The Maasai and Pastoralism in Colonial Africa

A line drawn on a map in Europe can cut a herder’s land in two. For the Maasai, it did. Cattle were their wealth, and grass was their life. Colonial rule took much of both.

In this lesson, we meet Africa’s pastoralists and focus on the Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania. We see how borders, reserves and a cattle plague changed their world. Then we see who gained and who lost inside Maasai society.

1Who are Africa’s pastoralists?

Herding is a big part of life in Africa. Many communities live by it. They include the Bedouins, Berbers, Somali, Boran, Turkana and Maasai. Most live in dry or semi-arid land.

The Maasai live mainly in Kenya and northern Tanzania. Their language is Maa. Cattle sit at the heart of their way of life. In the 2019 census, Kenya counted about 1.19 million Maasai.

• Pastoralists: Bedouins, Somali, Boran, Turkana, Maasai.
• Maasai homeland: Kenya and Tanzania.

2How was Maasailand divided?

In 1884 and 1885, European powers met at the Berlin Conference. They set rules for carving up Africa. School texts say that in 1885 a border cut Maasailand between British Kenya and German Tanganyika.

The loss was large. School texts say the Maasai lost about 60 per cent of their land. They were pushed into a small, dry zone. Rain there was uncertain, and herds could not roam far.

• 1884-85: Berlin Conference sets the rules of the Scramble for Africa.
• Maasailand split: British Kenya and German Tanganyika.
• About 60% of land lost, say school texts.

3What did the Emutai and rinderpest do?

The Maasai call the years 1883 to 1902 the Emutai. It was a time of disease, drought and famine. Cattle and people died in huge numbers. Rains failed in 1897 and 1898.

Rinderpest was a main cause. It spread across Africa in the 1890s. A German officer first estimated that about 90 per cent of cattle in his area died. Some accounts say two-thirds of the Maasai in Tanzania died of famine.

Where did it begin? Many books say infected cattle came with the Italian army in Eritrea. Historians still debate this. What is clear is that the plague broke herds and weakened the people who depended on them.

• Emutai: 1883-1902. Disease, drought, famine.
• Rinderpest in the 1890s: perhaps 90% of cattle lost in some areas.
• Origin in Eritrea is debated.

4How did reserves and parks change Maasai life?

Colonial rulers wanted order. They also wanted land for settlers and wildlife. In the 1940s, the Maasai lost land between Mount Meru and Mount Kilimanjaro. They also lost fertile highlands near Ngorongoro.

More land became parks and reserves. Amboseli, Nairobi National Park and Maasai Mara in Kenya were among them. In Tanzania, the list includes Serengeti and Tarangire.

In 1951, British colonial officials removed all Maasai from the Serengeti National Park. The park boundaries were fixed that year. In 1959, a large eastern part was split off as the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. It was meant to allow Maasai land use alongside wildlife.

• 1940s: land lost near Meru, Kilimanjaro and Ngorongoro.
• 1951: Maasai removed from Serengeti.
• 1959: Ngorongoro Conservation Area created.

5How did Maasai society work?

Maasai life was ordered by age. The Maasai use an age-set system. It is a custom shared with their Cushitic-speaking neighbours.

School texts describe two main groups. Elders settled disputes in councils. Young warriors, the morans, defended the community and organised cattle raids. Men moved from warrior to elder status over time.

The laibon was central to religion. This leader healed, foretold the future and prayed for rain. A laibon’s power came from personality more than position.

• Elders: councils. Morans: defence and raids.
• Age-based groups, not castes.
• Laibon: healing, prophecy, rain.

6Who gained and who lost?

The British appointed chiefs over Maasai groups. They also limited raiding. That weakened both elders and warriors.

Chiefs gained from the new order. School texts say they grew wealthy, lent money, and earned from outside herding. They survived hard years better.

Poor herders had little to fall back on. After drought, war or famine, many lost all their cattle. Some became labourers in towns. A new gap of rich and poor now ran beside the old age divide.

• British-appointed chiefs grew wealthy.
• Poor herders often became labourers.
• A new rich-poor divide appeared.

7What are the exam traps?

• The Maasai border split came in the Scramble for Africa, long before independence.
• Elders and warriors are age groups, not fixed castes.
• Serengeti and other parks were carved from Maasai grazing land. They are not only conservation stories.
• Rinderpest struck cattle. It is not the same as sleeping sickness.
• The Ngorongoro area came in 1959. The Serengeti removal came in 1951.