Explain the impact of the economic interactions
The economic impacts of the interaction can be grouped into two as positive and negative
impacts as elaborated below:
Positive economic impacts.
Development of technical skills and new ideas: Interaction led people of Africa from
different communities to share their skills and ideas for economic growth.
- Growth of new towns and cities:Interaction among African people led to the development
of new towns as most of the populated areas grew economically due to the population increase
and production activities such as trade and agricultural activities. - Foundation for future economic development:The foundation was made through
improvement of infrastructures and social services which aimed to meet the socio-economic
demands of the growing population. - Intensification of agricultural production to meet the demand on the market: Following
the market demands for agricultural products as they were highly demanded then intensification
of agricultural production was inevitable.
Negative economic impacts.
- Overexploitation of African resources: Interaction among African people resulted in
overexploitation of African resources through trade which was unequal in nature. - Emergence of classes among the Africans: Classes emerged dividing poor Africans from
rich Africans who accumulated wealth from different economic, social and political activities. - Exposure of Africa to the outside world:African country and its resources came to be
exposed to the outside world due to interaction.Decrease of productive manpower due to slave
trade; through interaction the outsiders started to take slaves from Africa to their mother
countries as labor power.
Impacts of social interaction.
- Population increase: Areas that attracted large numbers of people became highly
populated, especially productive areas. The increased population resulted into socio-economic
development in the given areas which facilitated immigration. - Emergence of new languages: Asdifferent people interacted new languages emerged. For
example, the Swahili language emerged due to interaction between Arabs, Africans and
Europeans
The Coming of the Ngoni.
Reasons for the Ngoni migration.
- The Ngoni migrated due to the tyrannical and dictatorial rule of Shaka: The Zulu ruler
was cruel in nature as he severely tortured people and those who failed to respond to his order
were killed. Due to this some people decided to seek refuge by migrating to other areas. - External pressure from the British and Boers: They moved because of external pressure
from the British and Boers in the South who were moving Northwards occupying their land. - It was due to overpopulation: Thiswas caused by the fertility of soils and the reliability of
rainfall between Drakensberg Mountains and the Indian Ocean. - Pastoralism reason: Some Ngoni people owned large herds of cattle and northwards
looking for pasture and water for their animals. So they wanted to look for more fertile land for
their cattle. They also experienced famine and drought that led to lack of food and water. - The influence of their leaders: Men like Zwangendaba, Maputo and Zulugama provided
good leadership. This encouraged them to move onwards. - Overstocking: It could also have been due to overstocking of their animals as they were
having spirit of cattle rustling, i.e. they had great desire to steal other people‟s cattle. For
example they went on driving away and confiscating other people‟s cattle during their conquest
and expansionist wars. - Increased knowledge of military tactics by the age regiments:These were powerful
military forces and dedicated to professional war, which was their livelihood. They believed that
they could have other territories through migration.
Movement and settlement of the Ngoni to East Africa.
They began their movement from South-East Africa in Northern Zulu land under the leadership
of Zwangendaba in 1820. The Ngoni migration took place in the 19th century, and was the last
major movement of Bantu people into East Africa
There were three groups of the Ngoni in East Africa as:
- The Ngoni Tuta
- The Ngoni Ngwangara
- The Ngoni Maseko
