of northern Pare to expand and come into its own up to the 19th century. South Pare In South Pare, where the dry foothills and plains were populated by Cushitic-speaking peoples and small Bantu-speaking groups before the 1700s, saw an influx of immigrants from neighbouring communities that included Taita people, as well as those escaping civil war from North Pare. This region had a separate rule from the north and its own evolution of political systems. Colonial The Germans imposed an administrative rule over the area (1881-1919), then the British colonial era (in the area) lasted until 1963 when the chiefdom was abolished by an independent Tanganyika government. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the population of South Pare (now known as Same District) was estimated at 22,000 comprising an ethnic group called Asu or Pare who are speakers of Chasu or the Pare language. They are patrilineal and were in several areas organized into small chiefdoms. Independence movement The Pare Union formed in 1946 was one of Tanzania's first ethnic-based nationalist movements to begin activism against the colonial system. Among many grievances, was the exploitation through the production of export crops, particularly Sisal and Coffee. Like many other ethnic-based political groups in Tanganyika, The Pare Union then became part of the Tanganyika African Association (TAA), which later became the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) in 1954. This prevented groups like the Pare Union from forming into full political parties that were ethnic in orientation. Moses Seenarine writes of the contribution of Pare women in the struggle: 'The Pare women's uprising in northwest Shambaai, Tanzania, occurred in early January 1945 and continued with demonstrations into 1946, involving thousands of women. It began in Usangi, one of the chiefdoms, when the district commissioner arrived for discussions with the local chief. A crowd of hundreds (if not thousands) of women appeared, demanding an explanation of mbiru, a system of graduated taxation. When the commissioner tried to leave without addressing the women, they became enraged and mobbed the assembled officials. Two days later, women surrounded the chief's house singing songs, and ultimately stoned officials and battled police.' The Mbiru protest by the Pare people refusing to pay the colonial tax was eventually led by Paulo Kajiru of Mamba. The Pare eventually managed to defeat this tax system and went back to the flat rate of tax in 1947. This remains as an