The Nyamwezi, or Wanyamwezi, are one of the Bantu groups of East Africa. They are the second-largest ethnic group in Tanzania.[citation needed] The Nyamwezi people's ancestral homeland is in parts of Tabora Region, Singida Region, Shinyanga Region and Katavi Region. The term Nyamwezi is of Swahili origin, and translates as "people of the moon" or "people of the west", the latter being more meaningful to the context.
Historically, there have been five ethnic groups, all of which referring to themselves as Wanyamwezi to outsiders: Kimbu, Konongo, Nyamwezi, Sukuma, and Sumbwa, who were never united. All groups normally merged have broadly similar cultures, but it is an oversimplification to view them as a single group.[1] The Nyamwezi have close ties with the Sukuma and are believed to have been one ethnic group up until the Nyamwezi started their forrays to the Coast for long distance trade. The Sukuma would refer to the Nyamwezi as the Dakama, meaning 'people of the south', and the Dakama would refer to the Sukuma as 'people of the north'. Their homeland is called Unyamwezi, and they speak the language Kinyamwezi, but many also speak Swahili or English.
Ancient Indian texts refer to the Nyamwezi, or 'the men of the moon', a term still in use to identify the Nyamwezi people in Tanzania.[2]
It was only in the 19th century that the name could be found in European literature; the term might include almost anyone from the western plateau. Travel taught them that others called them Nyamwezi, and almost all men accepted the name given to them by the coastal people indicating that the Nyamwezi came from the west. A century later, their land is still called "Greater Unyamwezi", about 35,000 square miles (91,000 km2) of rolling land at an elevation of about 4,000 feet (1,200 m).
^Brandström (1990), Chapter 2: Who is a Sukuma and who is a Nyamwezi?
^W.H. Ingrams (1967), Zanzibar: Its History and Its People, ISBN 978-0714611020, Routledge, pp. 33-35
needed] The Nyamwezipeople's ancestral homeland is in parts of Tabora Region, Singida Region, Shinyanga Region and Katavi Region. The term Nyamwezi is of Swahili...
Look up Nyamwezi in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Nyamwezi may refer to: Nyamwezipeople, of Tanzania Nyamwezi language, their Bantu language This...
ethnic group divided into many smaller groups. Some claim they were a Nyamwezipeople who had moved northwestward to escape Mirambo's raids with the result...
"Nyamwezi | people". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 2020-10-18. Retrieved 2019-11-25. "Cultural Profile of the Datooga People of...
headman or leader of the recently established Nyamwezi colony. The Sandawe so hated Mtoro and the Nyamwezi settlers that they threw them out in 1902, seizing...
679. The name "Tabora" (Nyamwezi language: Matoborwa) meaning sweet potatoes, a common food ingredient among the Nyamwezipeople. Foreigners corrupted the...
Arabs were either Muslim Swahili from the east coast of Africa or Nyamwezipeople, who imitated Arab dress and customs but were rarely Muslims. Mlozi...
the Congo and governor of the Katanga Province, was enthroned by the Nyamwezipeople as the ceremonial King Msiri V. The Sunday morning educational children's...
Wanyamwezi, or "the men of the moon" - a term still in use to identify the Nyamwezipeople in Tanzania. Every major explorer who visited eastern side of Africa...
The Bantu peoples are an ethnolinguistic grouping of approximately 400 distinct native African ethnic groups who speak Bantu languages. The languages...
300,000.[1]. Their name was invented sometime in the 19th century by the Nyamwezi caravans passing through the area while it was still frontier territory...
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...
to travel into the interior until the eighteenth century. By 1800, Nyamwezipeople had begun participating in trade with the coast. Between 1811 and 1820...
experience. The name Nyungu Yamawe is synonymous with the King of the Nyamwezipeople, in the northern part of Tanzania and south-western Uganda. Nyungu...
coast of Africa or Nyamwezipeople from Unyamwezi, who imitated Arab dress and customs but were only rarely Muslim. Other Nyamwezi who had not adopted...
population consists of about 125 ethnic groups. The Sukuma, Nyamwezi, Chagga, and Haya peoples have more than 1 million members each.: 4 Over 100 languages...
Kilimanjaro on their way to conduct business in Pangani, the Kamba, Galla, and Nyamwezi are also familiar with the area. Chief Kivoi, a well-known Kamba trader...
Urambo. The name "Urambo" (Nyamwezi language: ) meaning Home of the Urambo, a 19th century kingdom of the Nyamwezipeople. In the 19th century, Urambo...
Africa, the slaves seized from Zaramo people and other ethnic groups such as Yao, Makonde and Nyamwezipeoples from the mainland and brought to the coastal...
Portuguese–Angolans in the Benguela area, with Tippu Tip in the north and with Nyamwezi and Swahili traders in the east, and indirectly with the Sultan of Zanzibar...
swampy and unhealthy." In the 19th century the inhabitants were called Nyamwezipeople by outsiders, although this term covered various different groups....
Angola and Zanzibar from his capital, at Bunkeya. Msiri and his people were originally Nyamwezi traders from around Tabora who migrated to Katanga to reach...
With Munyigumba's death in 1878 or 1879, a civil war broke out and a Nyamwezi slave, married to Munyigumba's sister, was able to kill Munyigumba's brother...
heart of the Luba people's lands. The Arab-Swahili raids, such as those by Tippu Tip, into Luba people's lands were organized with Nyamwezi subordinates and...
areas further south call themselves Zigula, Makua, Yao, Nyassa, Ngindo, Nyamwezi, Mwera and other names, although the Somalis from Mogadishu called them...
economies depended solely on the trade. African peoples such as the Imbangala of Angola and the Nyamwezi of Tanzania would serve as middlemen or roving...
adversely impact the salt trade. These hostilities were caused by the Nyamwezi, Hehe, among other ethnicities who had rebellious battles with Germany...
quarters, and outbuildings for slaves. The town was surrounded by Nyamwezi villages, whose people provided produce and caravan labor. In this period the Sultan...
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