Location within country: Kondoa District of Dodoma Region, southeast of the Langi, Goima, Chambalo, and Mirambu villages.

Geography and Climate: Arid, deciduous bush (scrub forest)

Altitude: 1200-1800m

Population: 15,000

Cultural Information: Subsistence farmers

Diet: Millet, maize, sorghum, beans, sweet potatoes.

Economic Status: $150 per year in a year with good harvest.

Alternate language names: Bulunge, Mbulugwe, Burungi

Language Group Information: Burunge people are proud of their language, because they are able to read and write it now.

Religion: Traditional religion, Muslim, Christian

History: The Burunge belong to a small cluster of ethnic groups in Tanzania known as the Southern Cushites. Their ancestors are believed to originate from the Ethiopean plateau. A first trace of this occupation dates from the Upper Paleolithic period. At some time before 1000BC new waves of Caucasoid people began to fan out from southern Ethiopia bringing with them a full Neolithic culture with agriculture and domestic animals. The difference betweeen the languages of the Southern Cushites in Tanzania and the Cushites of Southern Ethiopia suggest a long period of isolation and linguistic differentiation. (Murdock pp 193-196)