Sukuma people

The Sukuma are a Bantu ethnic group from the southeastern African Great Lakes region. They are the largest ethnic group in Tanzania, with an estimated 10 million members or 16 percent of the country's total population. Sukuma means "north" and refers to "people of the north." The Sukuma refer to themselves as Basukuma (plural) and Nsukuma (singular). The Sukuma live in northwestern Tanzania on or near the southern shores of Lake Victoria, and various areas of the administrative districts of the Mwanza, southwestern tip of Mara Region, Simiyu Region and Shinyanga Region. The northern area of their residence is in the Serengeti Plain. Sukuma families have migrated southward, into the Rukwa Region and Katavi Region, encroaching on the territory of the Pimbwe. These Sukuma have settled outside Pimbwe villages. The Sukuma land is mostly a flat, scrubless savannah plain between elevation. Twenty to forty inches () of rain fall from November to March. High temperatures range from while lows at night seldom drop below . The population is spread out among small farm plots and sparse vegetation. As with the Nyamwezi, all members of the five groups in Greater Unyamwezi identified themselves as Wanyamwezi to those outside of the "greater" area, but among themselves use Sukuma. They call themselves "Sukuma" (Northerners) when speaking to Nyamwezi, but use Nyamwezi when speaking to anyone else. The groups can be called the Nyamwezi–Sukuma complex, for, while never united, they were very closely related in attitude and way of life. Like most of their neighbors, they were an ethnic group divided into many smaller groups. Some claim they were a Nyamwezi people who had moved northwestward to escape Mirambo's raids with the result that game and tsetse re-occupied the deserted area. Unyanyembe, the most important kingdom of the Nyamwezi, centered on Tabora and obtained its meat supplies from the Sukuma.