Gogo (ethnic group)

The Gogo (singular: mgogo, plural: Wagogo) are a Bantu ethnic and linguistic group based in the Dodoma Region of central Tanzania. In 1992 the Gogo population was estimated to number 1,300,000.[1] The Gogo have historically been predominantly pastoralist and patrilineal (tracing descent and inheritance through the male line), but many contemporary Gogo now practice settled agriculture, have migrated to urban areas, or work on plantations throughout Tanzania.

Their name was invented sometime in the 19th century by the Nyamwezi caravans passing through the area while it was still frontier territory. Richard Francis Burton claimed a very small population for it, saying only that a person could walk for two weeks and find only scattered Tembes. There was and remains the problem of inadequate rain for crops and humans, the rainy season being short and erratic with frequent drought. In the 18th century the Wagogo were mostly pioneer colonists from Unyamwesi and Uhehe, and are often confused with the Sandawe and the Kaguru. Half the ruling group came from Uhehe. They had a long tradition of hunting and gathering, allowing the Wanyamwezi to carry the ivory to the coast, but had become agriculturalists with cattle by 1890. They continued, however, to have a low regard for working the land and are said to have treated their agricultural slaves badly.

The Wagogo experienced famine in 1881, 1885, and 1888–89 (just before Stokes' caravan arrived) and then again in 1894–95, and 1913–14. The main reason for the exceptional series of famines in Ugogo was its unreliable rainfall and the ensuing series of droughts.

Ugogo has had a mixed economy of agriculture and herding, but most heavily depended on grain from agriculture. Traditionally, cultivation work parties of about twenty men and women were held from January through March, and lasted all day with a beer party at the end. People came from an area less than five miles; mostly they were close neighbors. Generally, however, agricultural cultivation played a secondary role to the livestock cycle.

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