Ukerewe

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Ukerewe
Ukerewe, Nansio Pier
Ukerewe, Nansio Pier
Waters Lake Victoria
Geographical location 2 ° 3 ′  S , 33 ° 1 ′  E Coordinates: 2 ° 3 ′  S , 33 ° 1 ′  E
Ukerewe (Tanzania)
Ukerewe
length 47 km
width 21 km
surface 496 km²
main place Nansio
Ukerewe in the south of Lake Victoria
Ukerewe in the south of Lake Victoria

Ukerewe ( Swahili ; Kerewe language: Bukerebe ) is an island on the south shore of East African Lake Victoria near the city of Mwanza and belongs to Tanzania . The largest inland island in Africa with 496 square kilometers (530 square kilometers) is the main island of the 640 square kilometers of land area Ukerewe , one of the eight districts of the Mwanza region , which also includes the northern island of Ukara and smaller neighboring islands. In the 2002 census, the population in the district was 261,944.

history

Africa map by Abraham Ortelius : The Nile flows out of two central lakes, the western of which also flows out of the Zambezi and Congo.

From the 16th century, the Nilotic people of the Luo , who emigrated from the area of Bahr al Ghazal in what is now South Sudan , also settled on the south bank of Lake Victoria, where they met an older Bantu population. The area was largely spared from exporting slave trade and the hunt for ivory . On the way there, coming from the east, large areas were and are contaminated by tsetse flies , which transmit sleeping sickness . Because of this, and because all efforts since antiquity to find the sources of the Nile were unsuccessful - expeditions from the north failed on the Sudd - nothing precise was known about Lake Victoria in Europe until the middle of the 19th century, including early Arabic and European maps of Africa the Nile and other major rivers of the continent have their source in a large inland lake. It was only with the rise in the price of ivory from the beginning of the 19th century that Arab traders from the East African coast increasingly penetrated inland.

John Hanning Speke set out with Richard Francis Burton in 1857 to find the source of the Nile. In February 1858 they came to Lake Tanganyika on one of these Arab ivory trade routes . After their separation, Speke was able to join a caravan and in August 1858 came to the south bank of the Ukerewesees, so called by the Arabs, and to the island of the same name. He understood the lake as the source of the Nile and gave it the name of his Queen Victoria in a first reaction.

Henry Morton Stanley wanted to confirm the claim that the lake was the source of the Nile and therefore circumnavigated it in 1875. The starting point was Ukerewe. In order to get the then Omukama Lukonge (? –1895) to help build the boats, Stanley had to explain to him how people can be turned into lions (Stanley doubted it would work). The next time Stanley came on his loss-making expedition to liberate Emin Pasha , which started in March 1887 from the mouth of the Congo , on the way back towards the east coast together with Emin Pasha in September 1889 to Lake Victoria and Ukerewe. Stanley reported this time that Ukerewe was no longer an island because of the dry Rugez Canal in the east.

In 1891 the missionary Dermott investigated the island. He found the Rugez Canal not navigable. In the same year, the southern shore of Lake Victoria was declared a German-East African protected area , following an initial contract between the British and Germans in 1886 .

In 1882 Oskar Baumann's expedition reached Ukerewe after a march through the Maasai region . In his travel description, he describes the attempt to acquire a sacred 1.40 meter wooden figure from the "chief" Lukonge (also Rukonge ) in Bukindo. The figure was a sign of Lukonge's power as ruler and was only shown to high-ranking Kerewe and visitors, so an amicable acquisition was impossible. A revolt against the Germans by Lukonges, which had started as an attack against the French Catholic mission on the island, was followed in 1895 by a military punitive action by the station chief of Mwanza, Lieutenant von Kalben, and the confiscation of the sculpture. As a trophy of victory over unbelief, it was then placed at a mission station and beaten with sticks by the catechists in a kind of ritualized contempt. In 1898 the figure came damaged in an Ethnographica collection at the Berlin Völkerkundemuseum. There were several mission stations on the island at the time. In the village of Kagunguli the first church from 1898, the graves of some missionaries, the grave of the last king Ruhumbika and that of Aniceti Kitereza (see below "Fiction") can be visited.

