From 10th century
Western Tanzania, around the Wembere River
A reconstructed Bantu-speaking society associated with western Tanzania and the Wembere River region. By the first centuries of the second millennium, it had divided into Wembere, Kikimbu, and proto-Wanyamwezi-Wasukuma communities. The society adapted to relatively dry environments, developed greater reliance on grain cultivation, and expanded widely between about 1000 and 1600, reaching the Dodoma area and regions near Lake Victoria.
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The Story
The proto-Takama homeland was placed somewhere west of the Wembere River, in a region receiving approximately 600 to 1000 millimetres of annual rainfall. Such conditions were drier than those of many other Bantu settlement zones. The passage argues that crops inherited from earlier agricultural traditions could not always provide dependable staples there, encouraging a greater reliance on grains among proto-Takama communities.
During the first centuries of the second millennium, the proto-Takama divided into three broad sets of communities. Wembere society emerged among settlers on the dry plateaux east of the river, ancestral Kikimbu communities formed near the upper Wembere, and proto-Wanyamwezi-Wasukuma communities occupied an area to the northwest. Linguistic diversity and loan-word evidence indicate that these developments involved both internal differentiation and interaction with Southern Cushitic populations.
Takama expansion continued throughout the period from 1100 to 1600. Wanyamwezi-Wasukuma communities spread from the shores of Lake Victoria almost as far south as modern Ukimbu by 1600, while some Wakimbu settlers began moving south and southwest. Other Takama settlers moved eastward and merged with Bantu populations in the Dodoma region, making Takama expansion part of the broader demographic transformation of central Tanzania.
From 10th century
Western Tanzania, around the Wembere River
A reconstructed Bantu-speaking society associated with western Tanzania and the Wembere River region. By the first centuries of the second millennium, it had divided into Wembere, Kikimbu, and proto-Wanyamwezi-Wasukuma communities. The society adapted to relatively dry environments, developed greater reliance on grain cultivation, and expanded widely between about 1000 and 1600, reaching the Dodoma area and regions near Lake Victoria.
Continue exploring
The Story
The proto-Takama homeland was placed somewhere west of the Wembere River, in a region receiving approximately 600 to 1000 millimetres of annual rainfall. Such conditions were drier than those of many other Bantu settlement zones. The passage argues that crops inherited from earlier agricultural traditions could not always provide dependable staples there, encouraging a greater reliance on grains among proto-Takama communities.
During the first centuries of the second millennium, the proto-Takama divided into three broad sets of communities. Wembere society emerged among settlers on the dry plateaux east of the river, ancestral Kikimbu communities formed near the upper Wembere, and proto-Wanyamwezi-Wasukuma communities occupied an area to the northwest. Linguistic diversity and loan-word evidence indicate that these developments involved both internal differentiation and interaction with Southern Cushitic populations.
Takama expansion continued throughout the period from 1100 to 1600. Wanyamwezi-Wasukuma communities spread from the shores of Lake Victoria almost as far south as modern Ukimbu by 1600, while some Wakimbu settlers began moving south and southwest. Other Takama settlers moved eastward and merged with Bantu populations in the Dodoma region, making Takama expansion part of the broader demographic transformation of central Tanzania.