Manyema

Manyema (Una-Ma-Nyema, eaters of flesh), a powerful and in the past warlike Bantu-Negroid people in the southeast of the Congo basin and in the Kigoma region of Western Tanzania.

In Tanzania they include various sub tribes , wabwari, wamasanze, wabembe e.t. they have made considerable contribution in fields like soccer ,music and politics .

The women were described as extremely beautiful, they were seen as fiercely independent and seductive, many songs were written about them. They made up the rubric of many harems and gained more freedom than what their other female counterparts were allowed.

Manyemaland was for the greater part of the 19th century an Eldorado of the Arab slave raiders.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.