Southeastern Lake Victoria with Ukerewe at the top left (German map from 1896)

Also in 1892, further German expeditions were sent to Lake Victoria, which only reached it with difficulty, ostensibly with the sole aim of combating slavery there. In the southeast of Ukerewe a "Station Peterswerft " was founded, in the neighborhood the Catholic mission station "Neuwied". With enormous effort (two caravans with 1000 porters each) an attempt was made in 1892 to transport a dismantled steel steamer from the coast to there. The company was unsuccessful due to a lack of money, even though “anti-slavery lots” had been sold in Germany. A German fort in Hamyebe, from which the lake was controlled from 1904–1910, is in ruins. In 1915 there were repeated clashes between the British and the German Schutztruppe on Lake Victoria . With an attack by the British Baganda Rifles on the island of Ukerewe in 1916, the retreat to the south began in stages. Ukerewe was captured by the British on June 9 and 10, 1916, as the island could not be held by the weak German occupation.

The names of the rulers (title Omukama ) in the small state of the Bukerewe (also Bukerebe ) can only be dated with Lukonge . After his death, Kahana Mukaka ruled 1895-1907. For his successor and last ruler on Ukerewe, Gabriel Kaseza Ruhumbika († 1938), a palace was built in 1928 by an Italian architect in colonial style. His son died in 1981, after which the building was abandoned. It is in fair condition and can be viewed near Bukindo, eight kilometers northwest of Nansio.

On September 20, 2018, the Nyerere ferry capsized on its way from the Bugolora dock on the north bank of Ukerewe to the island of Ukara, ten kilometers to the north. When the ferry sank a few meters from the Bwisya pier on Ukara after its one hour crossing, 224 people drowned. The ferry was completely overloaded with over 400 passengers instead of the permitted 100.

population

The three ethnic groups on Ukerewe belong to the Bantu . The largest group are the Kerewe , who live mainly in the northwest of the island and partly on the south bank of Lake Victoria. They are followed by the Kara who live mainly on Ukara, some also in Mwanza and on the south-east coast of the lake. The third group is the Jita . They live in the Mara region and in the east of the island. The languages ​​of all three ethnic groups belong to the Haya-Jita subgroup of the Bantu languages and have lexical matches between 60 and over 80 percent. The national language Swahili is also understood.

In 1911 the population was estimated at 30,000, mainly Kerewe. In 1975 there were 115,627 inhabitants in 56 villages on Ukerewe. The island is more densely populated than the adjacent mainland. If the population growth of 2.9 percent given for 2004 is taken as a basis (which is higher than the national average of 2.6 percent in 2004), the result for the Ukerewe district is a population of 309,000 for 2008. That is around 480 inhabitants per square kilometer. In 2002 there were around 6,000 inhabitants in the main town of Nansio. The rest of the population is spread over 74 villages and settlements in the district, with the island of Ukara traditionally being the most densely populated.

geography

Wetland and fields on the southwest coast

Ukerewe is almost 50 kilometers long and 25 to 35 kilometers wide from northwest to southeast. The island consists of a granite pedestal from which bare round rocks protrude in numerous places. Above it, a layer of sandy, light brown soil forms flat hills. The highest point is the hill Handebezyo with 172 meters, which lies in the center of the island near the village Halwego 10 kilometers west of Nansio. The striking rock formation and the forest surrounding the summit were once a place protected by kings, where rich people could deposit valuables. After the country gained independence, the forest disappeared, but today views over the island and the history of the hill are the reason for a tourist excursion.

The island is dominated by open grasslands and scrubland, the last remains of forest with a total of less than 3000 hectares are still in the plains at the extreme western tip of the island: a pine grove ( Caribbean Pine ) near Rubya, of which Mwanza was still with until the end of the 1990s Wood could be supplied (1997 still 1816 hectares) and some spots with eucalyptus .

