Resource 4: Cattle in traditional life – the Hima

 Background information / subject knowledge for teacher

Ankole (Nkole) is a large kingdom in southwestern Uganda, where the pastoralist Hima established dominion over the agricultural Iru some time before the 19^th century. The Hima and Iru established close relations based on trade and symbolic recognition, but they were unequal partners in these relations. The Iru were legally and socially inferior to the Hima, and the symbol of this inequality was cattle, which only the Hima could own. The two groups retained their separate identities through rules prohibiting intermarriage and, when such marriages occurred, making them invalid. The name Hima actually comes from early Cushitic cattle herders who invaded the Bantu farmers. Being the elite, they identified with the tall, darker Nilotic invaders who came later from the north, like the Bito. Both these invading peoples settled down and took up the language of the earlier Bantu people. The Hima gave their name to a form of the Bantu speech they, along with their relatives the Tutsi, learned from the Bantu they conquered.

The Hima provided cattle products that otherwise would not have been available to Iru farmers. Because the Hima population was much smaller than the Iru population, gifts and tribute demanded by the Hima could be supplied fairly easily. These factors probably made Hima-Iru relations tolerable, but they were nonetheless reinforced by the superior military organisation and training of the Hima.

The kingdom of Ankole expanded by annexing territory to the south and east. In many cases, conquered herders were incorporated into the dominant Hima stratum of society, and agricultural populations were adopted as Iru or slaves and treated as legal inferiors. Neither group could own cattle, and slaves could not herd cattle owned by the Hima.

Ankole society evolved into a system of ranked statuses, where even among the cattle-owning elite, patron-client ties were important in maintaining social order. Men gave cattle to the king (mugabe) to demonstrate their loyalty and to mark lifecycle changes or victories in cattle-raiding. This loyalty was often tested by the king's demands for cattle or for military service. In return for homage and military service, a man received protection from the king, both from external enemies and from factional disputes with other cattle owners.

The mugabeauthorised his most powerful chiefs to recruit and lead armies on his behalf, and these warrior bands were charged with protecting Ankole borders. Only Hima men could serve in the army, however, and the prohibition on Iru military training almost eliminated the threat of Iru rebellion. Iru legal inferiority was also symbolised in the legal prohibition against Iru owning cattle. And, because marriages were legitimised through the exchange of cattle, this prohibition helped reinforce the ban on Hima-Iru intermarriage. The Iru were also denied high-level political appointments, although they were often appointed to assist local administrators in Iru villages.

The Iru had a number of ways to redress grievances against Hima overlords, despite their legal inferiority. Iru men could petition the king to end unfair treatment by a Hima patron. Iru people could not be subjugated to Hima cattle-owners without entering into a patron-client contract.

A number of social pressures worked to destroy Hima domination of Ankole. Intermarriage took place despite prohibitions, and children of these unions (abambari) often demanded their rights as cattle owners, leading to feuding and cattle-raiding. From what is present-day Rwanda, groups launched repeated attacks against the Hima during the 19^th century. To counteract these pressures, several Hima warlords recruited Iru men into their armies to protect the southern borders of Ankole. And, in some outlying areas of Ankole, people abandoned distinctions between Hima and Iru after generations of maintaining legal distinctions that had begun to lose their importance.

Adapted from: Country Studies, Website

Cattle raising is still a prestigious occupation, generally reserved for people of Hima descent. A typical Hima herdsman will be out grazing his herd. His home is a group of huts. Before his marriage, he may share one with his mother, one is a kitchen, the others may belong to a brother with a wife and children. When the herdsman is to be married, his bride’s family select ten cows from his kraal. This is called okujugisa.

Ankole means ‘the land where milk and honey freely flow down the village paths’.

The Ankole cow is the symbol of the Mbarara district.

Adapted from: OK State, Website

The Ankole cattle are distributed from Lake Mobutu to Lake Tanganyika in eastern Africa. The original animals are thought to have been brought to northern Uganda by Hamitic tribes sometime between the 13^th and the 15^th centuries. The Ankole's susceptiblity to the tsetse fly forced the tribes and their cattle further south. The Hima or Bahima people settled on the shores of Lake Victoria in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzani. The Watusi or Tutsi people continued to Rwanda and Burundi with their cattle, some of which have spread to the lake districts of Zaire. All these groups select cattle based on horn size.

The small-uddered Ankole cows yield small amounts of milk but milking is an important ritual in some groups. A few groups use the cattle for work, none use them for meat. In general the animals are highly prized as status symbols, for ceremonial functions and not for their productivity.