Why was mirambo able to build such a big empire?

Mirambo was born around 1830 in nyamwezi land to ntemi chief ,he was a tall tough and muscular soft spoken man.

His early years were spent in bugomba were he had been taken as a captive of tuta Ngoni around 1840s.

While still in captivity ,he mastered ngoni military tactics and used them to build the strong Ruga-Ruga Army which enabled him to come up with such a big empire.

Mirambo was a person of boundless energy and courage.He used to lead his army to battle ,which encouraged and gave morale to his army to fight.

He insisted to homage and tributes from foreigners passing in his territory and those who could refuse,he used to fight against them.

He always absorbed the conquered people and recruited the youths into his army and girls we're given to his soldiers which boosted his fighting force.

He trained his army Ngoni military tactics such as cow horn,the assegai and the cow hide shield.

He acquired guns and gun powder from the Arabs which enabled him to extend his empire far and wide because of the armed army.

He also highly paid his soldiers and worriers,which gave them morale and also divided war booty to his soldiers.

Mirambo exploited the weakness of his neighbours like vinza,ha,sukuma,and samba,to acquire territories from them.

The nyamwezi lived in small chiefdoms that were weak and disorganized which made it easy for mirambo to conquer them.

Trade also helped mirambo to consolidate and extend his power of influence hence controlling the two trade routes that passed in his territory.

The first route went to ujiji while the second went to bunyoro and Buganda which brought revenue back to his empire.

He established friendily ties with many African chiefs for example he sought friendship with muteesa I of Buganda,tippu tippu and msiri.

He befriended many European groups e.g he invited the London missionary society to start up missions in his territory.

He also ensured a good relationship with the sultan of Zanzibar and declared his territory a free trade zone for the Arabs.

His empire was strategically located which made it the center of trade .

He later equally respected stranger