The average temperature is 21–28 ° C all year round, with slight fluctuations. There are two rainy seasons, from October to January and the larger from March to May. More precipitation falls on the island than over the mainland and more in the form of local, violent cloudbursts than continuous rain. The annual average rainfall is around 1200 millimeters, less in the east (900 millimeters), up to 1800 millimeters in the western part of the island, which was covered with evergreen forest until the beginning of the 20th century. Year-round surface water has ceased to exist since the disappearance of the forests. In recent years, rainfall has tended to decrease. Together with the sinking water level of Lake Victoria, problems with the drinking water supply occasionally arise.

economy

Over 80 percent of the population lives from agriculture, 8 percent are employees in the public or private sector, 6 percent are self-employed service providers and around 5 percent fish.

agriculture

Field with sorghum

The largest part of the population operates subsistence agriculture on narrowly limited private land, with the traditional way of digging up by hand with a hoe. Land scarcity due to increasing population density leads to increased conflicts. The cultivation of bananas and sorghum is traditional . At the end of the 19th century there were several cotton plantings. Since the 1930s, cotton was also grown on a small-scale basis for export. The structural adjustment policies of the Tanzanian government introduced from the early 1990s to the fact that cooperatives einstellten the output of fertilizer on credit for cotton. As a result, cotton cultivation, which was carried out on an average of 0.6 hectares per family, declined due to the decreasing soil fertility and insufficient marketing. Another disadvantage of cotton growing on the island is the high land requirement. The fallow areas that were interposed in earlier years are no longer being kept due to the pressure of the increased population. The 2003/04 cotton harvest was still 1886 tons in the district. The conversion to oranges has proven to be suitable. Oranges produced 74,050 tons in the same period. 4,219 tonnes of rice, which is also grown for export in the lowlands on the coast, were harvested.

Most food, however, is grown for consumption in the region. The most important three are cassava (54,143 tons), corn (26,041 tons) and sweet potatoes (22,209 tons). Mangoes, lemons and vegetables in gardens also thrive. For 2003 the number of 54,000 cattle and 32,000 goats was given.

The sinking water level of the lake makes the use of more and more reliably functioning pumps for irrigation necessary. The drive of the pumps by means of solar cells or wind power has been practically tested since 2006. Since a large part of the work in the fields is done by women, development aid organizations try to convey methods of fishing and organic farming to women in particular.

Fishing

Fishing boat on Lake Victoria

Speke also described the methods of fishing on the island in 1858. He found a few boats in poor condition that were only sailing near the coast. Fishing was done with traps, basket pots and spears until the 19th century .

Fishing is carried out exclusively by men, while more women work in the fish processing plants, who are also involved in local marketing. An April 2002 survey found 13,584 fishing and processing workers in the Ukerewe district. The catch is 20,000-30,000 tons per year. The endemic furu , tilapia , the sardine-like, up to eight centimeter long dagaa ( Rastrineoboia argentea ) and Nile perch , which spread rapidly in the 1980s and now account for over 50 percent of the total fish catch, are caught. Around 75 percent of fishermen work on a small scale. The fishing methods depend on the type of fish you are looking for, usually at night.

  • Traditional bamboo fish traps for tilapia are rarely used anymore. This fish is caught with close-meshed nets that are on average 68 meters long and reach 3.5 meters below. After the nets are laid out, the water is churned and the fleeing fish are caught in it.
  • Dagaa have been fished by one or two boats with lamps at the same time since the mid-1980s. Fine -meshed round nets ( senga ) with a diameter of 1.5 meters are drawn along the rocky coast, where no beach seine can be used. The yield is around 50 kilograms per team. Fine-meshed nets consisting of six mosquito nets tied together are often used for dagaa fishing, resulting in a net size of 35 × 5.5 meters, with which all young fish are caught.
  • Nile perch fishermen are out and about 5–10 kilometers from the shore all night. The boats are on average six meters long. In 2000 only a few had an outboard motor, a third had sails (small dhows ). The catch is usually 200 kilograms per boat, the mesh size of the nets 18 centimeters.
  • The use of beach seine is forbidden but still practiced. The long net is spread out by boat in a wide circle and later pulled in by the assembled village population on both ends at the same time. All small fish from the bottom are caught.
  • Larger ships with refrigeration equipment on board that fish on an industrial scale operate from several locations in the archipelago. The captured Nile perch is filleted for export at a dozen processing plants in Mwanza. Trawlers using trawls are officially banned on the lake as they can destroy other nets and their catch is nonselective.

