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Iloikop Wars
The Iloikop wars were a series of wars between the Maasai and a community referred to as Kwavi and later between Maasai and alliance of reformed Kwavi communities. These were pastoral communities that occupied large tracts of East Africa's savanna's during the late 18th and 19th centuries. These wars occurred between c.1830 and 1880. For these communities, a delicate balance existed between the amount of pasture land required for successful pastoralism and the number of men and animals available to exploit it effectively. It has been suggested that the Iloikop wars resulted from demographic pressure within these societies leading to congestion and conflict. The Iloikop wars ended in the 1870s with the defeat and dispersal of the Laikipiak. However, the new territory acquired by the Maasai was vast and left them overextended thus unable to occupy it effectively. Background Nile records indicate that the three decades starting about 1800 were marked by low rainfall levels in regi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maasai People
The Maasai (; sw, Wamasai) are a Nilotic ethnic group inhabiting northern, central and southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. They are among the best-known local populations internationally due to their residence near the many game parks of the African Great Lakes and their distinctive customs and dress.Maasai - Introduction Jens Fincke, 2000–2003 The Maasai speak the Maa language (ɔl Maa), a member of the Nilotic language family that is related to the , |
Samburu People
The Samburu are a Nilotic people of north-central Kenya. Samburu are semi-nomadic pastoralists who herd mainly cattle but also keep sheep, goats and camels. The name they use for themselves is Lokop or Loikop, a term which may have a variety of meanings which Samburu themselves do not agree on. Many assert that it refers to them as "owners of the land" ("lo" refers to ownership, "nkop" is land) though others present a very different interpretation of the term. Samburu speak the Samburu dialect of the Maa language, which is a Nilotic language. The Maa language is also spoken by other 22 sub tribes of the Maa community otherwise known as the Maasai. Many Western anthropologists tried to carve out and create the Samburu tribe as a community of its own, unaffiliated to its parent Maasai community, a narrative that seems that many Samburu people today hold. There are many game parks in the area, one of the most well known is Samburu National Reserve. The Samburu sub tribe is the third ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parakuyo People
The Parakuyo people, are a community of about thirty thousand pastoralists who live scattered across Tanzania today. They are the principal speakers of the Kwavi language. Etymology Members of the community refer to themselves as Parakuyo when speaking to each other. When interacting with unfamiliar outsiders they will almost always identify themselves as Maasai. Maasai people and other East Africans often refer to the Parakuyo as Kwavi, Loikop or Lumbwa, a practice that Parakuyo do not appreciate. About The Kwavi are related to the Maasai. Though little has been written about them, they were the subject of a 1974 Master's thesis at the University of Dar es Salaam The University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) is a public university in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It was established in 1961 as an affiliate college of the University of London. The university became an affiliate of the University of East Africa (UEA) in 1 ... by Douglas Ndagala, "Social and Economic Change among the Pastoral W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kikuyu People
The Kikuyu (also ''Agĩkũyũ/Gĩkũyũ'') are a Bantu ethnic group native to Central Kenya. At a population of 8,148,668 as of 2019, they account for 17.13% of the total population of Kenya, making them Kenya's largest ethnic group. The term ''Kikuyu'' is derived from the Swahili form of the word Gĩkũyũ. is derived from the word mũkũyũ which means sycamore fig (''mũkũyũ'') tree". Hence ''Agĩkũyũ'' in the Kikuyu language translates to "Children Of The Big Sycamore". The alternative name ''Nyũmba ya Mũmbi'', which encompasses ''Embu'', ''Gikuyu'', and ''Meru'', translates to "House of the Potter" (or "Creator"). History Origin The Kikuyu belong to the Northeastern Bantu branch. Their language is most closely related to that of the Embu and Mbeere. Geographically, they are concentrated in the vicinity of Mount Kenya. The exact place that the Northeast Bantu speakers migrated from after the initial Bantu expansion is uncertain. Some authorities sugge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kalenjin People
The Kalenjin are a group of tribes designated as Highland Nilotes and are descended from Maliri people ''(thus related to Daasanach of Ethiopia.)'' The Kalenjin are cousins with Datooga people of Tanzania and Malawi. In contrast, their designation groups them with other Nilotes including Maasai, Luo, Turkana and Nuer, Dinka among others. They are indigenous to East Africa, residing mainly in what was formerly the Rift Valley Province in Kenya and Eastern slopes of Mount Elgon in Uganda. Upon their arrival in the forest region of Mau, the Kalenjin assimilated the aboriginal hunter-gatherer people known as Okiek. They number 6,358,113 individuals as per the Kenyan 2019 census and an estimated 300,000 in Uganda mainly in Kapchorwa, Kween and Bukwo districts. They have been divided into 11 culturally and linguistically related tribes: Kipsigis (1.9 million), Nandi (937,000), Sebei (350, 000) Keiyo (251, 000), Marakwet (119, 000), Sabaot (296,000), Pokots (778, 000), Tuge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kamba People
The Kamba or Akamba (sometimes called Wakamba) people are a Bantu ethnic group who predominantly live in the area of Kenya stretching from Nairobi to Tsavo and north to Embu, in the southern part of the former Eastern Province. This land is called ''Ukambani'' and constitutes Makueni County, Kitui County and Machakos County. They also form the second largest ethnic group in 8 counties including Nairobi and Mombasa counties. Origin The Kamba are of Bantu origin.Joseph Bindloss, Tom Parkinson, Matt Fletcher, ''Lonely Planet Kenya'', (Lonely Planet: 2003), p.35. They are closely related in language and culture to the Kikuyu, the Embu, the Mbeere and the Meru, and to some extent relate closely to the Digo and the Giriama of the Kenyan coast. Kambas are concentrated in the lowlands of southeast Kenya from the vicinity of Mount Kenya to the coast. The first group of Kamba people settled in the present-day Mbooni Hills in the Machakos District of Kenya in the second half of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ciarunji Chesaina
