Question 3 - NCERT Questions - Chapter 5 Class 9 History - Pastoralists in the Modern World - History

Give reasons to explain why the Maasai community lost their grazing lands.

Answer:

Points to remember

1. The 300,000 Maasai cattle herders used to live in southern Kenya and another 150,000 in Tanzania .
2. In the late nineteenth century, European powers raced for territory in Africa and sliced it up into different colonies.
3. In 1885 , Maasailand was divided in half with an international boundary between British Kenya and German Tanganyika.
4. The best grazing land was taken for white settlement pushing Maasai into a small area in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania .
5. The Maasai lost about 60 per cent of their pre-colonial lands .
6. They were limited to an arid zone with uncertain rainfall and poor pastures .
7. The British colonial government in east Africa encouraged local peasant communities to expand cultivation .
8. As cultivation expanded , pasturelands were turned into cultivated fields . 
9. Large areas of grazing land were also turned into game reserves.
10. Pastoralists were not allowed to enter these reserves.

Answer to be written

1. The Maasai cattle herders live primarily in east Africa : 300,000 in southern Kenya and another 150,000 in Tanzania .
2. In the late nineteenth century, European imperial powers scrambled for territorial possessions in Africa , slicing up the region into different colonies .
3. In 1885 , Maasailand was cut into half with an international boundary between British Kenya and German Tanganyika .
4. Subsequently, the best grazing lands were gradually taken over for white settlement and the Maasai were pushed into a small area in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania .
5. The Maasai lost about 60 per cent of their pre-colonial lands .
6. They were limited to an arid zone with uncertain rainfall and poor pastures .
7. From the late nineteenth century, the British colonial government in east Africa encouraged local peasant communities to expand cultivation . 
8. As cultivation expanded , pasturelands were turned into cultivated fields . 
9. Large areas of grazing land were also turned into game reserves like the Maasai Mara and Samburu National Park in Kenya and Serengeti Park in Tanzania .
10. Pastoralists were not allowed to enter these reserves , they could neither hunt animals nor graze their herds in these areas.