Vidunda

They noted that in Vidunda social structures the * ikungugo is transmitted through the mother and forms the basis of a "matriarchy."

Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008

Note 31: Tanzanian colonial officials inadvertently captured the essence of mulungu as both spirits and afflictions that called for mganga treatments in Vidunda communities.

Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008

The proto-West Ruvu language evolved into the ancestral Gogo and a short-lived proto-Vidunda-Sagala community, which soon thereafter diverged into distinct Vidunda and Sagala speech communities.

Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008

With this rate of cognation it is likely that the proto-West Ruvu language began diverging into Vidunda-Sagala and Gogo as long ago as the early part of the second millennium, probably by around the eleventh or twelfth century CE.

Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008

Note that Doe is positioned more closely to Kagulu, and that Sagala and Vidunda are placed nearer to Lugulu than either is to Gogo.

Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008

West Ruvu forms a rather straightforward group with the three members, Sagala, Vidunda, and Gogo.

Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008

Judging from their word transfers, exchanges with Njombe began, as we witnessed, with their proto-West Ruvu ancestor, but were carried on in early Gogo and Vidunda speech communities.

Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008

Because the Sagala speech territory in recent centuries has been close to those of the Lugulu and Kami, while Vidunda adjoins Lugulu at the southwest, these higher figures can be taken to reflect close cultural relations dating since the split of the proto-West Ruvu society, that is, after the eleventh century.

Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008

The divergence of Vidunda and Sagala would have happened only slightly later, based on their shared rate of 81%.

Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008

The Vidunda, whose populations were probably significantly smaller in comparison with the Sagala and Gogo, resided largely in the far southern areas of Kilosa District where the topography has striking contrasts between low-lying plains and high mountainous zones. 98 This period of language divergence resulted in the development of the modern West Ruvu communities by 1500.

Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008