West Kimbu

Kimbu country extends through the wooded interior towards Lake Rukwa. Its people lived in many small chiefdoms, often centred on a village or a group of villages. Hunting and gathering were important alongside cultivation, and communities moved across a wide area of forest. Chiefs represented their ancestors and held ritual as well as political authority; some were associated with rainmaking. Their chiefly emblems included shells, signs of authority shared with other societies of western Tanzania.