ecology

The population of Nile perch has declined since the turn of the millennium, as has the number of fish species. More than half of the fish caught are too small. Most fish processing plants therefore work well below their capacity limits. Several times in recent years, the European Union , to which more than half of all fish exports go, has imposed import bans due to poor hygiene (poison residues). In addition to the ecological problems in the lake that arose after the onset of the Nile perch, there is another problem on land: the meat of the Nile perch cannot be dried in the sun because of its high fat content. The drying on the usual wooden racks leads to the fact that the meat is eaten away by maggots. Nile perch has to be smoked, the consequence is an increased consumption of firewood.

Another serious problem is the spread of water hyacinths , which already affects 90 percent of the coastline, as their surface area can increase by 15 percent per day under ideal conditions. This not only has consequences for fishing, the risk of schistosomiasis also increases due to the herbaceous growth and the resulting warming of the water. An increased decomposition of algae , in which a smooth, gelatinous, green water surface can be seen from afar, leads to a lack of oxygen and can cause fish to die.

tourism

There is a three-hour ferry connection from Mwanza to the main town of Nansio, where there are overnight accommodations. From the jetty Rugazi on the eastern tip of the island, Musahunga and further Bunda can be reached several times a day in half an hour. From Bugolora on the north coast there is a connection to the neighboring island of Ukara. Despite the proximity to the Serengeti National Park, tourism on the island is only rudimentary. There are theoretical considerations to exploit this proximity.

Bicycles can be rented, and guided day tours are also offered. The coastal zone in the west is suitable for bird watching. You could see cormorants, herons, lapwing and sandpipers or stilts on the sandy shores. Offering tranquility and traditional country life are the aim of a practical project.

Fiction

  • The village of Kagunguli was the place where he lived and is the subject of Aniceti Kitereza's (1896–1981) novels. He is the grandson of King Machunda. His family story about the pre-colonial society on Ukerewe with the German title Die Kinder der Regenmacher was written in Kikerewe in 1945, translated into Kiswahili himself in the 1960s, but was unable to publish it during his lifetime. The book was published in Kiswahili in 1981 and in German in 1990.
  • Just as sensitive, but from the other direction, Hans Paasche (1881–1920) in The African Lukanga Mukara's Research Trip to Inner Germany lets a fictional King of Ukerewe give his own judgments about this country during his trip through Germany. First publication was in 1921.
  • One of the best known contemporary authors in Tanzania is Euphrase Kezilahabi (1944-2020), who was born in the village of Namagondo on Ukerewe . Ukerewe is the setting for his early stories and poems. In them he dealt with the loss of traditional values ​​and the social changes after independence through the Ujamaa policy. Kezilahabi was Professor of African Literature at the University of Botswana .

literature

  • Gerald W. Hartwig: Bukerebe, The Church Missionary Society, and East African Politics, 1877–1878. In: African Historical Studies, Volume 1, No. 2, 1968, pp. 211-232
  • Henryk Zimoń: History of the Abasiranga ruling clan on the island of Bukerebe (Tanzania) until 1895. In: Anthropos, Volume 66, Issue 3/4, 1971, pp. 321–372

