Home Region:  East Africa (Africa)

Fipa

1600 CE 1890 CE

G SC New EA  tz_milansi_k / Milansi



Preceding Entity:
No Polity found. Add one here.

Succeeding Entity:
No Polity found. Add one here.

No General Descriptions provided.

General Variables
Social Complexity Variables
Warfare Variables (Military Technologies)
Fortifications
Military use of Metals
Projectiles
Handheld weapons
Animals used in warfare
Armor
Naval technology
Religion Tolerance Coding in Progress.
Human Sacrifice Coding in Progress.
Crisis Consequences Coding in Progress.
Power Transitions Coding in Progress.

NGA Settlements:

Year Range Fipa (tz_milansi_k) was in:
Home NGA: None

General Variables
Identity and Location
Utm Zone:
37 S

Original Name:
Fipa

"The Fipa lived on the south-western rim of the plateau. During the previous centuries the established population had been augmented by immigrants from the west, from Luba country in modern Zaire, who created several ritual chieftainships. The central one - Milansi,’the eternal village* -was headed by a dynasty of ironsmiths. Some-what later these dynasties were superseded by new immigrants, of unknown origin, named Twa. Organised as a single clan, in contrast to Fipa neighbourhoods, the Twa usurped power by force and cunning and established themselves as an aristocracy. The Milansi dynasty retained ritual power and the right to install the Twa chief, but the Twa exercised a territorial, administrative authority through appointed officials who transmitted orders to elected village headmen.While originating from the mingling of peoples, the Fipa state - for here the word is legitimate - was more stratified, had more precise borders, and was governed in a more strictly administrative manner than the other polities of the plateau." [1]

[1]: (Iliffe 1979: 24) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SB2AJMVC/collection.


Alternative Name:
Milansi

Temporal Bounds
Duration:
[1600 CE ➜ 1890 CE]
 

Start date: "The Fipa oral traditions place the origins of the political history of the Fipa at the coming of Ntatakwa, the founder of the Milansi chiefdom, matched in calendar time to around the late 17th century A.D." [1] End date: "Two broad phases of district administration can be identified in German times. In the 1890s its aims were military security and political control and its methods were violence and alliance with accommodating African leaders. [...] These ’local compromises’, as they may be called, had common characteristics. The administration’s demands were small: recognition of German paramountcy, provision of labour and building materials, use of diplomacy rather than force in settling disputes. In return the Germans offered equally limited advantages: normally only political and military support for their allies. The relationship demanded little change in the societies concerned. Stateless peoples had to accept headmen. Many chiefdoms had to accept changes in leadership. But even those who allied with the Germans generally saw them as a new factor in existing conflicts, not yet as making those conflicts redundant. [...] The imposition of tax in 1898, together with Mkwawa’s death, initiated a transition to a second phase of administration whose chief characteristic was the collapse of the local compromises established in the 1890s. The old collaborators did not necessarily lose power, but to survive they had to adapt themselves and often to reorganise their societies. [...] Some Haya chiefs were especially successful at this, for they controlledelaborate administrative systems which the Germans were anxious to preserve. Kahigi of Kianja survived by loyal and efficient rule andactive support for economic development, although he opposed education and mission work. His rival, Mutahangarwa of Kiziba, took adaptation further and actively welcomed education, thus giving Kiziba a lead over the rest of Buhaya, although he refused to become a Christian himself and disinherited his eldest son for doing so." [2]

[1]: (Mapunda 2009: 86) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/9GV5C5NF/collection.

[2]: (Iliffe 1979: 119-121) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SB2AJMVC/collection.


