Tonga people
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other uses, see Tonga (disambiguation).
The term Tonga or Batonga or Lake Shore Tonga, or Nyasa Tonga is used to designate several ethnic groups living in northern British Central Africa (Todays Malawi).
They were to be found across from, and a bit south of German Amelia Bay (Wiedhafen) on the British side, with a vague history whom tradition says came from the north, perhaps the Maravi people or the Tumbuka. Their claim to be a separate tribe rests only on their acceptance of a common name, the Tonga. Until the coming of the Ngoni in 1855, they had been a matralineal people and had never possessed a centralized government.
As Basil Davidson puts it his book, 'African Kingdoms', "Since they were not only a mixture of several migrant groups with an outgoing, enterprising, nature, they found freedom of expression vitally important and divided their loyalties between their settlement and their kin. Whenever it suited him a Lake Tonga would move freely between these loyalties and since a very liberal scope of expression existed, quarrels, arguments, and disputes were a regular feature of village life." Davidsoon quotes van Velson "...they were very good at manipulating people and situations in the outside world from long practice in coming to terms with one another." (As they seem to have been during losing their semi-strike on the march to attack Kimarunga) Van Velson quoted again by Davidson "In the modern world they have more than their share of labor leaders, politicians, and 'white collar' workers, many in senior positions".
Defeated by the Ngoni, older people remained on the land while the young were incorporated into the Ngoni fighting regiments. Within a generation these young men were consider more brutal and bloodthirsty than even the Ngoni, but never took their names. In 1875, the Tonga revolted against the Ngoni and they lost, but also set the stage for revolt of all the Tonga. The Livingston Mission in is given credit for saving them from extinction. Those who survived lived in the mountains, villages on piles in Lake Nyasa or stockades on the lakeshore, and in 1993 about a quarter of a million people could be counted.
The Tonga were primarily a fishing people with cassava as their staple food. Since they responded well to mission eduction they were able to earn higher wages with the Germans during colonial times and seem to have dominated as porters, skilled or semi-skilled workers, and even armed auxiliaries during the attack on Kimaurunga, perhaps half these auxiliaries trying to earn bride-wealth for marriage.
The Tonga had adopted the Ngoni custom of marriage payment of cattle, with kin liable for further payments if a child or wife fell ill. Divorce was not equal, or easy for the male: he could not dismiss his wife without a hearing of public repudiation, while she and her family, however, could dismiss him without formality, unless of course, he had an important family. The kin of a woman dying away from home could also demand burial permission and heavy payment from the husband.
The Tonga believed in a supreme God who remained vague and almost forgotten, for the Bantu had primarily a religion of the dead. They worshipped ancestral spirits, believed in consulting diviners, spirit-possession, and sought out those who predicted the future and were supposed to receive messages from ancestors. It was the spirits of the departed that were recognized, honoured, and propitiated. Generally speaking, it was everywhere held that something, which we can call the ghosts, lives on when the body dies and to some extent influences the affairs of the living. They may bring disaster on the family of the tribe if offended by neglect or, sometimes, as a judgment on some undiscovered sin. The ghost survives the body for an indefinite period, although it does not live forever. They can simply go back to nothingness if they are no longer remembered by the living. The Atonga of Lake Nyasa say that by taking certain medicines a person can ensure his changing after death into which ever animal he wishes.
References:
- Bauer, Andreus. "Raising the Flag of War".
- Davidson, Basil. "African Kingdoms".
- Tew, Mary. "People of the Lake Nyasa Region".
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[edit] The Tonga of Mozambique
They live south of Zambezi River and the border with Zimbabwe.
[edit] The Tonga of Zambia
The so-called 'Valley Tonga' live along the Zambezi River valley and on the shores of the Kariba Dam. Their culture was severely disrupted by the creation of the Kariba Dam, which resulted in the displacement many people.
The so-called 'Plateau Tonga' live on the Southern Plateau of Zambia and are traditionally farmers. They traditionally placed great importance on cattle as symbols of wealth.
The Tonga are thought to have migrated from central Africa into the region during the 12th century. The Batonga are one of the so-called Bantu tribes of Africa. At least some of the Tonga people bore an unusual genetic trait – they possessed only two toes, each oversized and in appearance, something like a cloven hoof.
[edit] The Tonga of Zimbabwe
The BaTonga people of Zimbabwe are found in and around the Binga District, the Kariba area, and other parts of Matabeleland. They number up to 300,000 and are mostly subsistence farmers.
[edit] Tonga languages
The languages of the Tonga people are members of the Bantu language family. The Tonga language of Zambia is spoken by about 1.38 million people in Zambia and 137,000 in Zimbabwe; it is an important lingua franca in parts of those countries and is spoken by members of other ethnic groups as well as the Tonga.[1]
There are about 170,000 speakers of the Tonga language in Malawi.[2]
The Zambian and Malawian languages are classified in different zones of the Bantu family.
In both variants the language is called chiTonga. The 'chi' means 'the language of the', like 'ki' in kiSwahili or 'se' in seTswana.
[edit] Other Languages
Tonga also speak their countries’ official languages: English in Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe; and Portuguese in Mozambique.
[edit] References
- ^ Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (ed.) (2005). Ethnologue report for language code: toi. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Retrieved on 2006-05-08.
- ^ Ibid, Ethnologue report for language code: tog. URL accessed on 2006-05-08.
