Research Article
Colonial Labour Migrations Among the Nyakyusa: Causes and Impacts (1920 - 1960)
Noah Constantine Sweve*
Issue:
Volume 13, Issue 2, December 2025
Pages:
56-66
Received:
28 April 2025
Accepted:
25 June 2025
Published:
16 July 2025
DOI:
10.11648/j.history.20251302.11
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Abstract: Labour migration is an integral part of Tanzania’s history. This theme has been widely studied by various scholars in Tanzania. However, most of these studies have not focused mainly on the Nyakyusa despite the fact that this ethnic group, which is found mainly in the Mbeya Region, was largely involved in colonial labour migration. This study, therefore, has made an attempt to show that Nyakyusa labour migration began during the colonial period, where the subsistence economy of the Nyakyusa had become weakened due to the effects of the First World War. This caused the Nyakyusa not feed themselves sufficiently as they had done many years before. In the second decade of the twentieth century, the Nyakyusa began internal labour migration in colonial Tanganyika. For example, they moved to work in the gold fields of Chunya District. By 1930s, the Nyakyusa became used to external labour migration, too. They moved to work in the mines out of colonial Tanganyika. They worked in the copper and gold mines in Zambia and South Africa, respectively. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the causes and impacts of Nyakyusa labour migration during the colonial period. Evidence for this study came from various sources, namely, archival sources accessed at the Tanzania National Archives and oral recollections gathered from various informants in Rungwe District. The study also benefited from newspapers accessed at the East Africana Section of the University of Dar es Salaam Library, where they are intensively and extensively archived. Archival sources and oral accounts were supplemented by secondary sources, particularly books and journal articles. The study has demonstrated that the Nyakyusa labour migration was not caused by a single factor, but by multifaceted factors ranging from economic to social factors. The study has, in the final analysis, indicated that colonial labour migration had both positive and negative impacts on the livelihoods of the Nyakyusa communities.
Abstract: Labour migration is an integral part of Tanzania’s history. This theme has been widely studied by various scholars in Tanzania. However, most of these studies have not focused mainly on the Nyakyusa despite the fact that this ethnic group, which is found mainly in the Mbeya Region, was largely involved in colonial labour migration. This study, ther...
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