Account for the social organization involved in iron smelting in pre-colonial Karagwe

Social organization is a sociological concept, defined as a pattern of relationships between and among individuals and groups. The characteristics of social organization based in qualities such as size, sexual composition, spatiotemporal cohesion, leadership, and structure, division of labor and communication systems.

The Karagwe kingdom was located in northwestern of Tanzania with the estimated population of 40,000 people under the leadership of king Ndagara who ruled from around 1820 at that time. Where by the languages which were spoken, were kikaragwe and Kiswahili. These languages are used until now kikaragwe as traditional language. Karagwe is bordered by river Kagera which separate it from Rwanda, in the southwestern part it is bordered by Biharamulo, Northern by Mpororo kingdom and Nkore (Uganda) and the Eastern part is bordered by Kiziba, Kihanja and Ihangiro. It’s neighboring kingdoms were Buganda, Nkore, Bunyoro and Rwanda.

The Karagwe kingdom reached its apex during the 19th century. Archaeological evidence suggests that growth occurred during the early part of the 1800s. King Ndagara came to power around 1820 and ruled until 1853, at which time he was replaced by Rumanyika. The area has strong linguistic and historical ties to the Buganda states to the north and to central African symbolic form.

The most famous works of art from the Karagwe kingdom are iron objects but this involved gender balance because the one who engaged in iron smelting was men and those men should must have sexual relation with his wife also this was not done by naked eyes but involved characteristic of superstation. The evolution of iron technology in Karagwe, the art of extracting and making iron originated from Meroe and was introduced in this area by the so called marvelous or “supermen” Bachwezi and their descendants, the Bahima/Bahinda. Other researchers state that it was the Bantu clans which do most of the smelting, casting and forging of iron example Nshenshe, Bahunga and Basindi. Generally it is said that there are two highly speculative possible origin of iron technology firstly was the Bantu farmers who had acquired it from Nigeria and, secondly it was brought by the Nirotic Bahima.

The social organizations which involved in iron smelting in the pre-colonial Karagwe are the one which involved as the strongest clan as the following,

Leadership system, is the one of social organization which existed in the pre-colonial. The king Ndagara having the responsibility to maintain peace and harmony in his groups and individual. The group which was existed was the one based in economic such as agriculturalist, iron smelters and herders, where by king Ndagara succeeded to make a good balance of power between them. In individual king Ndagara usually appointed the governors, some of them were women who associated with fertility and seen as a threat to the success of iron smelting.

The social structure, in the pre colonial Karagwe there were two main ethnic groups that was indigenous Bantu speaking who were agriculturalist (Banyambo) and they lived mainly in plateaus and in the slope of mountain by establishing the permanent settlements where they practiced farming and produced food crops, while the later group was Nilotes Bahima /Bahinda who were basically pastoralist and they preferred to live in the plains where there is plenty grasses for seeding their livestock and they were shifting from one place to another. The Bahinda despite other works they were the rulers of the society, not only that but also many karangwe were cattle herders, and cows were a measure of wealth and power.

The spatiotemporal cohesion, this defined as a condition in which people are closely united. In karagwe kingdom within the groups people united together and participated different production activities. Example king, like the smelter, was responsible for maintaining a productive and fertile kingdom. Where by people beating of nyambatana drums, mimicking the sound of a harmer, all of this where used to mobilize people to unity together.

The division of labor refers to the specialization of cooperating individuals who perform specific tasks and roles, most significantly represented by a division of male and female gender roles. Women are associated with fertility and fecundity. The cow was celebrated for its ability to produce offspring and milk, Common among many iron smelting societies throughout Africa is the conception of iron smelting as a procreative act between  female" furnaces” and male" bellows and smelters.

Engaging in iron smelting in Karagwe kingdom lead to the social, political and economic contributions as the following;

Expansion of trade, due to the iron smelting, People in karagwe kingdom produced different tools which contributed to the development of trade, they produced tools like spear, axes, hoes which exchanged with their neighbors with the items especial food staff like millet, this trade was involved the rout that connected the Ugandan.

Agriculture development in Karagwe was due to the development of iron smelting, by having the technological tools which used to cultivate in farms make them to develop in agriculture. Also many people in Karagwe were herders and so cows were the measure of wealth and power. Hence lead to the surplus hence increase the population of the people. 

Population growths in Karagwe were due to availability of food which was produced. This was possible because of presence of some of the tools made from iron which were used in cultivation of different crops hence surplus production. Before the discovery of iron people used simple and rudimentary tools which could not produce enough food for surplus and took a long time to finish a small portion of land since the tools were made of sticks, bronze and stone tools. Availability of food made people to reproduce and increased in number in Karagwe. Also population increased due to migration of people from different areas as they seek to employment in Karagwe. 

Security system and defense, due to the production such as spears, sticks and bronze which made from iron smelting helped to defend Karagwe kingdom, it helped to make peace among  the agriculturalist, herders and iron smelters against outside invaders who want to conquer the kingdom  and to control their political, economic and cultural aspects, and this security in the Karagwe kingdom, trade and other activities were conducted in a peace and harmony way hence development of Karagwe occurred. 

Iron smelting used as ritual religious symbolism, in this case the iron smelting resulted into great political authorities extending several centuries from the past during the 17th and 18th century, military power was initially realized in term of number with weapons made by iron bronze such as arrows and spears under the king’s command the army was able to protect the kingdom against internal and external enemies also the protection of the kingdom boundaries.

Therefore iron smelting in kingdom of karagwe contribute much to develop the kingdom by brought development of trade, agriculture, peace and maintain good life of the people for long time but at the time reach king Ndagara failed to control the kingdom and replaced by king Rumanyika.

REFERENCES

Berman C.M. Kinship and Behavior in Primates. Oxford University Press. pp. 478. Retrieved 3 May 2014. (2004)

Katoke, I. K. The Karagwe Kingdom: A history of the Abanyambo of North-west Tanzania c. 1400-1915. East Africa publishing house, Lusaka- Nairobi (1975)

Reid A, Maclean R. symbolism and the social context of Iron production in Karagwe, world archeology, 27, 144-161 (1995)

Schmidt, P. R: The journal of African History vol 38. Cambridge university press. London, (1997). Pg 393-421.