| Group: | Gogo |
| Native Name: | Wagogo |
| Population: | 1,300,000 (1992) |
| Popplace: |
(Bahi District), (Dodoma District), (Chamwino District), (Kongwa District) & (Mpwapwa District) |
| Languages: | Gogo language & Swahili |
| Related: | Nyamwezi, Kaguru, Sagara & other Bantu peoples |
The Gogo also known as Gongwe(Wagogo, in Swahili) are a Bantu ethnic and linguistic group based in the Dodoma Region of central Tanzania. In 1992 the Gogo population was estimated to number 1,300,000.http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=gog.
Their name was invented sometime in the 19th century by the Nyamwezi caravans passing through the area while it was still frontier territory. Richard Francis Burton claimed a very small population for it, saying only that a person could walk for two weeks and find only scattered Tembes. There was and remains the problem of inadequate rain for crops and humans, the rainy season being short and erratic with frequent drought.[1] In the 18th century the Wagogo were mostly pioneer colonists from Unyamwezi and Uhehe, and are often confused with the Sandawe and the Kaguru. Half the ruling group came from Uhehe. They had a long tradition of hunting and gathering, allowing the Nyamwezi to carry the ivory to the coast, but had become agriculturalists with cattle by 1890. They continued, however, to have a low regard for working the land and are said to have treated their agricultural slaves badly.[2]
The Wagogo experienced famine in 1881, 1885, and 1888–89 (just before Stokes' caravan arrived) and then again in 1894–95, and 1913–14. The main reason for the exceptional series of famines in Ugogo was its unreliable rainfall and the ensuing series of droughts.[3]
Kimbu and Nyamwezi colonists gradually colonized the dry plains west and east of Ugogo, which travelers on the principal road most feared. Central Tanganyika saw the growth of Nyamwezi towns, and numerous Gogo chiefs had Nyamwezi advisors.[4]
More people learned Swahili than learned Islam through the caravan trade of the 19th century. It was commonly spoken by Sagara and Gogo in the 1850s, according to Burton, who also noted that "almost every inland tribe has some vagrant man who can speak it."[5]
During the European exploration of Tanzania, Ugogo was used as a route west. During on such expedition, a second column marched up the central caravan route towards the western plateau as Wissmann worked in the northeast. Emin Pasha, an eccentric Austrian doctor, served as its leader. He was given orders to "break or undermine Arab influence," build a German base on Lake Victoria, and be prepared to intervene in Burundi if necessary. Before he arrived, the Germans handed over control of Uganda to the British. Emin disregarded his orders and instead left "everything in chaos from Mpwapwa to Karagwe." He crossed Ugogo after leaving Bagamoyo in April 1890, razing 19 villages and stealing about 2,000 animals after an askari was killed as a result of a chief's demand for tolls.[6]
After the German invasion of the 1880s, missionary efforts increased. The Holy Ghost Fathers, the eldest of the five already existing societies, expanded their mission from Bagamoyo's hinterland to Kilimanjaro (1891), Usambara (1907), and Ugogo (1910). In the 1890s, the White Fathers occupied the Rukwa valley, Usumbwa, and Buhaya. The next decade saw their expansion to Ufipa, Buha, Mbulu, and in the direction of Lake Nyasa from their initial bases in Karema, Tabora, and Bukumbi. The pace of Protestant societies was slower. Between Bonde and Uzigua, the UMCA expanded its operations. The CMS prioritized Uganda, giving up its station atop Mount Kilimanjaro and keeping only a little area in Ukaguru and Ugogo.[7] Eight teachers were dispatched to Uvidunda by the Roman Catholic community in Ilonga in 1910. They dispatched 39 Christians the following year to launch a mission in Kibakwe, and 14 more in 1912 to teach in Ugogo. Ugogo's proselytizing revealed the catechist's true worth. When the Roman Catholic mission there was established in 1909, catechists were chosen from all of the colony's more established mission locations. They opened 91 schools with 4,000 students in under five years.[8]
One common memory of Tanzanians from the First World War is the starvation. Food was in low supply in towns early in the battle as imports were stopped, military needs increased, and prices went up. Requisitioning and drought in 1915 caused a limited famine in the Makonde plateau, the north-east, Ufiome, and parts of Ugogo and Ulanga. During 1916, the situation in these locations deteriorated. In the Masasi District near Luatala that year, 800 people died. Labor required to cultivate land reduced as the demand for porters increased.[9]
By 1917, both sides were systematically taking animals and destroying any grain they couldn't eat. They may have taken nearly a fifth of Tanganyika's four million livestock reserve for famine. In 1917, Lettow-Vorbeck left famine behind as he departed the Rufiji Valley, Mahenge, and the south. But this was just the start of the disaster. It arrived in 1918 and was particularly bad in the famine-prone regions of Dodoma, Kondoa, and Singida. The British district officer in Dodoma reported in December 1916 that "the entire District has been ransacked for cattle."[10]
The British obtained an additional 5,659 animals in just five months, in addition to 24,000 porters and about 100 tonnes of grain, whereas the Germans had acquired 26,000 animals. Throughout 1917, requisitioning continued, although local officers denied any signs of calamity. It was explained that food was being forcedly collected because Gogo had no use for money, but people were "merely resigned" and famine was improbable. When the rains stopped in November 1917, the entire central region went through three years of mutunya the "scramble for food," the worst famine in recorded history—as its supplies were depleted. According to one estimate, Dodoma district alone saw 30,000 deaths, or nearly one in every five people. Many people migrated. In the Dodoma market, others offered starving calves for sale for one shilling each.[11]
