Matumbi Erotic

The Matumbi take their name from the hills they live in. The Matumbi Hills rise inland from the Indian Ocean coast of southeastern Tanzania, in Kilwa District of Lindi Region, between the Rufiji River lowlands to the north and the old trading town of Kilwa to the south. It is broken, wooded upland country, and for generations it kept the people farming it at a distance from whoever held the coast, whether Swahili and Arab caravan traders or German officials. Being people of the hills is still the heart of what it means to be Matumbi.

That distance ended in 1905. The German colonial government had forced communal cotton growing on the region, run by appointed agents who worked people hard for almost no return. In July of that year, villagers at Nandete pulled up the cotton plants. That act grew into the Maji Maji War, one of the largest uprisings against colonial rule in Africa. The prophet at its center was Kinjikitile Ngwale of Ngarambe, near the hills, who handed out maji, a water medicine said to turn German bullets into water. The medicine failed. The Germans answered by burning villages and seizing harvests, and famine spread across the south. Tanzania now teaches the war as an early act of national resistance, and it remembers the Matumbi Hills as the place where it began.

Kimatumbi, the Matumbi language, is a Bantu language closely related to those of the neighboring Ndengereko, Rufiji and Ngindo. It is also better known abroad than its number of speakers would suggest: a detailed study of its tones and sound system made it a much-cited example among linguists who work on Bantu languages. At home, Swahili is the language of school, trade and government, and most Matumbi switch between the two easily. In families that have moved to Dar es Salaam, Swahili tends to take over.

Islam is the majority faith. It spread inland from the Swahili coast and shapes the rhythm of the year, from Ramadan to the customs around weddings and funerals. A Christian minority grew out of mission work in the hills. Older ideas about ancestral spirits and healing have not disappeared, and the Maji Maji story shows how much force they once had. Most rural families still farm, growing cassava, maize, rice and sesame on hillside plots, and cashew trees bring in cash across the district.