The Shambaa are an ethnic and linguistic group based in the Usambara Mountains

Usambara Mountains

The Usambara Mountains are a mountain range in North-East Tanzania, approximately long and ranging from 20 to in width. Mountains in the range rise as high as 8,000 ft ....

 of northeastern Tanzania

Tanzania

The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...

. In 2001 the Shambaa population was estimated to number 664,000.

Kishambaa is the Sambaa word for the language Shambala language, Wasambaa are the people (Msambaa for a person), and Usambaa or Usambara is used for Sambaa lands. The Shambaa call their lands Shambalai.

The language is mutually intelligible with Bondei

Bondei

The Bondei are an ethnic group based in the Usambara Mountains of Tanga Region in northeastern Tanzania. Bondei speak a Bantu language and are related to the Shambaa ethnic group. Population is roughly 100,000.-References:...

 and Zigua, with the three groups sharing significant overlap in territory and a long history of intermarriage. The similarity between them has prompted some to refer to themselves as "Boshazi" (the first syllable from each of the three groups).

Sambaa belongs to the North East Coastal Bantu languages

Bantu languages

The Bantu languages constitute a traditional sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages. There are about 250 Bantu languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility, though the distinction between language and dialect is often unclear, and Ethnologue counts 535 languages...

. A group which includes Swahili

Swahili language

Swahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia...

, however Swahili is not mutually intelligible with Sambaa.

The Usambara area was the early colonial headquarters for German East Africa

German East Africa

German East Africa was a German colony in East Africa, which included what are now :Burundi, :Rwanda and Tanganyika . Its area was , nearly three times the size of Germany today....

 during the hot season. Tanganyika

Tanganyika

Tanganyika , later formally the Republic of Tanganyika, was a sovereign state in East Africa from 1961 to 1964. It was situated between the Indian Ocean and the African Great Lakes of Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika...

, the name for the German colony, and later for the republic and eventually for the mainland portion of Tanzania is itself from Sambaa: Tanga means farmed land, and nyika is brushy land. The story of Mbegha

Mbegha

Mbegha was the first "Lion King" of the Shambaa people, modern-day Northeastern Tanzania, who lived during the first half of the 18th century. While his existence is undisputed among historians, his biography is mainly based on oral traditions...

is the most famous legend of the Shambaa.