single ethnic group was identified and named the Chagga. From this evolved a single, collective Chagga consciousness.

Today the Chaggas, despite their diverse origins, are renowned for having a strong sense of identity and pride. They are also amongst the richest and most powerful people in Tanzania, thanks in part to the fertile soils of Kilimanjaro, and in part to the Western education that they have been receiving for longer than almost any other tribe in Africa, Kilimanjaro being one of the first places to accept missionaries from Europe.

http://www.climbmountkilimanjaro.com/