ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the political, economic, and social life in Ungoni, the country of the Ngoni, prior to colonial rule and of the German impact on it. Two factors in particular are important: the influence of social rank on the Ngoni reaction to the Germans, and the role of the internal political situation in determining who was willing to fight. The Ngoni presence in Songea district was an offshoot of the Mfecane, the dispersion which followed Shaka's rise to power and the growth of the Zulu nation in southern Africa. In economic life, the true Ngoni controlled raiding and any benefits it brought; it was they who received tribute from satellite villages. On 30 August, Ngindo and eastern Pogoro stormed the German boma at Mahenge, and the Maji Maji rebellion was in full swing. The Maji Maji rebellion of 1905–1906 was Tanzania's most spectacular manifestation of the rejection of colonial rule.
