Pastoralism in Africa
Question 1: What happened to Maasailand in 1885?
Answer:
The colonial powers were scrambling for territorial possessions in 1885. Maasailand was divided in half by a border between British Kenya and German Tanganyika. The Maasai lost 60% of their pre-colonial territory.
Question 2: What does the title ‘Maasai’ mean? What did they depend on for subsistence?
Answer:
The word ‘maa’ is derived from the title ‘Maasai.’ Maa-sai translates as ‘My People.’ The Maasai are a nomadic and pastoral tribe that rely on milk and meat for survival.
Question 3: State one measure introduced by the British to administer the affairs of the Maasai.
Answer:
They chose Maasai chiefs from several sub-groups to be in charge of the tribe’s affairs, and the British imposed numerous raiding and warring restrictions.
Question 4: What is meant by kafila?
Answer:
During the winter, when the high mountains were covered in snow, the pastoralists resided in the low hills of the Siwalik range with their herds. Their cows were fed by the dry scrub woodlands here. At the end of April, they began their northern march to their summer grazing pastures. Several houses banded together for this journey, establishing a kafila.
Question 5: According to environmentalists and economists why are nomadic pastoralists the important communities?
Answer:
Nomadic pastoralists are important communities because they play a vital role in forest protection. Herders provide important goods such as milk, ghee, and wool to people.
Pastoralism in Africa
Pastoralism and pastoral livestock production are very important to the livelihood and economy of Africa’s semi-arid areas. Due to long-term climate change, around 7,000 years ago; it spread throughout Northern Africa as an adaptation to the constantly changing and unpredictable arid climate. Pastoralism in Africa is practiced in 43 percent of the landmass.
More than 22 million Africans rely on some type of pastoral activity for a living. Among them are Bedouins, Berbers, Maasai, Somali, Boran, and Turkana. Today, the bulk of them live in semi-arid grasslands or dry deserts, where rainfed agriculture is difficult. They raise cattle, camels, goats, sheep, and donkeys, and sell milk, meat, skins, and wool. Some augment their meager and uncertain earnings from pastoralism through commerce and transportation, while others combine mobile lifestyle activity with agriculture.
The lives of African pastoralists changed tremendously over colonial and post-colonial times. From the late 19th century, the British colonial government in east Africa started expanding land under cultivation. As cultivation expanded, pasturelands turned to cultivated fields and this brought a number of problems for the pastoralists and their lives became tough.
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