Mutai (Early 19th Century)
Mutai (Maa; meaning ''Disaster'') is a term used by the Maa-speaking communities of Kenya to describe a period of wars, usually triggered by disease and/or drought and affecting widespread areas of the Rift Valley region of Kenya. According to Samburu and Maasai folklore, periods of Mutai occurred during the nineteenth century. Prelude Prior to the first Mutai of the nineteenth century, much of the Rift Valley region in Kenya had been occupied by the Sirikwa societies - sedentary pastoralists who had developed an iron-age culture underpinned by raising livestock, complemented by grain growing, over a period of six hundred years. Archaeological and linguistic evidence shows that they traded locally for goods such as grains, pottery and weaponry while connections to international markets in the East, supplied foreign goods most probably in exchange for ivory. At the start of the 18th century, Eastern Nilotic-speaking societies began a dramatic expansion from points in north-east ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Maasai Language
Maasai (previously spelled ''Masai'') or Maa (; autonym: ''ɔl Maa'') is an Eastern Nilotic language spoken in Southern Kenya and Northern Tanzania by the Maasai people, numbering about 800,000. It is closely related to the other Maa varieties: Samburu (or Sampur), the language of the Samburu people of central Kenya, Chamus, spoken south and southeast of Lake Baringo (sometimes regarded as a dialect of Samburu); and Parakuyu of Tanzania. The Maasai, Samburu, il-Chamus and Parakuyu peoples are historically related and all refer to their language as ''ɔl Maa''. Properly speaking, "Maa" refers to the language and the culture and "Maasai" refers to the people "who speak Maa." Phonology The Maasai variety of ''ɔl Maa'' as spoken in southern Kenya and Tanzania has 30 contrasting sounds, which can be represented and alphabetized as follows: ''a'', ''b'', ''ch'' (a variant of ''sh''), ''d'', ''e'', ''ɛ'', ''g'', ''h'', ''i'', ''ɨ'', ''j'', ''k'', ''l'', ''m'', ''n'', ''ny'', ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Worldview
A worldview or world-view or ''Weltanschauung'' is the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing the whole of the individual's or society's knowledge, culture, and point of view. A worldview can include natural philosophy; fundamental, existential, and normative postulates; or themes, values, emotions, and ethics. Etymology The term ''worldview'' is a calque of the German word ''Weltanschauung'' , composed of '' Welt'' ('world') and '' Anschauung'' ('perception' or 'view'). The German word is also used in English. It is a concept fundamental to German philosophy, especially epistemology and refers to a ''wide world perception''. Additionally, it refers to the framework of ideas and beliefs forming a global description through which an individual, group or culture watches and interprets the world and interacts with it as a social reality. ''Weltanschauung'' and cognitive philosophy Within cognitive philosophy and the cognitive sciences is the G ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ateker People
Ateker, or ŋaTekerin, is a common name for the closely related Lango people, Jie, Karamojong, Turkana, Toposa, Nyangatom and Teso peoples and their languages. These ethnic groups inhabit an area across Uganda and Kenya. ''Itung'a'' (a vernacular term meaning "people of one language") and ''Teso'' have been used among ethnographers, while the term Teso-Turkana is sometimes used for the languages, which are of Eastern Nilotic stock. ''Ateker'' means 'clan' or 'tribe' in the Teso language. In the Lango language, the word for clan is ''atekere''. In the Turkana language, ''Ateker'' means a distinct group with related customs, laws and lifestyle and who share a common ancestry. Members of one ''Ateker'' have a common character of mutual respect in their diversity. Each member group of ''Ateker'' occupies its own territory and exercises authority over its own land and people independent of each other. The word ''Ateker'' is a generic term for "related peoples" or "relatives" (the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Karamoja
Karamoja sub-region, commonly known as Karamoja, is a region in Uganda. It covers an area of 27,528km and comprises Kotido District, Kaabong District, Karenga District, Nabilatuk District Abim District, Moroto District, Napak District, Amudat District and Nakapiripirit District. The region is projected to have a population of 1.4 millions in 2022 by UBOS. Geography In 2011, the Karamoja sub-region was the site of an important fossil discovery. Paleontologists discovered the remains of '' Ugandapithecus major,'' a 20-million-year-old ancestor of present-day primates. "It is a highly important fossil and it will certainly put Uganda on the map in terms of the scientific world," said Martin Pickford, one of the researchers involved in the discovery. History The region was ruled by the British from 1916 to 1962. Armed conflict As pastoralism and conflict are strongly interrelated, the integrated management of natural resources, like pasture, livestock and water becomes c ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lake Turkana
Lake Turkana (), formerly known as Lake Rudolf, is a lake in the Kenyan Rift Valley, in northern Kenya, with its far northern end crossing into Ethiopia. It is the world's largest permanent desert lake and the world's largest alkaline lake. By volume it is the world's fourth-largest salt lake after the Caspian Sea, Issyk-Kul, and Lake Van (passing the shrinking South Aral Sea), and among all lakes it ranks 24th. Lake Turkana is now threatened by the construction of Gilgel Gibe III Dam in Ethiopia due to the damming of the Omo river which supplies most of the lake's water. Although the lake commonly has been —and to some degree still is— used for drinking water, its salinity (slightly brackish) and very high levels of fluoride (much higher than in fluoridated water) generally make it unsuitable, and it has also been a source of diseases spread by contaminated water. Increasingly, communities on the lake's shores rely on underground springs for drinking water. The same c ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Merille, Kenya
Merille is a village in Marsabit County in northern Kenya. It is an emerging urban centre along the Isiolo-Moyale Highway, 120 km south of Marsabit Marsabit is a town in the northern Marsabit County in Kenya. It is situated in the former Eastern Province and is almost surrounded by the Marsabit National Park. The town is located east of the centre of the East African Rift at an elevation o ... town. References Populated places in Marsabit County {{Kenya-geo-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dodoth People
