People / group

Haya people

The Haya are a Bantu-speaking people of the Kagera region in north-western Tanzania, on the western shore of Lake Victoria. For several centuries before colonial rule they were organised in small kingdoms such as Kiziba, Kyamutwara and Ihangiro, ruled by royal clans with sacred drums. They grow bananas and coffee, and archaeology shows that their ancestors smelted iron in sophisticated furnaces some 2,000 years ago.

Haya people
Image: Happiness Stephen · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 6 state histories

Kingdom of KyamutwaraKingdom of KizibaKingdom of IhangiroKingdom of KokiKingdom of BugaboKingdom of Kianja

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Haya people. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/haya-people
MLA
“Haya people.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/haya-people. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Haya people.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/haya-people.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Haya people’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/haya-people (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