Countries and Their Cultures: Nyakyusa and Ngonde

The Nyakyusa of southwestern Tanzania are known from missionary and traveler's records since the beginning of European contact with the East African interior in the 1870s. The Nyakyusa are especially noted for their system of "age villages," a residential segregation of generations in adjoining communities, and both the Nyakyusa and the Ngonde, a closely related people of northern Malawi, are known for the "divine" powers of their former chiefs. The ample rainfall of the region makes possible a stable mixed economy of banana, plaintain, and grain cultivation, accompanied by cattle herding. The cash cropping of rice, coffee, and tea has had a profound effect on the local economy.