Ciarunji Chesaina (born 1947) is a Kenyan folklorist, professor, and diplomat. She is best known for her work studying the history, ethnography, and folklore of peoples across Africa, particularly among the Nilotic and Bantu groups. She also represented Kenya as the high commissioner to South Africa from 2000 to 2003. Biography Ciarunji Chesaina was born Jane Ciarunji Geteria in 1947. She attended Alliance Girls High School in Kikuyu, Kenya. Chesaina graduated from Uganda's Makerere University with a bachelor's degree in French and English in 1971. She subsequently studied in the United States, where she received a master's in education from Harvard University, and in the United Kingdom, where she obtained a Ph.D. in literature from the University of Leeds in 1988. Chesaina lectured at Kenyatta University beginning in the 1970s, then joined the faculty of the University of Nairobi in 1991. She teaches literature, particularly African literature, women's literature, and oral liter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uasin Gishu People
The Uasin Gishu people were a community that inhabited a plateau located in western Kenya that today bears their name. They are said to have arisen from the scattering of the Kwavi by the Maasai in the 1830s. They were one of two significant sections of that community that stayed together. The other being the Laikipiak with whom they would later ally against the Maasai. c.1830 Origins According to narratives told to Thompson in 1883, a community referred to as "Wa-kwafi"(Kwavi) fragmented following a series of misfortunes that befell them "about 1830...". Thompson notes that the original home of the 'Wa-kwafi' was "the large district lying between Kilimanjaro, Ugono and Pare on the west, and Teita, and Usambara on the east. The Kwavi had been attacked by the Maasai while enfeebled by their 'misfortunes', the result being that the community was broken up and scattered to various corners. According to Maasai traditions recorded by MacDonald (1899), in taking over the plateau, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mbatian
Mbatian (died 1890) was a Maasai laibon known for prophesies that he made and consequent victories by Maasai warriors that were attributed to him. Early life Mbatian was born to the Maasai laibon Supeet and he succeeded him as laibon. Maasai - Laikipia war Berntsen (1979) notes that elders of the Purko-Kisongo Maasai relate that it was warriors of the Il Aimer age-set (c. 1870-1875) who blunted the attack of their northern neighbours the Ilaikipiak and then destroyed them as a social unit. The elders do not attribute the victory of the Maasai warriors to superior military strength but rather to the prophetic-ritual leadership of the famous laibon Mbatian who exploited his influence among several Purko-Kisongo sections to unite all the warriors of the Purko-Kisongo against the Ilaikipiak. According to Purko informants, the Purko and the Ilaikipiak allied to raid the Uasin Gishu during the warriorhood of the Il Nyankusi age-set (c. 1860s - 1870s). These traditions imply a joint ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ludwig Krapf
Johann Ludwig Krapf (11 January 1810 – 26 November 1881) was a German missionary in East Africa, as well as an explorer, linguist, and traveler. Krapf played an important role in exploring East Africa with Johannes Rebmann. They were the first Europeans to see Mount Kenya with the help of Akamba who dwelled at its slopes and Kilimanjaro. Ludwig Krapf visited Ukambani, the homeland of the Kamba people, in 1849 and again in 1850. He successfully translated the new testament to the Kamba language. Krapf also played a key role in exploring the East African coastline, especially in Mombasa. Early life Krapf was born into a Lutheran family of farmers in southwest Germany. From his school days onward he developed his gift for languages. He initially studied Latin, Greek, French and Italian. More languages were to follow throughout his life. After finishing school he joined the Basel Mission Seminary at age 17 but discontinued his studies as he had doubts about his missionary vocation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uasin Gishu County
Uasin Gishu County is one of the 47 counties of Kenya, counties of Kenya located in the former Rift Valley Province. Eldoret has the county's largest population center as well as its administrative and commercial center. “It lies between longitudes 34 degrees 50’ east and 35 degrees 37’ West and latitudes 0 degrees 03’ South and 0 degrees 55’ North. It is a highland plateau with altitudes falling gently from 2,700 meters above sea level to about 1,500 meters above sea level. The topography is higher to the east and declines gently towards the western border”. Uasin Gishu is located on a plateau and has a cool and temperate climate. The county borders Trans-Nzoia County to the north, Elgeyo-Marakwet County, Elgeyo-Marakwet and Baringo County, Baringo counties to the east, Kericho County, Kericho county to the south, Nandi County, Nandi county to the south, south-west and Kakamega county to the west. Etymology The county's name comes from the Maasai word Illwuasin-kis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kwavi People
The Kwavi people were a community commonly spoken of in the folklore of a number of Kenyan and Tanzanian communities that inhabited regions of south-central Kenya and north-central Tanzania at various points in history. The conflicts between the Uasin Gishu/Masai and Kwavi form much of the literature of what are now known as the Iloikop wars. Etymology Krapf's (1854) account on the Kwavi was the earliest and for a long time influenced accounts about the Kwavi community. On their name, he states; Later writers, writing a few decades later by which point the community had collapsed seemed to indicate that Krapf's designation was not quite accurate. None provided an alternative however. Johnston writing in 1886 for instance, noted that "'Kwavi' is supposed to be a corrupted version of 'El-oigob'"(i.e. Loikop). He also noted that the term Loikop at the time implied settled residence. In another account (1902) he states "...'Kwavi',a name that no Masai can recognise or explain, but w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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