Modern History
The current Chagga population is estimated at about 2 million. They once used to live under the rule of the Mangi Mkuu, even though they are not as organised as they used to be, and the Mangi is not involved in the day to day activities and life of the modern chagga. The Mangi's are still respected by the chagga. The Paramount chief (chief of all chiefs) is Mangi Marealle. The chagga are now modern wage earners in large modernised cities or abroad and entrepreneurs in the tourism industry around Kilimanjaro and Arusha areas. The Chagga still try to hold on to some of their traditions like the allocation a kihamba, a plot of land for each family. A kihamba is a Chagga family plot of land, usually passed down from generation to generation. Coffee is the primary cash crop for many Chagga people after its introduction to the area in the late nineteenth century, although bananas and maize are also staples. The Chagga are also famous for a traditional brew known as mbege. It is made from a special variety of bananas and millet.
Read more about this topic: Chaga People
Famous quotes containing the words modern history, modern and/or history:
“A turning point in modern history.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“My idea is that the world outside—the so-called modern world—can only pervert and degrade the conceptions of the primitive instinct of art and feeling, and that our only chance is to accept the limited number of survivors—the one- in-a-thousand of born artists and poets—and to intensify the energy of feeling within that radiant centre.”
—Henry Brooks Adams (1838–1918)
“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)