The Central Province, particularly Ugogo and Uzigua, frequently suffered from starvation. In 1919–21, 1925–6, 1928–30, 1932–5, 1937, and 1939, Ugogo and Uzigua both had food shortages. Drought was the main factor in both regions, which was made worse by yearly infestations of locusts in the 1930s. Both Ugogo and Uzigua have a long history of hunger, extremely unpredictable rainfall, the ability to export grain in good years, and an inability or reluctance to grow crops that can withstand drought, such as manioc. While Ugogo was endangered by tsetse and purposefully cut off from territory matters by a conservative provincial commissioner, Uzigua had also lost its livestock reserve to the disease.[12]
However, territorial hunger returned to Tanganyika in 1943. It started in Ugogo as normal and was mostly caused by drought; nevertheless, drought generates hunger when reserves are low, recuperative abilities are limited, outside assistance is difficult to obtain, and transportation and communications are broken. In each of these ways, the hunger was made more widespread, severe, and extended by the conflict. The government pushed the growing of drought-prone maize rather than drought-resistant millet and encouraged the export of food and animals for military use.[13]
The Gogo endured more hardship in 1946. "Morale is high and it is felt that now that the war is over, the period of famine is over until the next war," their district officer stated the following year.[14]
Wagogo clans moved around a good deal, dropping ties to older groupings, adopting new links and family, new clan names, things to avoid, affiliations, and new ritual functions. The Gogo, in short, became different from what they were before.
While early European writers emphasised the political chiefs of the Wagogo, calling them 'Sultans' as was customary on the coast, and stressed their collection of the very profitable taxes (hongo), on scarce food and water, it was really the ritual leaders who influenced the entire country. They controlled rainmaking and fertility, medicines to protect against natural disasters or hazards, and prevented certain resources from being overly used. They were not to leave their "country," they were to be rich in cattle, decided on circumcision and initiation ceremonies, give supernatural protection for all undertakings and be arbitrators in homicide, witchcraft accusations, and serious assault.
The Wagogo placed considerable value on neighbourliness. After having his physical needs met, a strange traveller would be accompanied many miles by the young men of a homestead in order to place him safely on his way. The homestead group was so fundamental to Gogo society that people who had died peculiarly, (struck down by lightning or a contagious disease) were thrown into the bush or the trunk of a baobab tree, for such a person had no homestead and could become an "evil spirit" who associated with sorcerers or witches.
Most brothers went to great lengths to assist their sisters, who often lived with their brothers in sickness until they recovered, for brothers have strong moral and legal obligations to fulfil these duties in cooperation with their sisters' husbands. Even later in life, sisters and brothers continue to visit each other, a wife never being fully incorporated into her husband's group.
While the majority of Wagogo have only one wife at any given time, most found polygyny to be highly valued and carrying a high priority. It was the prerogative of older, well-established men. A reasonably prosperous man could hope to have two and sometimes three wives, and sometimes together.
Most marriages took place within a day's walking distance after agreement was reached on the number of livestock to be included in the bridewealth, only then is the transfer made. Even a hundred years later, bridewealth is still normally given entirely in livestock and a high proportion of court cases involve the payment or return of the brideprice. Even after divorce, all children born during the marriage belonged to the ex-husband, "where the cattle came from." "If you go somewhere and marry the child of others, then all your wife's relatives become your relatives, because you have married the child, and so you will love even them.("From Rigby's book Cattle and Kinship") Lovers of married women could never, however, claim their offspring. If a husband had given the brideprice for his wife who was pregnant before he married her, he must still accept paternity of the child.
Defence against the Kisongo, Maasai, and Wahehe was organized and based on age groups of warriors, much as the Maasai. This "military" organization was mostly used for local defence, although it could be used for cattle raids against others. When an alarm was sounded all able-bodied men were to take up arms and run towards the call (this did not always work smoothly).
The Wagogo have produced some of the big names in Tanzanian Politics, Music and Society.
Environmental Management Scientist, Water Sanitation and Hygiene Expert and Activist, Public Health and Toxicology Researcher; worked as Program Manager - Malaria and Child Health in PSI Tanzania; Theologian and Canon of the Anglican Church of Tanzania, Gospel Musician. Also worked with Amref Health Africa as WASH Expert and currently he is the C.E.O of Chiwanga Enterprises Ltd; an Executive Director of the Integrated Rural Development Organization (IRDO). He is also the current Chairman of the Songwe River Basin Commission.