Hima
Quick Summary
The Hima are a Bantu-speaking pastoral people historically associated with the ancient Ugandan kingdoms of Nyankole, Nyoro, and Toro. They also formed an inferior class among the Ganda people and are found in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.1
Within Tanzania, the Hima are one of two main ethnic elements of the Haya people. They are a pastoral group, likely descendants of wandering Nilotes, and traditionally subsist on the products of their herds. In contrast, the Iru, the other element of the Haya, are agriculturalists. The Hima were traditionally organized into patrilineal clans and were historically part of a system with rulers called mukama.2
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- Haya
…exist in the population—the pastoral Hima, who are probably descendants of wandering Nilotes, and the more agricultural Iru, descendants of the original Bantu. The Haya were traditionally organized in a series of 130 or so patrilineal clans, each having its own totem. They were formerly divided among eight small states,…
Read More…exist in the population—the pastoral Hima, who are probably descendants of wandering Nilotes, and the more agricultural Iru, descendants of the original Bantu. The Haya were traditionally organized in a series of 130 or so patrilineal clans, each having its own totem. They were formerly divided among eight small states,…
Read More - Nkole
…distinct social groups: the pastoral Hima, who made up about one-tenth of the population, and the agricultural Iru, who constituted the remainder. Both groups spoke a common Bantu language. Though marriage between Hima and Iru was traditionally prohibited, each borrowed extensively from the culture of the other. Both groups were…
Read More…distinct social groups: the pastoral Hima, who made up about one-tenth of the population, and the agricultural Iru, who constituted the remainder. Both groups spoke a common Bantu language. Though marriage between Hima and Iru was traditionally prohibited, each borrowed extensively from the culture of the other. Both groups were…
Read More - Nyoro
…tall, slender, lighter skinned, pastoral Hima, who historically dominated the Iru in the southern part of the Bunyoro area; and the Bito, a Luo-speaking Nilotic people who held a similarly privileged position in the north and also provided the ruler of the state, the mukama.
Read More…tall, slender, lighter skinned, pastoral Hima, who historically dominated the Iru in the southern part of the Bunyoro area; and the Bito, a Luo-speaking Nilotic people who held a similarly privileged position in the north and also provided the ruler of the state, the mukama.
Read More - Toro
…had a cattle-owning class, the Hima, while most Toro, called Iru, were small-scale farmers. The Toro social organization is strongly stratified; the formerly pastoralist Bito as well as the Hima claim greater privileges and wealth than the Iru. Millet, plantains, cassava, and yams are grown, while wheat, cotton, and coffee…
Read More…had a cattle-owning class, the Hima, while most Toro, called Iru, were small-scale farmers. The Toro social organization is strongly stratified; the formerly pastoralist Bito as well as the Hima claim greater privileges and wealth than the Iru. Millet, plantains, cassava, and yams are grown, while wheat, cotton, and coffee…
Read More