Mbulu is a town in Tanzania and the capital of the Mbulu District. The town is inhabited by people who identify as Iraqi people. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Mbulu is also located in Mbulu.
Mbulu also (known as Imboru among the Iraqw speakers) is the town in Northern Tanzania. The town is the core of minority Cushitic speakers (Iraqi people) in Tanzania. The town was founded by Germans in 1907 when they colonized former German East Africa (Tanganyika, Burundi and Rwanda). Mbulu climate favored Germans, also the hospitality of the indigenous favored them. Germans were less harsh to the Iraqi people than the rest Tanganyikans. Thus Iraqw were used by Germans on white collar jobs. Today most Afro-Germans with Tanzanian ancestry are Iraqw from Mbulu. The main economic activities in Mbulu are Agriculture and Trade. Mbulu area is one of the earliest Wheat growing Plantations. During the British regime, Mbulu peasants were able to form a trade union,
WHAT IS THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME MBULU? KNOW THE HISTORY OF THE NAME MBULU NOW!
While the Iraqis were still living in “Irqwar Da/aw“, that is, they had not yet started moving to the Mbulu areas, there was a girl named Imbori who became pregnant, that is, Doroway.
Doroway was bringing “meeta“ impurity to the family concerned and a girl was not allowed to give birth at home and could not marry any Iraqi, so Imbori had to be expelled from them so that her safety would be to marry a person from another tribe, that is, “homo“, who are often Wadatoga or Wambugwe.
But there were procedures to follow and it was the same for Imbori. When she was found pregnant, Imbori had her hair shaved and ashes applied to her head as an identification that she had a “doroway“, she was given food which was often potatoes or roasted maize (these were always available due to the weather of Irqwar Da/aw) and was led by her brother who was walking in front of her to hand over to “homo“ any who came forward if they wanted a wife or food, when they ran out they would die there in the bush or be eaten by animals.
They reached a place called Mantla where one road leads to Murray and the other to Kainam and since Nade Be/a who is a famous healer from Manda do Bayo was staying in Murray they did not dare to go through that famous road as “tlo/u /awaak“ which was also the way of the Maasai who were a threat to the Iraqis so they went through the Kainam road to Aya Ma/ami where she managed to find the “homo“ she married and left with him to Mbulu.
When she got married, the “meeta“ ended and then her brothers (perhaps even herself later) followed her in the same way as her husband and succeeded in finding her and eventually visiting her frequently.
When visiting her there, they would say we are going to Imbori “do imboru kawaan“ and eventually it became known as kwa Imboru and finally Imboru.
When the Germans arrived and could not pronounce Imboru they said Mbulu and then finally the name Mbulu became “official“
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