Enganglima people
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| (Possibly Nilotic) Possibly Nilotic (including those of ancestral descent) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
 Kenya,  Tanzania | |
| Languages | |
| Possibly Maa and Swahili | |
| Religion | |
| Traditional beliefs and Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Maasai people, Kwavi people, Wakuafi people | |
The Enganglima were historically dominant in the plains of Kenya and Tanzania but were displaced by the Maasai in the early 19th century. |
The Enganglima were a community that occupied and were said to dominate the southern and northern plains of present-day Kenya and Tanzania respectively. They were pushed out of their territory in the early 19th century by the Maasai.[1][2]
Ludwig Krapf recorded accounts of the Engánglima from Lemāsěgnǒt whose father was "Engobore, an Mkuafi of the tribe Engánglima" who had "married a woman in the Interior near Oldoinio eibŏr (white mountain)" by whom he got his son, Lemāsěgnǒt. Krapf notes that Engobore resolved to reside at a place called Muasuni which was situated on the upper course of the Pangani river in the vicinity of the kingdom of Usambara when he returned from the interior. Krapf states that "the reason which had induced Engobore to join the nomadic settlement of the Wakuafi tribe Barrabuyu...was because his own tribe Engánglima had during his stay in the interior been nearly annihilated by the wild Masai".
Territory
Krapf noted that the Enganglima territory;
...occupied the vast territory situated between Usambara, Teita and Ukambani...
— Ludwig Krapf, 1854[1]
Thompson wrote of the 'Wa-kwafi' and their territory which by his description is roughly contiguous with Engánglima territory as mentioned by Krapf. Thompson states that;
The original home of the (Wa-kwafi) was the large district lying between Kilimanjaro, Ugono and Parè on the west, and Teita and U-sambara on the east. This large region is known to the Masai as Mbaravui.
— Thompson, 1883[2]
Furthermore, Maasai sources identify the Enganglima as speakers of a Maa language.[3]
Peoples
Krapf's account of his informant alludes to a corporate identity that he refers to as 'Wakuafi' which had within it at least two sections, that he refers to as Engánglima and Barrabuyu.[1]