Mirambo

Mtyela Kasanda (c. 1840–1884), better known as King Mirambo, was a Nyamwezi king, from 1860 to 1884. He created the largest state by area in 19th-century East Africa in present-day Urambo district in Tabora Region of Tanzania. Urambo district is named after him. He also built a capital for his territory at Iselemagazi.

Mirambo started out as a trader and the son of a minor chief. He owned trade caravans traveling from the Great Lakes region in western Tanzania to the coast, mostly dealing in ivory and slaves. Through trade with Europeans he acquired firearms and money, and organised armies consisting mostly of teenage orphans. With his newly gained power, he toppled the traditional monarchy of the kingdom of Urambo, and installed himself as ntemi (king). The Nyamwezi aristocracy was appalled when someone who was not royalty took over the religiously ceremonial office of ntemi. Other sources assert that Mirambo was the son of the ruler of Uyowa. His coming to power there was a contravention of the succession being matrilineal.