Web links

Commons : Ukerewe  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Socio-Economic Profile of Mwanza Region. ( Memento from December 11, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) mwanza.go.tz (PDF; 164 kB)
  2. ^ Islands of the World. World Atlas
  3. ↑ MWANZA - 2002 Population and Housing Census. ( Memento from January 6, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Details for the 24 wards (sub-districts) can be found here: MWANZA: UKEREWE - 2002 Population and Housing Census. ( Memento of December 28, 2003 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Oscar Baumann : By Massailand the source of the Nile. Travel and research of the Maasai expedition of the German Anti-Slavery Committee in the years 1891–1893. Berlin 1894, p. 214
  5. ↑ When the mission was stormed, 50 people are said to have died.
  6. ↑ Gerald W. Hartwig: A Historical Perspective of Kerebe Sculpturing - Tanzania. Tribus 18, 1969, pp. 83-102. Ears, nose and genitals of the figure have been chopped off (p. 86)
  7. ^ Rochus Schmidt: Germany's colonies . Volume 1, Verlag des Verein der Buchfreunde Schall & Grund, Berlin 1898, p. 228. (Reprint by Weltbild Verlag, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-8289-0301-0 )
  8. ↑ Golf Dornseif: DOA and the Koblenz anti-slavery lottery. ( Memento from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) golf-dornseif.de (PDF; 1.9 MB) The steamer was ultimately brought to Lake Malawi .
  9. ↑ Reinhard K. Lochner: Battle in the Rufiji Delta - The end of the small cruiser "Königsberg". The German Navy and Protection Force in the First World War in East Africa . Wilhelm Heyne, Munich 1987, p. 279, ISBN 3-453-02420-6 .
  10. ↑ Tanzania ferry death toll rises to 224, ship's managers detained. Reuters, September 23, 2018
  11. ^ Languages ​​of Tanzania. ethnologue.com
  12. ^ John E. Moore: The Villagization Process and Rural Development in the Mwanza Region of Tanzania. In: Geografiska Annaler. Series B, Human Geography, Vol. 61, No. 2, 1979, pp. 65-80, here p. 74
  13. ↑ Figures from Mwanzaregion.org. Even higher numbers in: Joseph L. Awange, Obiero Ong'ang'a: Lake Victoria. Ecology, Resources, Environment. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2006, p. 12: Mwanza region 3.2 percent population growth, Tanzania 2.92 percent.
  14. ↑ Uganda accused of 'pulling plugs' on disappearing waters of Lake Victoria. The Guardian, February 9, 2006
  15. ^ Mwanza Region Socio-Economic Profile. tzonline.org (PDF; 609 kB)
  16. ↑ All 2003/04 figures for the Ukerewe district from: Mwanzaregion.org. Ukerewe District Economy.
  17. ^ East Africa: Dams and Lake Victoria. Africa Focus Bulletin, February 21, 2006
  18. ↑ M. Medard, F. Sobo, T. Ngatunga, C. Chirwa: Women and Gender Participation in the Fisheries Sector in Lake Victoria. (PDF; 118 kB) 2001 Page no longer available , search in web archives: Mwanza Women Development Association: Alternative Sources of Livelihoods that would benefit women in the Lake Victoria Region.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.terre-citoyenne-apm.org
  19. ^ Danish Institute for International Studies: The Poor Relation. A political economy of the marketing chain for dagaa in Tanzania. (PDF; 271 kB) 1997 (detailed economic-ecological study of the Dagaa in Lake Victoria)
  20. ^ Tijs Goldschmidt: Darwin's dream lake. News from my research trip to Africa. CH Beck, Munich 1997
  21. ↑ Awange and Ong'ang'a, p. 124
  22. ↑ Michael Arbirk: Ukerewe tourist Association
  23. ↑ Welcome to Ukerewe.
  24. ↑ Hans Paasche: The research trip of the African Lukanga Mukara into the innermost part of Germany.
  25. ↑ Lutz Diegner: Allegories in Euphrase Kezilahabi's Early Novels. African Working Papers 72, 2002, Swahiliforum IX, pp. 43–74 (PDF; 2.4 MB)