Mwanga (people)
The Mwanga (also Nyamwanga or Namwanga ) are a small ethnic group with their own language variant ( Chinamwanga ) in the north of Zambia and in the south of Tanzania .
In 1993 the Nyamwanga were estimated at 256,000, of which 169,000 in Zambia and 87,000 in Tanzania. The ethnic group also includes 7,000 Tambo and 14,000 Iwa, making the total number 277,000 Mwanga.
More recent figures for Zambia (around 2000) name 38,887 Iwa, 163,957 Namwanga and 18,918 Tambo.
The traditional religion of the Mwanga is based on ancestor worship and the summoning of their spirits.
The Mwanga, Nyika , Safwa , Ngonde , Kinga , Bena , Pangwa , Hehe and Sangu have common origins. They clearly differ from their matrilineal neighbors. All of these groups seem to have immigrated from northern Tanzania between Kilimanjaro and Lake Victoria from the 16th century.