Political and Cultural Relations
Supracultural Entity:
East African Interlacustrine States

Succeeding Entity:
German Empire

"Two broad phases of district administration can be identified in German times. In the 1890s its aims were military security and political control and its methods were violence and alliance with accommodating African leaders. [...] These ’local compromises’, as they may be called, had common characteristics. The administration’s demands were small: recognition of German paramountcy, provision of labour and building materials, use of diplomacy rather than force in settling disputes. In return the Germans offered equally limited advantages: normally only political and military support for their allies. The relationship demanded little change in the societies concerned. Stateless peoples had to accept headmen. Many chiefdoms had to accept changes in leadership. But even those who allied with the Germans generally saw them as a new factor in existing conflicts, not yet as making those conflicts redundant. [...] The imposition of tax in 1898, together with Mkwawa’s death, initiated a transition to a second phase of administration whose chief characteristic was the collapse of the local compromises established in the 1890s. The old collaborators did not necessarily lose power, but to survive they had to adapt themselves and often to reorganise their societies. [...] Some Haya chiefs were especially successful at this, for they controlledelaborate administrative systems which the Germans were anxious to preserve. Kahigi of Kianja survived by loyal and efficient rule andactive support for economic development, although he opposed education and mission work. His rival, Mutahangarwa of Kiziba, took adaptation further and actively welcomed education, thus giving Kiziba a lead over the rest of Buhaya, although he refused to become a Christian himself and disinherited his eldest son for doing so." [1]

[1]: (Iliffe 1979: 119-121) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SB2AJMVC/collection.


Language
Linguistic Family:
Niger-Congo

Language:
Fipa

Religion

Social Complexity Variables
Social Scale
Population of the Largest Settlement:
-

inhabitants. "In the Great Lakes, capitals and the individual structures within them were undoubtedly impressive (e.g. Kigongo and Reid 2007), but they were short-lived, frequently occupied for less than five years, and built entirely from non-durable materials; to date, even 19th-century capitals, the locations of which are known, remain archaeologically invisible. Settlement in the region, royal or otherwise, seems generally to have been relatively short-term and dispersed, leaving isolated scatters of archaeological debris across the inhabited landscape." [1]

[1]: (Reid 2013: 889) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/PA7Z3NFR/collection.


Hierarchical Complexity
Settlement Hierarchy:
[2 to 3]

levels. 1. Capital :"Each new ruler was obliged to move to a new capital site on his accession and may have found it convenient to shift his capital to a more suitable grazing ground from time to time. Thus, while court attendance was encouraged, the capital did not emerge as an urban or administrative center, merely as the site of the large and prestigious royal kraal where other less imposing structures were erected." [1] :2. Intermediate level (perhaps?) ::3. Isolated homesteads :::"Residence patterns were generally based on scattered homesteads, not villages, a fact with far-reaching implications in terms of the kind of socio-political frameworks that evolved." [2]

[1]: (Steinhart 1978: 143) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/D3FV7SKV/collection.

[2]: (Doornbos 1978: 20) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/ISMJWJ4U/collection.


Administrative Level:
[3 to 4]

levels. "The Milansi dynasty retained ritual power and the right to install the Twa chief, but the Twa exercised a territorial, administrative authority through appointed officials who transmitted orders to elected village headmen. While originating from the mingling of peoples, the Fipa state - for here the word is legitimate - was more stratified, had more precise borders, and was governed in a more strictly administrative manner than the other polities of the plateau." [1] 1. King :2. Court officials (inferred) ::3. Intermediary officials between court and villages :::4. Village headmen

[1]: (Iliffe 1979: 24) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SB2AJMVC/collection.


Professions
Bureaucracy Characteristics
Specialized Government Building:
absent

Inferred from the fact that full-time specialised bureaucracy does not seem to have emerged in the broader Great Lakes region prior to the colonial era. For example, in Nkore, "The royal court served as a judicial and political center, but not as a bureaucratic focal point. The Mugabe’s chief minister, the Enganzi, was not a prime minister in the usual sense of leader of government business. He was merely the King’s favorite. Neither was there a cabinet nor governmental bureaux [...]. No distinction between the royal and state treasury was made and the heads of local administrative units were not required to attend court or reside at the capital as in Buganda, for instance." [1] In Rwanda: "In this sort of government, administration was not yet institutionalized." [2] In Burundi, the king seemingly entrusted administration mostly to close relatives and local chiefs: "Ntare relied on his sons as administrators: he was strong enough to set up his sons, but not strong enough to incorporate these regions fully within central control. [...] During the late nineteenth century, under the reign of Mwezi Gisabo, a four-tiered system of administration emerged: a central area around Muramvya under the control of the king; an area under the administration of his sons or brothers most closely allied to the king; a broad swath further east and south administered by Batare chiefs, the descendants of Ntare; and another zone, covering the western and northwestern areas of the country, under the administration of others, not Baganwa (in fact, they were mostly Hutu authorities). [...] Administrative authorities in the east and south- east, often Batare (descendants of Ntare Rugamba), simply retained their administrative autonomy while acknowledging nominal central court ritual hegemony. Those in the northeast more characteristically undertook open revolt, often by those who sought to overthrow Mwezi." [3]

[1]: (Steinhart 1978: 144) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/D3FV7SKV/collection.

