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.........................................................................................................................
