Other sources on the origin of the term Haya cite oral accounts that state it derives from a goddess named Muhaya, whose father was King Ruhinda Mushure.

[9] Iron tools may have helped expand agricultural production in the region which included a combination of cereal crop cultivation (finger millet and sorghum), root-cropping, and the gradual use of beans.

[11] Religion played a prominent role in pre-dynastic social structure as well and included Bachwezi beliefs guided by practitioners (spirit mediums, diviners, priests and priestesses) capable of communicating with or channeling ancient Bacwezi gods and goddesses.

[11][3] When the German colonial government established their rule in Tanganyika in the 1890s, there were six Haya kingdoms: Kiziba, Ihangiro, Kihanja, Bukara, Lesser Kyamtwara, and Bugabo.

Oral accounts describe how the initial training period lasted 10 days and included moral instruction on what was required of boys regarding their duties to the kingdom and their sub-county.

[22] After this initial period, boys were sent to the king's royal court for further training that included sports, games, dancing, and singing, all of which were competitive and consisted of each sub-county competing against the other.

[25] The new moon ceremonies also required kings to visit sacred centers throughout their kingdom with offerings to ancient Bacwezi gods and goddesses believed to be capable of bringing prosperity, fertility, famine, and disease.

Goods brought in for exchange included copper coils, cloth, salt, trade beads, Chinese porcelain, and cowrie shells.

The introduction of cowrie shells (ensimbi) purportedly displaced the traditional Haya barter system, becoming a form of currency as well as an object used in rituals.

[20] The presence of Arab traders at Kafuo was, however, short-lived after locals murdered Ahmed bin Ibrahim for his alleged meddling in internal power dynamics following the death of King Rumanyika I of Karagwe.

Stanley's expedition, subsidized by the New York Herald and The Daily Telegraph, was to continue mapping the region's lakes and rivers initiated by Speke and Grant.

[30] Stanley's party, setting up camp on Bumbire Island, negotiated with King Ntare II and secured passage north through to Karagwe on their way to Buganda.

Pasha, with a contingent of around 40 soldiers, established a German boma in Bukoba which at the time was a swamp of uninhabited lower-lands along the shore of Lake Victoria.

[3][20][21] In addition to establishing a boma, Pasha drew up treaties to submit to Haya kings and recognized chiefs in the region before the arrival of his successor Lieutenant Wilhelm Langheld.

1898–1902) he, along with a contingent of askaris and Bahamba (citizens of Kihanja) under the leadership of King Kahigi II, murdered hundreds of Haya from Bukara Kingdom.

[34][35][36] Archaeologist Peter R. Schmidt discovered evidence through a combination of archaeology and oral tradition that the Haya had been smelting iron ore to make carbon steel for around 2300–2000 years.

Elders at Kataruka informed Schmidt that their ancestors had smelted iron underneath a sacred shrine tree called Kaiija ("the place of the forge").

[38][40] In the 1970s and 1980s, Schmidt documented a series of experimental smelts to understand social, cultural, and technological processes of past Haya iron making.

"[7] This hypothesis proposes that preheating was a critical component to Early Iron Age technologies in the region, allowing temperatures inside a furnace to reach 1300 to 1400 °C.

[45] Pollen core samples in the region document the loss of forested habitats and the expansion of grasslands beginning around the 2nd millennium BC and continuing up to the 11th century AD.

[9][15] It is argued that part of the advancement of grasslands in Kagera Region was due to iron smelting as it required the production of charcoal on a large scale.

Made out of flexible reeds, wooden poles, banana fiber, and grass, mushonge are built from the top down and are circular in shape with a conical peak.

[50][48] The spatial arrangement of each mushonge is defined by wooden poles for structural support and include sections for men and women, corralling animals, and shrines honoring ancestors.

[18][51] To overcome these challenges, the Haya practice mixed farming framed around three types of land: the banana grove (kibanja) surrounding the homestead, tended to all year round as bananas are a perennial plant; family plots (musiri) for supplementary foods such as maize, cassava, sweet potatoes, and other staple foods; and communal grasslands (rweya) for animal grazing and grass cutting for various uses such as mulching, thatching, and flooring.

[52] The popular food dish matoke includes beans with either beef or fish, and it is seen as a fulfilling meal compared to only consuming crops like maize and cassava.

[16] Moreover, the spread of Banana Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW) into the region around 2006 is changing the kibanja way of life, leading to a greater reliance on other crops such as cassava and maize.

[57] Another concern cited is the growing youth population in the region and its impact on land inheritance as fathers divide their landholdings to such a degree that kibanja plots are too small to produce enough bananas to feed new families, leading more Haya to orient their efforts to developing communal grasslands (rewya).

Research on Haya ethnomedicine documents the use of dozens of plant species for treating a range of health issues from malaria, skin conditions, infections and wounds, gastrointestinal disorders, and gynecological problems.

[47] Today, it is not uncommon for a Haya person to seek the services of both a traditional doctor as well as trained medical specialists working at local dispensaries and clinics.

As is the case in many African societies, among the Haya musical performances are inseparable from the daily events and the social, political and cultural life of the community.