[2]: (Vansina 2004: 63) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/5J4MRHUB/collection.

[3]: (Newbury 2001: 283-284) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/J5A6DM3P/collection.


Merit Promotion:
absent

Inferred from the fact that full-time specialised bureaucracy does not seem to have emerged in the broader Great Lakes region prior to the colonial era. For example, in Nkore, "The royal court served as a judicial and political center, but not as a bureaucratic focal point. The Mugabe’s chief minister, the Enganzi, was not a prime minister in the usual sense of leader of government business. He was merely the King’s favorite. Neither was there a cabinet nor governmental bureaux [...]. No distinction between the royal and state treasury was made and the heads of local administrative units were not required to attend court or reside at the capital as in Buganda, for instance." [1] In Rwanda: "In this sort of government, administration was not yet institutionalized." [2] In Burundi, the king seemingly entrusted administration mostly to close relatives and local chiefs: "Ntare relied on his sons as administrators: he was strong enough to set up his sons, but not strong enough to incorporate these regions fully within central control. [...] During the late nineteenth century, under the reign of Mwezi Gisabo, a four-tiered system of administration emerged: a central area around Muramvya under the control of the king; an area under the administration of his sons or brothers most closely allied to the king; a broad swath further east and south administered by Batare chiefs, the descendants of Ntare; and another zone, covering the western and northwestern areas of the country, under the administration of others, not Baganwa (in fact, they were mostly Hutu authorities). [...] Administrative authorities in the east and south- east, often Batare (descendants of Ntare Rugamba), simply retained their administrative autonomy while acknowledging nominal central court ritual hegemony. Those in the northeast more characteristically undertook open revolt, often by those who sought to overthrow Mwezi." [3]

[1]: (Steinhart 1978: 144) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/D3FV7SKV/collection.

[2]: (Vansina 2004: 63) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/5J4MRHUB/collection.

[3]: (Newbury 2001: 283-284) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/J5A6DM3P/collection.


Full Time Bureaucrat:
absent

Inferred from the fact that full-time specialised bureaucracy does not seem to have emerged in the broader Great Lakes region prior to the colonial era. For example, in Nkore, "The royal court served as a judicial and political center, but not as a bureaucratic focal point. The Mugabe’s chief minister, the Enganzi, was not a prime minister in the usual sense of leader of government business. He was merely the King’s favorite. Neither was there a cabinet nor governmental bureaux [...]. No distinction between the royal and state treasury was made and the heads of local administrative units were not required to attend court or reside at the capital as in Buganda, for instance." [1] In Rwanda: "In this sort of government, administration was not yet institutionalized." [2] In Burundi, the king seemingly entrusted administration mostly to close relatives and local chiefs: "Ntare relied on his sons as administrators: he was strong enough to set up his sons, but not strong enough to incorporate these regions fully within central control. [...] During the late nineteenth century, under the reign of Mwezi Gisabo, a four-tiered system of administration emerged: a central area around Muramvya under the control of the king; an area under the administration of his sons or brothers most closely allied to the king; a broad swath further east and south administered by Batare chiefs, the descendants of Ntare; and another zone, covering the western and northwestern areas of the country, under the administration of others, not Baganwa (in fact, they were mostly Hutu authorities). [...] Administrative authorities in the east and south- east, often Batare (descendants of Ntare Rugamba), simply retained their administrative autonomy while acknowledging nominal central court ritual hegemony. Those in the northeast more characteristically undertook open revolt, often by those who sought to overthrow Mwezi." [3]

[1]: (Steinhart 1978: 144) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/D3FV7SKV/collection.

