Reconstructing the causes of death in Songea district, Tanzania during the early colonial period: Peramiho parish register, 1990-1995

Abstract

The idea that pre-colonial and early colonial was characterised by hifh mortality, and that the introduction of Western medicine arrested this situation is a well-founded notion in African historiography. Few studies have however been conducted on the causes for the assumed high mortality rate in pre-colonial and /or early colonial period in Tanzania. Using information collected from parish register data, this article addresses this weakness and presents three main findings. First, it points out that the courses of death depend on number of historical, economic, social and ecological factors. Second, the article points out that the main causes(s) of earth is, at any time, influence by historical events the affect human communities. Finally, the article argues that the victims of death are not ‘any’ or ‘all’ but rather those who, according to the historical situation of the time, are the weak link, and the most exposed and most vulnerable to conditions of death.