The Rangi ( Rangi: Valangi; Swahili: Warangi) are a

Bantu-speaking The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀) are a large family of languages spoken by the Bantu people of Central, Southern, Eastern africa and Southeast Africa. They form the largest branch of the Southern Bantoid languages. The tot ...

ethnic group of mixed

Bantu Bantu may refer to: *Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages *Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language * Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle *Black Association for National ...

and

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 ...

heritage in the

Dodoma Region Dodoma Region (''Mkoa wa Dodoma'' in Swahili language, Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative Regions of Tanzania, regions. The regional capital is the city of Dodoma. The region is located in central Tanzania, it is bordered by Singid ...

of central

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 ...

. In 2022, the Rangi population was estimated to number 880,000.

Endonym & Exonym

The Rangi use the

endonym An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, ...

''Valangi'' to refer to themselves, however the Swahili

exonym An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, ...

''Warangi'' is more commonly used in Tanzania to refer to group. Likewise, the Rangi use the endonym '' Kilangi'' to refer to their language, but most people in Tanzania use the Swahili exonym of ''Kirangi'' instead. In

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, the Swahili

plural The plural (sometimes abbreviated pl., pl, or ), in many languages, is one of the values of the grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than the default quantity represented by that noun. This de ...

prefix A prefix is an affix which is placed before the Word stem, stem of a word. Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word. For example, when the prefix ''un-'' is added to the word ''happy'', it creates the word ''unhappy'' ...

of ''Wa'' and the Swahili artifact prefix of ''Ki'' are often dropped, resulting in both the people and language being referred to as Rangi.

History

Sources differ on when the Rangi became a distinct ethnic group, with some suggesting approximately 300 AD and others say around the range of 1500-1700. Despite being a Bantu ethnic group, most Rangi do not believe that their ancestors came from the West, and that they actually came from the North and East (

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

and

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

). Meanwhile, other Rangi believe that their ancestors originated from the West. This makes sense as the Rangi have both

(Northeastern) and Bantu (Western) heritage. When the Rangi arrived in the Dodoma region they began assimilating surrounding

Cushitic peoples Cushitic speaking peoples refers to the ethnic groups who speak Cushitic languages as a native language. Cushitic languages are today spoken primarily in the Horn of Africa, with minorities speaking Cushitic languages to the north and south in Eg ...

, primarily the Alagwa and Burunge. The Rangi also assimilated the neighboring Nyaturu people, another Bantu ethnic group.

References

*Fosbrooke, H.A. 1958 “Blessing the Year: a Wasi/Rangi Ceremony”, ''Tanganyika Notes and Records'' 50, 21-2 *Fosbrooke, H.A. 1958 “A Rangi Circumcision Ceremony: Blessing a New Grove”, ''Tanganyika Notes and Records'' 50, 30-36 *Gray, R.F. 1953 “Notes on Irangi Houses”, ''Tanganyika Notes and Records'' 35, 45-52 *Kesby, J. 1981 “The Rangi of Tanzania: An introduction to their culture”, HRAF: Yale *Kesby, J. 1982 “Progress and the past among the Rangi of Tanzania”, HRAF: Yale *Kesby, J. 1986 “Rangi natural history: The taxonomic procedures of an African people”, HRAF: Yale *Maingu, Yovin & Brunhilde Bossow, 2006 "Mazingira ya Warangi na Wajerumani wa Kale", Published by ''Heimat- und Kulturverein Gellersen'' (Society for History and Culture of the Gellersen villages, Germany) *Masare, A.J. 1970 “Utani Relationships: The Rangi”, unpublished manuscript, Dar es Salaam *Mung’ong’o, Claude G. 1995 “Social Processes and Ecology in the Kondoa Irangi Hills, Central Tanzania”, Stockholm University, Dept. of Human Geography, Meddlanden Series B 93 *Östberg, W. 1979 “The Kondoa Transformation”, research report no. 76, SIAS: UppsalaUppsala *It was made clear that all Rangi people came from Bahi district in the middle of 18890 Ethnic groups in Tanzania Indigenous peoples of East Africa {{tanzania-ethno-group-stub