[2]: (Vansina 2004: 63) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/5J4MRHUB/collection.

[3]: (Newbury 2001: 283-284) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/J5A6DM3P/collection.


Examination System:
absent

Inferred from the fact that full-time specialised bureaucracy does not seem to have emerged in the broader Great Lakes region prior to the colonial era. For example, in Nkore, "The royal court served as a judicial and political center, but not as a bureaucratic focal point. The Mugabe’s chief minister, the Enganzi, was not a prime minister in the usual sense of leader of government business. He was merely the King’s favorite. Neither was there a cabinet nor governmental bureaux [...]. No distinction between the royal and state treasury was made and the heads of local administrative units were not required to attend court or reside at the capital as in Buganda, for instance." [1] In Rwanda: "In this sort of government, administration was not yet institutionalized." [2] In Burundi, the king seemingly entrusted administration mostly to close relatives and local chiefs: "Ntare relied on his sons as administrators: he was strong enough to set up his sons, but not strong enough to incorporate these regions fully within central control. [...] During the late nineteenth century, under the reign of Mwezi Gisabo, a four-tiered system of administration emerged: a central area around Muramvya under the control of the king; an area under the administration of his sons or brothers most closely allied to the king; a broad swath further east and south administered by Batare chiefs, the descendants of Ntare; and another zone, covering the western and northwestern areas of the country, under the administration of others, not Baganwa (in fact, they were mostly Hutu authorities). [...] Administrative authorities in the east and south- east, often Batare (descendants of Ntare Rugamba), simply retained their administrative autonomy while acknowledging nominal central court ritual hegemony. Those in the northeast more characteristically undertook open revolt, often by those who sought to overthrow Mwezi." [3]

[1]: (Steinhart 1978: 144) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/D3FV7SKV/collection.

[2]: (Vansina 2004: 63) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/5J4MRHUB/collection.

[3]: (Newbury 2001: 283-284) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/J5A6DM3P/collection.


Law
Specialized Buildings: polity owned
Transport Infrastructure
Special-purpose Sites
Information / Writing System
Written Record:
absent

The following quote characterises the people of Tanganyika (the broader region of which the Fipa formed part) as "pre-literate" in the early 19th century. "We do not know what inland Tanganyikans believed in the early nineteenth century. They were pre-literate, and the religions of pre-literate peoples not only leave little historical evidence but are characteristically eclectic, mutable, and unsystematic." [1]

[1]: (Iliffe 1979: 26) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SB2AJMVC/collection.


Script:
absent

The following quote characterises the people of Tanganyika (the broader region of which the Fipa formed part) as "pre-literate" in the early 19th century. "We do not know what inland Tanganyikans believed in the early nineteenth century. They were pre-literate, and the religions of pre-literate peoples not only leave little historical evidence but are characteristically eclectic, mutable, and unsystematic." [1]

[1]: (Iliffe 1979: 26) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SB2AJMVC/collection.


Phonetic Alphabetic Writing:
absent

The following quote characterises the people of Tanganyika (the broader region of which the Fipa formed part) as "pre-literate" in the early 19th century. "We do not know what inland Tanganyikans believed in the early nineteenth century. They were pre-literate, and the religions of pre-literate peoples not only leave little historical evidence but are characteristically eclectic, mutable, and unsystematic." [1]

[1]: (Iliffe 1979: 26) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SB2AJMVC/collection.


Non Phonetic Writing:
absent

The following quote characterises the people of Tanganyika (the broader region of which the Fipa formed part) as "pre-literate" in the early 19th century. "We do not know what inland Tanganyikans believed in the early nineteenth century. They were pre-literate, and the religions of pre-literate peoples not only leave little historical evidence but are characteristically eclectic, mutable, and unsystematic." [1]

[1]: (Iliffe 1979: 26) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SB2AJMVC/collection.


Information / Kinds of Written Documents
Scientific Literature:
absent

The following quote characterises the people of Tanganyika (the broader region of which the Fipa formed part) as "pre-literate" in the early 19th century. "We do not know what inland Tanganyikans believed in the early nineteenth century. They were pre-literate, and the religions of pre-literate peoples not only leave little historical evidence but are characteristically eclectic, mutable, and unsystematic." [1]

[1]: (Iliffe 1979: 26) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SB2AJMVC/collection.