The Dodoth (or Dodos) are an ethnic group in north eastern Uganda. They belong to the Karamojong Cluster, which also includes the Karamojong and Jie people. Their language is a dialect of the Karamojong language. Location The Dodoth live in Kaabong District in the northeast of Uganda, a region of semi-arid savannah, bush and mountains. Their tradition says that they arrived in their current area from the north. In the mid-eighteenth century they separated from the Karamojong and moved northward into more mountainous territory. The heartland of their country is a bowl surrounded by mountains and hills on all sides. The tallest peak, Mount Morungole, is over high, near the point where Kenya, Sudan and Uganda converge. The land was once rich in wildlife including lions, elephants, buffalo, giraffes and rhino. Today, a small remnant of this wildlife is preserved in Kidepo National Park. The climate is harsh. Some rain may fall in April and there is usually a longer rainy season fro ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Maliri People
The Maliri were a people, recalled by various communities in Kenya and Uganda today, that inhabited regions on the north east of and north west borders of Uganda and Kenya respectively and later spread to regions in southern Ethiopia. Origins The Maliri are thought to have settled in what are now Jie country and large parts of Dodoth country in Uganda. Their arrival in the districts is estimated at 600 to 800 years ago (i.e c.1200 to 1400 AD) Society Occupation The Maliri followed a pastoral way of life. It is unclear whether they practiced any form of cultivation. Language The Maliri spoke a Kalenjin language Decline Lwoo Incursions Oral traditions indicate that the expansion of Lwoo speakers into Acholi caused the breakaway of a group who were initially known as Jie. The Jie came from the vicinity of Gulu Gulu is a city in the Northern Region of Uganda. It is the commercial and administrative centre of Gulu District. The coordinates of the city of Gulu are 2°46'54.0"N ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Burkineji People
The Burkineji were a pastoral community who inhabited regions of northern Kenya through to the late 19th century. The present day Samburu consider themselves a descendant community of the Burkineji. Etymology Stigand (1913) noted that "L'ol eborekeneji" was a Maa term meaning 'the people of the white goats'. Territory Von Höhnel (1894) writing following his journey to Lake Turkana, noted that the Burkineji originally occupied districts on the west of Lake Turkana. History c.1730 Bantu interaction Meru traditions recorded by Fadiman, indicate that a Maa-speaking community recalled as 'Muoko', a name that has been linked to Kor/Sambur, occupied the Tigania plain during the 1730s when contact with the pre-Meru clans occurred. The Muoko are recalled as being "more numerous" than their neighbors though seemingly less so than the incoming migrants. These traditions portray conflict occurring between the Muoko and pre-Meru. Fadiman notes that the traditions speak of "decades" of war ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Turkana County
Turkana County is a county in the former Rift Valley Province of Kenya. It is Kenya's largest county by land area (followed by Marsabit County), and also its northwesternmost. It is bordered by the countries of Uganda to the west; South Sudan and Ethiopia, including the disputed Ilemi Triangle, to the north and northeast; and Lake Turkana to the east. To the south and east, neighbouring counties in Kenya are West Pokot, Baringo and Samburu Counties, while Marsabit County is on the opposite (i.e. eastern) shore of Lake Turkana. Turkana's capital and largest town is Lodwar. The county had a population of 926,976 at the 2019 census. History Four sites of Stone Age cultures are situated upon tributaries along the west side of Lake Turkana in West Turkana; at Lokalalei, Kokiselei and Nadungu, and became of interest to archaeology beginning sometime during 1988. The earliest late Stone age industries in prehistory were found in Turkana, at the site of Lomekwi, and date to 3,30 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lake Chad
Lake Chad (french: Lac Tchad) is a historically large, shallow, endorheic lake in Central Africa, which has varied in size over the centuries. According to the ''Global Resource Information Database'' of the United Nations Environment Programme, it shrank by as much as 95% from about 1963 to 1998. The lowest area was in 1986, at , but "the 2007 (satellite) image shows significant improvement over previous years." Lake Chad is economically important, providing water to more than 30 million people living in the four countries surrounding it ( Chad, Cameroon, Niger, and Nigeria) on the central part of the Sahel. It is the largest lake in the Chad Basin. Geography and hydrology The freshwater lake is located in the Sahelian zone of West-central Africa. It is located in the interior basin which used to be occupied by a much larger ancient sea sometimes called Mega Chad. The lake is historically ranked as one of the largest lakes in Africa. Its surface area varies by season as well ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Flooding Of The Nile
The flooding of the Nile has been an important natural cycle in Egypt since Ancient Egypt, ancient times. It is celebrated by Egyptians as an annual holiday for two weeks starting August 15, known as ''Wafaa El-Nil''. It is also celebrated in the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, Coptic Church by ceremonially throwing a martyr's relic into the river, hence the name, The Martyr's Finger (, ). The flooding of the Nile was poetically described in myth as Isis's tears of sorrow for Osiris myth, Osiris when killed by their brother Set (deity), Set. Flooding cycle The flooding of the Nile is the result of the yearly monsoon between May and August causing enormous precipitations on the Ethiopian Highlands whose summits reach heights of up to 4550 m (14,928 ft). Most of this rainwater is taken by the Blue Nile and by the Atbarah River into the Nile, while a less important amount flows through the Sobat River, Sobat and the White Nile into the Nile. During this short period, those ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |