The Nyakyusa (also called the Sokile, Ngone or Nkone) are a Bantu ethnolinguistic group who live in the fertile mountains of southern Mbeya Region of Tanzania and the Northern Region of Malawi. They speak the Nyakyusa language, a member of the Bantu language family. In 1993 the Nyakyusa population was estimated to number 1,050,000, with 750,000 living in Tanzania. Nyakyusa are marked as highly educated and eager agriculturists . The Nyakyusa are colonising people where success and survival depended on individual effort. Nyakyusa have managed to collect vast wealth from trade and agriculture than any tribe in Tanzania. [1].
Historically, they were called the 'Ngone' below the Songwe River in British Nyasaland, and 'Nyakyusa' above the river in German territory. The two groups were identical in language and culture, so much so that the Germans referred to the Nyakyusa region above the Songwe River and people as 'Kone', at least until 1935.