Sacred Text:
absent

The following quote characterises the people of Tanganyika (the broader region of which the Fipa formed part) as "pre-literate" in the early 19th century. "We do not know what inland Tanganyikans believed in the early nineteenth century. They were pre-literate, and the religions of pre-literate peoples not only leave little historical evidence but are characteristically eclectic, mutable, and unsystematic." [1]

[1]: (Iliffe 1979: 26) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SB2AJMVC/collection.


Religious Literature:
absent

The following quote characterises the people of Tanganyika (the broader region of which the Fipa formed part) as "pre-literate" in the early 19th century. "We do not know what inland Tanganyikans believed in the early nineteenth century. They were pre-literate, and the religions of pre-literate peoples not only leave little historical evidence but are characteristically eclectic, mutable, and unsystematic." [1]

[1]: (Iliffe 1979: 26) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SB2AJMVC/collection.


Practical Literature:
absent

The following quote characterises the people of Tanganyika (the broader region of which the Fipa formed part) as "pre-literate" in the early 19th century. "We do not know what inland Tanganyikans believed in the early nineteenth century. They were pre-literate, and the religions of pre-literate peoples not only leave little historical evidence but are characteristically eclectic, mutable, and unsystematic." [1]

[1]: (Iliffe 1979: 26) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SB2AJMVC/collection.


Philosophy:
absent

The following quote characterises the people of Tanganyika (the broader region of which the Fipa formed part) as "pre-literate" in the early 19th century. "We do not know what inland Tanganyikans believed in the early nineteenth century. They were pre-literate, and the religions of pre-literate peoples not only leave little historical evidence but are characteristically eclectic, mutable, and unsystematic." [1]

[1]: (Iliffe 1979: 26) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SB2AJMVC/collection.


Lists Tables and Classification:
absent

The following quote characterises the people of Tanganyika (the broader region of which the Fipa formed part) as "pre-literate" in the early 19th century. "We do not know what inland Tanganyikans believed in the early nineteenth century. They were pre-literate, and the religions of pre-literate peoples not only leave little historical evidence but are characteristically eclectic, mutable, and unsystematic." [1]

[1]: (Iliffe 1979: 26) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SB2AJMVC/collection.


History:
absent

The following quote characterises the people of Tanganyika (the broader region of which the Fipa formed part) as "pre-literate" in the early 19th century. "We do not know what inland Tanganyikans believed in the early nineteenth century. They were pre-literate, and the religions of pre-literate peoples not only leave little historical evidence but are characteristically eclectic, mutable, and unsystematic." [1]

[1]: (Iliffe 1979: 26) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SB2AJMVC/collection.


Fiction:
absent

The following quote characterises the people of Tanganyika (the broader region of which the Fipa formed part) as "pre-literate" in the early 19th century. "We do not know what inland Tanganyikans believed in the early nineteenth century. They were pre-literate, and the religions of pre-literate peoples not only leave little historical evidence but are characteristically eclectic, mutable, and unsystematic." [1]

[1]: (Iliffe 1979: 26) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SB2AJMVC/collection.


Calendar:
absent

The following quote characterises the people of Tanganyika (the broader region of which the Fipa formed part) as "pre-literate" in the early 19th century. "We do not know what inland Tanganyikans believed in the early nineteenth century. They were pre-literate, and the religions of pre-literate peoples not only leave little historical evidence but are characteristically eclectic, mutable, and unsystematic." [1]

[1]: (Iliffe 1979: 26) Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/collections/GWWIKDDM/items/SB2AJMVC/collection.


Information / Money
Information / Postal System
Information / Measurement System

Warfare Variables (Military Technologies)
Fortifications
Military use of Metals
Projectiles
Handheld weapons
Animals used in warfare
Armor
Naval technology

Human Sacrifice Data
Human Sacrifice is the deliberate and ritualized killing of a person to please or placate supernatural entities (including gods, spirits, and ancestors) or gain other supernatural benefits.
Coding in Progress.
Coding in Progress.
Power Transitions
Coding in Progress.