Located in Kilimanjaro Region

Kilimanjaro Region

Kilimanjaro is one of the 26 regions in Tanzania. The capital of the region is Moshi. Kilimanjaro region is home to Mount Kilimanjaro.Kilimanjaro Region is bordered to the North and East by Kenya, to the South by the Tanga Region, to the Southwest by the Manyara Region, and to the West by the...

. Before Independence in 1961, Marangu used to be the headquarters of the Vunjo district led by Chief (Mangi Mwitori) Petro Itosi Marealle and Paramount Chief (Mangi Mkuu) Thomas Marealle

Thomas Marealle

Chief Thomas Lenana Marealle II OBE was the Paramount Chief ' of the Chagga people of Tanzania and a politician....

, installed in 1951, who lived in Moshi

Moshi

Moshi is a Tanzanian town with a population of 144,739 in Kilimanjaro Region. The town is situated on the lower slopes of Mt Kilimanjaro, a volcanic mountain that is the highest mountain in Africa....

 itself. It is the centre of tourist trade, especially for climbers wanting to climb Mount Kilimanjaro

Mount Kilimanjaro

Kilimanjaro, with its three volcanic cones, Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira, is a dormant volcano in Kilimanjaro National Park, Tanzania and the highest mountain in Africa at above sea level .-Geology:...

. The four and half day Marangu Route climb is considered the least arduous. It is believed that the first man in history to have climbed Kibo peak on Kilimanjaro was Kinyala Johannes Lauwo (1871–1996) of Ashira Marangu. In 1889 he acted as guide for the first successful European ascent and in 1989 the West German government built him a house on his homestead to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the German-Austrian ascent.

Marangu has always been an important centre of the Lutheran church and Marangu Mamba was the home of Bishop Stefano Reuben Moshi (1906–76), Lutheran Bishop of Tanzania, and chief informant for Otto Raum's study on his family: "Chaga Childhood" Oxford University Press 1940 (reprinted 1996). The Lutheran Church has helped preserve the Vunjo (Marangu) dialect of KiChagga by producing prayer books, hymnals and the New Testament in that language.

Marangu is the site for Marangu Teacher Training College and Ashira Girls (Government) High School.

The word "Marangu" means a place with too many water streams. It is one of the most popular places in Tanzania. One of the proverbs of Chagga is "Ulamine kilahu ulyemkiwoa" (not from the Vunjo dialect) which means do not despise something/somebody from which you once received support.

See also

• 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...
  
  
• Chaga
  Chaga
  The Chaga are Bantu-speaking indigenous Africans and the third largest ethnic group in Tanzania. They live on the southern and eastern slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru, as well as in the Moshi area...