Rengua was born to Mangi Kombe II, son of Kiwaria, a great warrior in the late 1790s in Machame.
Rebmann's accompanying Swahili guide, a Zigua named Bwana Kheri, had personally seen a frost-bitten survivor of Mangi Rengua's silver mission, meaning that the event had not happened many years back.
Rengua was unique in that he lay the groundwork for what would eventually grow to be the most powerful dynasty in the entire Kikafu basin for generations to come.
It began by being similar to the concurrent development of independent leaders, some of whom had the rank of mangi, in various areas of the region to the west of the river.
[13] Due to the gift of an iron spear, which provided him a tactical edge over his rivals in the Kikafu basin region who were unaware of such a weapon, Rengua rose to prominence.
According to legend, Rengua was horrified to see the blood of the first man he murdered with this spear and, after ordering a fat goat to be cut, he gave one of his kids the name "Kishongu," or "Skin Ring," as a token of atonement for his deed.
[16][17] When the other strong competitor leaders in the Kombe, Lema, and Nkya clans saw Rengua with the spear, they were terrified and submitted to his authority.
Later, he learned how to wield iron spears and taught them to his supporters before being elected as the first Mangi of Machame and taking control of the Kikafu basin.
According to current oral traditions in Machame, Rengua discovered from hunting parties that a Masai tribe known as Wakuavi was wandering the plain, that they possessed cattle and iron, that they were highly skilled fighters, and that they had defeated the Pare people.
The club, which was previously unknown in Machame, is added to the gift of the original spear handed to Rengua by the oral tradition.
[21] This still leaves the origin of the gift up for debate, as the Masai treatment might equally refer to people living in the plains or the Orio clan, which is said to have descended from the Maasai.
From Foo, the rest of the Kikafu basin region was the easy pickings; it was less fortified with iron spears and more cattle-rich than Rengua's realm.
Rengua's warriors would have rarely traded dry bananas, eleusine flour, and honey for meat and milk with the Wakuavi in Roo had the eastern Kikafu basin region (Foo, etc.)
His ascendancy increased when he traveled further west, past the Kikafu basin proper, to the nearby little nations of Nguni and Kyuu, whose citizens came from very diverse backgrounds.
[29] Part of the Orio clan, including the dominant figure Kirenga and his son and successor Kashenge, were residing on the expansive flat open territory at Owaa in that region of Lyamungo in present-day Machame Mashariki below the river crossing at the time of Rengua's initial raid.
The killing of foes in the past was considered part of the day's labor by the Chagga nowadays, but the Machame and Kibosho people still sing ancient depressing songs in remembrance of this particular event, which they find too disturbing.
Even though the episode occurred more than a century ago, it is one of those uncommon occurrences that men recall with tears in the history of the countries of Kilimanjaro, numbering possibly less than ten in total.
[33] The Orio clan symbolized a wealthy, powerful group of people who were completely outside of Rengua's control, which is what drove him to execute such an unnatural deed.
Rengua's main goal in his attacks to the west was to steal livestock, but in his raids on Kibosho to the east, he killed men, women, and children.
The Kibosho people were also subjected to "a very bad way" of torture by Rengua's soldiers, who would press hot banana peel against a man's body until he revealed where the women, children, and cattle were hiding.
Even though the Kibosho did not return to Lyamungo to take control of it, they carried on offering sacrifices to the shrines at Owaa and Kimbushi till the present.
In any event, Kashenge's exploit represents the Kibosho's first symbolic commitment of retribution against Rengua for killing their initiates, a pledge that would later in the century be fully honored.
As a sign of the esteem in which the Machame people hold their late chief Rengua, this well-known and frequently told tale deserves consideration.
[48] Additionally, it could be argued that at the height of his influence, Rengua was the dominant force in the region of western Kilimanjaro that stretched from the far west of the Shira plateau complex of countries eastward to Uru.
And here, the type of spear that gave Rengua his technical superiority should be seen in its proper perspective: undoubtedly, it represented a development in the Kikafu basin region, but the length of its iron point shouldn't be overestimated, as there is every reason to believe that this was very small, no longer than one hand's span, and should not be confused with the long lethal spearhead that didn't appear until later on Kilimanjaro and then in Kibosho.