Mbwaa

The location is commonly referred to as Mbwaa. ==Time period==

Meru traditions agree that their identity formed on Mbwaa. According to traditions captured by Fadiman (1960's), the last age-set recalled to have lived on Mbwaa were the Ntangi, a period dated to circa 1700. ==Way of life==

The way of life practiced on Mbwaa includes practices of both communities. It is presently unclear to whom what pertains. Trade In the telling, the people of Mbwaa were traders. They sold ivory to a figure referred to as Mukuna Ruku around whom a body of related folklore has grown. Agriculture Accounts indicate that men of Mbwaa also kept goats, sheep, and short-horned cattle. Through trade they acquired donkeys from a people re-called as Cucu (Somali). The donkeys drew water from '''shallow wells dug near the island's center'''. The wells also supported crops of millet and yams, supplemented by sugar cane, bananas, and sap from a palm that was brewed into beer. ==Conquest & Invasion==

In all accounts, the people of Mbwaa were conquered by an invading people that appear to have a different way of life. Inconsistencies however are found in the description of the invaders. The conquest and invasion traditions contain within them a number of narratives that can and have been tangentially linked to either the Ngaa or Murutu communities. Ngaa traditions In some accounts, the invaders arrive in a large sailing vessel that landed on the mainland opposite the islands western shore. Invaders from the ships then crossed the intervening waters on crude wooden rafts. These narratives tend to portray a period of submission to the new rulers before which the islanders grew hostile, refusing to herd flocks and till fields as commanded. All these are congruent with present understanding of Shungwaya traditions. ==References==