Mbulu is a town in

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

and the capital of the

Mbulu District Mbulu District is one of the six districts of the Manyara Region of Tanzania. It is bordered to the north by the Arusha Region and Lake Eyasi, to the east by the Babati Rural District, to the south by the Hanang District, and to the west by the S ...

. The town is inhabited by the

Iraqw people The Iraqw People (; are the Cushitic-speaking ethnic group inhabiting the northern Tanzanian regions. They are a significant group in originating in southwestern Arusha and Manyara regions of Tanzania, near the Rift Valley. The Iraqw people se ...

. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Mbulu is also in Mbulu. Mbulu is located in the

Mbulu Highlands The Mbulu Highlands is a plateau in north-central Tanzania. The Mbulu Highlands lie between the basins of Lake Eyasi to the west and Lake Manyara to the east. The highlands extend northeast-southwest. A steep northeast-southwest-running escarpme ...

. The town, also known as Imboru among the Iraqw speakers, is the core of the Iraqw people, who speak a

Cushitic The Cushitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken primarily in the Horn of Africa, with minorities speaking Cushitic languages to the north in Egypt and the Sudan, and to the south in Kenya and Tanzania. As o ...

language. Mbulu was founded by Germans in 1907 when they colonized former German East Africa (Tanganyika, Burundi and Rwanda). Mbulu's climate favoured Germans, and the hospitality of the indigenous people favoured them. Germans were less harsh to the Iraqw people than to the rest of the Tanganyikans. Thus Iraqw were used by Germans on white-collar jobs. Today most Afro-German with Tanzanian ancestry are Iraqw from Mbulu. During the British regime, Mbulu peasants were able to form trade unions, particularly the Mbulu Wheat Growers association (1923). The main economic activities in Mbulu are agriculture and trade. Mbulu area is one of the earliest wheat-growing plantations.

References

Mbulu District Populated places in Manyara Region {{Manyara-geo-stub