Where mobile groups settle: Spatial patterns and correlates of Maasai pastoralist sedentarization in Northern Tanzania

Abstract

In the last century, mobile pastoralists around the world have transitioned to more sedentary lifestyles. Traditionally mobile people can be both pushed to settle by environmental or political forces, and pulled by new economic activities. While researchers have examined the causes and consequences of growing sedentarization, few contemporary studies have focused on the spatial patterns of settlement. This study examines settlement site selection using GIS and remote sensing techniques to quantify patterns and correlates of settlement location in four Maasai communities in northern Tanzania. We identify landscape scale factors that shape settlement locations and test the competing hypotheses that settlement is associated with: (1) resource access; (2) environmental constraints; and (3) infrastructural amenities. Spatial models offer support for each hypothesis, with slight variations. However, a combined model offers the greatest predictive power suggesting significant heterogeneity in site selection and/or a transition in selection criteria over time. These findings characterize a poorly understood aspect of the settlement of mobile groups, and point to new questions regarding the spatial drivers and consequences of sedentarization.