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The Kaguru, or Kagulu, are an ethnic and linguistic group based in central Tanzania. In 1987 the Kaguru population was estimated to number 217,000.〔http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=TZ〕 == Geography == Ukagura (Kaguraland, about 3,600 square miles) lies roughly 200 miles directly due west of Bagamoyo and Sadani on the 'Street of Caravans' (reached by the German caravan of Stokes on August 12, 1890, about two and three weeks after starting from Sadani). The mountains formed part of a belt stretching diagonally from southwest to northeast across the East Rift system of German East Africa. To the west and north lies the central plateau comprising two-thirds of Tanzania. There are three very different areas, the core, the plateau, and the lowlands. The core is mass of mountain peaks (6,000–7,000 ft.) considered part of the east rift system, and represents one third of the area. In the German Sergeant Bauer's time only a few of its mountains were, and remain today, thickly wooded, for most were already deforested because of the iron smelting industry with its intense need for charcoal and the severe agricultural clearing. After the coming of the Germans much land was preserved as woodland reserved and can be considered beautiful semitropical forestland of great density and abundant rain. The steep terrain had a network of valleys ideal for refugees escaping raids, particularly from the Hehe of the south and the Maasai of the north and is considered the 'heartland'. The word 'Kaguru' refers to the highlands with heavy rain (100 inches on the peaks) that was cool and capable of the regular production of vegetables, and some rice, millet, and plantains. It contained no maize. Next the plateau is a land of less rain and more warmth, of large expanses of scrubland and forest, scattered peaks and rocky outcrops, a land of dry and wet seasons. It is a land of periodic famine due to drought, but healthier than the damp and chilly 'heartland'. It was after more peaceful time had arrived that people began returning to the 'Street of Caravans' and the caravan's resting places. Generally the very largest livestock holdings were kept here. The remaining 20 percent had the most extreme contrast between wet and dry seasons. Lying below 2,000 feet altitude it had the least dependable agricultural conditions, being a flat grassy plain, it was most vulnerable to raiding, difficult to defend against these raids, was most prone to cattle diseases, and contained the largest number of non-Kagura who had settled either as refugees or part of the very impressive caravan trade. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kaguru people」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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