A Brief History of the Serengeti PDF

A Brief History of the Serengeti Time Period 1880s Early 1900s 1919 1920s Historical Milestone Tanganyika colonized by Germany Colonists recognize unique characteristics of Serengeti ecosystem Tanganyika colonized by Britain Serengeti region sees increased travel by Europeans; Process of establishi...

A Brief History of the Serengeti Time Period 1880s Early 1900s 1919 1920s Historical Milestone Tanganyika colonized by Germany Colonists recognize unique characteristics of Serengeti ecosystem Tanganyika colonized by Britain Serengeti region sees increased travel by Europeans; Process of establishing a park begins 1951 Serengeti National Park is established. Conflicts arise over different philosophies of conservation. 1956 Migration research conducted 1961 Tanganyika gains independence 1964 Tanganyika and Zanzibar merge to form the nation of Tanzania. The Serengeti National Park was established in 1951. Before then, numerous groups such as the Ikoma, Nata, and Maasai hunted, raised crops, and grazed their livestock on the plains of eastern Africa, the area now known as Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya. “Serengeti” comes from the Maasai term for this region. “Siringet” means land of endless space. There is a long history of colonialism in Africa. Colonialism is a term that refers to one country or group controlling another. That has often meant that people from other places settle and sometimes use the resources of the country they control for their own benefit. The country now known as Tanzania was formerly known as Tanganyika. It was colonized by Germany in the 1880s and came under British rule in 1919 after World War I. In the 1920s, many Europeans traveled to the Serengeti region to hunt lions and other big game animals for sport. Many colonists in the early 1900s recognized the uniqueness of the Serengeti ecosystem. It was described as “a natural landscape as yet relatively unspoiled by man” (Shetler, 2007, p. 40). They feared that what happened in other parts of the world, like in the American West where colonists killed off most of the 30 million bison, leaving a population of only a few hundred, could happen there as well. “It is generally agreed openscied.org 6/27/23 Page 1 that the herds in the Serengeti are the last of the really great concentrations of African plains animals. The Serengeti National Park was created under [Colonial] law to protect these herds and to preserve them for the future” (Grzimek and Grzimek, 1960, p 2). Although the process of establishing the park began in the 1920s, it was not officially established until 1951, and it took many more years to negotiate the boundaries of the park. Europeans, locals, tribal members, and other interest holders had different ideas about the purposes and uses of the natural environment and what and how it should be used and/or conserved. During the time that the park was established, many Europeans had a view that they should protect the animals inside of the park and not let humans live there. Not everyone agreed with this idea. Local people and some Europeans pushed for the rights of local groups to continue living inside the protected area as they always had but restricting use by others. Although they were often excluded from official government decision-making conversations, the Maasai repeatedly protested their eviction from the park, where they had lived as part of the ecosystem for generations. These competing ideas and priorities made it difficult to establish the park and determine where the boundaries should be. Even after the park was established, people argued over whether the Serengeti National Park boundaries were good enough. In 1956, scientists from the Frankfurt Zoological Garden in Germany were hired to gather “reliable information on the movements of the animals” (Grzimek and Grzimek, 1960, p 2). When they learned that the migrating animals regularly left the park boundaries, additional game reserves and conservation areas were established under different managers with differing rules about what humans could do there. Tanganyika became independent in 1961 and in 1964 merged with the island of Zanzibar to become the nation of Tanzania. The Serengeti National Park is now managed by the local and independent Tanzanian government. openscied.org 6/27/23 Page 2 Data Source: Sinclair, A. R. E. (2021). A place like no other : Discovering the secrets of serengeti. Princeton University Press. References Grzimek, M., and B. Grzimek. (1960) A study of the game of the serengeti plains. Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde. 25: 1– 61 Shetler, J. B. (2007). Imagining Serengeti : A history of landscape memory in Tanzania from earliest times to the present. Ohio University Press. Weston Phippen, J. (2016) Kill every buffalo you can! Every buffalo dead is an indian gone! The Atlantic. May 13. https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2016/05/the-buffalo-killers/482349/ openscied.org 6/27/23 Page 3