Question

Q.3 Give reasons to explain why the Maasai community lost their grazing lands.

Answer 1

Solution: In the late nineteenth century, in what would be knowns as the ‘scramble for Africa’, European imperial powers slicing up the region into different colonies with little to no regard about the local sentiments. In 1885, the land of the Maasai, Maasailand, was cut into half with an international boundary between British Kenya and German Tanzania. As a result, the best grazing lands were reserved for white settlers with Maasai being pushed into a small area in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania.  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. Pastoralists were not allowed to enter these reserves; they could neither hunt animals nor graze their herds in  these areas.

Answer 2

Answer:

➡️The Maasai community lost its grazing lands because of the advent of colonial rule in Africa. In 1885 itself, Maasai land was cut in half by an international boundary drawn between the two colonies—British Kenya and German Tanganyika.