From marginality to expansion : three polities on the East African central caravan route in the late pre-colonial era

The article concerns the origins and political structures of three polities that emerged during the last decades of the pre-colonial era in the central part of present-day Tanzania. They are usually known under their leaders’ names: Mirambo, Nyungu-ya-Mawe, and Mkwawa. The article pinpoints structural differences between the polities and accounts for them in the light of political anthropology, especially drawing on the concepts of chiefdom and the early state but also taking into account the views of their critics. In conclusion, questions about their shared features are addressed.