MAASAI OF TANZANIA - PART 1. HISTORY

MAASAI OF AFRICA: NOT MASAI

The Maasai's territory was one of the last parts of East Africa that Europeans ventured into. In the 19th century even the ruthless slave traders' caravans circumvented the Masai territory for fear of encountering these fierce warriors.

Despite their claim over the area though, the Masai are actually relative newcomers to their present lands, with historians estimating their arrival in the area as taking place in the 17th or 18th century, when they forcefully kicked out tribes already there.

At the close of the 19th century though, the Europeans not only moved into the Masai lands, but also brought new diseases into the region. The Maasai were hard hit by rinderpest and smallpox epidemics.
 Severe drought and bloody land disputes further weakened the warrior tribe. Ironically, much of the Masai territory was now reclaimed by the tribes they had displaced a century earlier. This colonial era also appropriated some 50 percent of Masai land for game reserves and settler farms.

Despite the massive loss of land, the area occupied by Maasai today is still among the most extensive of any Tanzanian tribe's. Their territory flows from the Masai steppes of northeast Tanzania to massive parts of the Ngorongoro Highlands and Serengeti Plains.

Today the Masai co-exist peacefully with their local and foreign neighbours. Although their tolerance for other cultures has increased in recent decades they hold onto their traditional lifestyle and display little, if any, interest in changing it.

TO BE CONTINUED.........................................................................................................................