Nyakyusa

Nyakyusa, Bantu-speaking people living in Mbeya region, Tanzania, immediately north of Lake Nyasa, and in Malaŵi. Their country comprises alluvial flats near the lake and the mountainous country beyond for about 40 miles (65 km). Those living in Malaŵi are called Ngonde (or Nkonde).

Plantains are the Nyakyusa’s traditional staple food, augmented with corn (maize), millet, beans, and some milk. Rice and coffee have become the principal cash crops. Cattle assume exceptional importance in the local economies. Men and women share equally in the field labour; men alone, however, are responsible for tending the herd.

Traditionally the Nyakyusa lived in unique age villages: between the ages of 11 and 13 all the boys of a district left their paternal homes and established a new hamlet of their own, eventually marrying and bringing their wives there. Each hamlet had a headman, or “great commoner,” selected by the paramount chief of the district. A village died as its founders died in old age. A number of villages constituted an independent chiefdom of a few thousand people. A district chief was succeeded by two sons, the firstborn of his two “great wives.” Succession occurred when the sons were about 35 years old; the chief retired in a great ceremony, dividing his territory between the two sons and assigning definite tracts of land to each recently established village. Old villages might even shift off their land to make room for the villages of their sons. With the modern land shortage the older men are no longer willing to shift, and new age villages seldom become established.

Polygyny was traditional among the Nyakyusa, with a substantial bride-price expected. Slavery was formerly an accepted institution. Ancestor cults were the main feature of traditional religion.