Mfalikuivahaas ("one who is courageous and can address the public") are of chieftain bloodlines, 'Mfalmes', 'Chiefs', from Southern Africa at a time when Sub-Saharan African civilizations were rich in luxury products including incense, gold, ivory, and ebony.
Such a tribal assembly played an important role in the lives of many Africans contrasting as a form of governance to direct democracy today.
This ensured trust in high ranking circles, non-contestation of seats enthroned to siblings in addition to other reciprocal obligations fulfilled by the families carrying out rituals on behalf of the communities.
In the late 1800s there was a dispersal of the children/grandchildren of Mfalikuivahaa to the outposts where each was said to have made his or her mark in the subsequent urbanization and consolidation of the alliance of chieftains with each child or grandchild fashioning his or her state after their origins.
They were actively supported by the missionaries who attempted to change all indigenous beliefs, notably by razing the 'mahoka' huts where the local population worshiped their ancestors' spirits and by scorning their rites, dances and other ceremonies.Songea, (Ruvuma) was the centre of African resistance during the Maji Maji Rebellion in German East Africa temporarily uniting a number of southern tribes.
Alongside the growth of nationalist movements among the educated elite and the organization of trade unions among workers, there was a disruption of chieftain family politics, a restructuring of ethnic identification, and a resort to modern solutions.