Sonjo
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The Sonjo (native name Batemi) are a people living in northern Tanzania, 30-40 miles west of Lake Natron, who have lived for centuries as an isolated enclave in Maasai territory. In 2002 the Sonjo population was estimated to number 30,000 (Ethnologue). They are known for their use of a traditional irrigation system in farming, a practice which has led some historians to link them to the hitherto unexplained ruined irrigation systems of Engaruka, 60 miles to the southeast. The term Sonjo is the name given to the people by the Maasai; they call themselves Batemi and their language Ketemi or Gitemi.
[edit] References
- Gray, Robert F. 1963. The Sonjo People of Tanganyika: An Anthropological Study of an Irrigation-based Society. London: Oxford University Press.
- Nurse, Derek & Franz Rottland 1991. ‘Sonjo: Description, Classification, History’, Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika, 12/13: 171-289.
- Nurse, Derek & Franz Rottland 1993. ‘A Linguists' View of the History of Sonjo and Engaruka’, Azania, 28: 1-5.
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