The Shambaa (also called the Sambaa, Shambala, Sambala, or Sambara) are an ethnic and linguistic group based in the Usambara Mountains of northeastern Tanzania. In 2001 the Shambaa population was estimated to number 664,000.[1]
Kishambaa is the Sambaa word for the language Shambala language, Wasambaa are the people (Msambaa for a person), and Usambaa or Usambara is used for Sambaa lands. The Shambaa call their lands Shambalai.
The language is mutually intelligible with Bondei and Zigua, with the three groups sharing significant overlap in territory and a long history of intermarriage. The similarity between them has prompted some to refer to themselves as "Boshazi" (the first syllable from each of the three groups).
Sambaa belongs to the North East Coastal Bantu languages. A group which includes Swahili, however Swahili is not mutually intelligible with Sambaa.
The Usambara area was the early colonial headquarters for German East Africa during the hot season. Tanganyika, the name for the German colony, and later for the republic and eventually for the mainland portion of Tanzania is itself from Sambaa: Tanga means farmed land, and nyika is brushy land. The story of Mbegha is the most famous legend of the Shambaa.