The Luo of Kenya and Tanzania are a
Nilotic
The Nilotic peoples are people indigenous to the Nile Valley who speak Nilotic languages. They inhabit South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. Among these are the Burun-sp ...
ethnic group native to
western Kenya
After the 2013 general election, and the coming into effect of the new constitution, provinces became defunct and the country was now divided into 47 counties. Each county has its own government and therefore there is no central regional cap ...
and the
Mara Region
Mara Region (''Mkoa wa Mara'' in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The region covers an area of . The region is comparable in size to the combined land area of the nation state of El Salvador. for El Salvador at The neigh ...
of northern
Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...
in
East Africa. The Luo are the fourth-largest ethnic group (10.65%) in Kenya, after the
Kikuyu Kikuyu or Gikuyu (Gĩkũyũ) mostly refers to an ethnic group in Kenya or its associated language.
It may also refer to:
* Kikuyu people, a majority ethnic group in Kenya
*Kikuyu language, the language of Kikuyu people
*Kikuyu, Kenya, a town in Cent ...
(17.13%), the
Luhya (14.35%) and the
Kalenjin Kalenjin may refer to:
* 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 Tan ...
(13.37%).
[ The Tanzanian Luo population was estimated at 1.1 million in 2001 and 3.4 million in 2020.] They are part of a larger group of related Luo peoples
The Luo, (also spelled Lwo) are several ethnically and linguistically related Nilo-Semitic ethnic groups that inhabit an area ranging from Egypt and Sudan to South Sudan and Ethiopia, through Northern Uganda and eastern Congo (DRC), into we ...
who inhabit an area ranging from South Sudan
South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the ...
, southwestern Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
, northern and eastern Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...
, Chad, Central African Republic
The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...
, Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
, northeastern Congo-Kinshasa, southwestern Kenya
)
, national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
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and northern Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...
.
They speak the Luo language, also known as ''Dholuo'', which belongs to the Western Nilotic
The Western Nilotic languages are one of the three primary branches of the Nilotic languages, along with the Eastern Nilotic languages and Southern Nilotic languages; Themselves belonging to the Eastern Sudanic subfamily of Nilo-Saharan. The abo ...
branch of the Nilotic language family. Dholuo shares considerable lexical similarity with languages spoken by other Luo peoples
The Luo, (also spelled Lwo) are several ethnically and linguistically related Nilo-Semitic ethnic groups that inhabit an area ranging from Egypt and Sudan to South Sudan and Ethiopia, through Northern Uganda and eastern Congo (DRC), into we ...
.[Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Nilotic". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.]
The Luo are descended from migrants who moved into western Kenya from Uganda between the 15th and 20th centuries in four waves. These migrants were closely related to Luo peoples
The Luo, (also spelled Lwo) are several ethnically and linguistically related Nilo-Semitic ethnic groups that inhabit an area ranging from Egypt and Sudan to South Sudan and Ethiopia, through Northern Uganda and eastern Congo (DRC), into we ...
found in Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...
, especially the Acholi and Padhola
The Adhola people, also known as Jopadhola, are a Nilotic ethnic group of Luo peoples that live in Tororo District of Eastern Uganda and comprise about eight percent of the country's total population. They speak Dhopadhola, (a Luo language) ...
people. As they moved into Kenya and Tanzania, they underwent significant genetic and cultural admixture as they encountered other communities that were long established in the region.
Traditionally, Luo people practiced a mixed economy of cattle pastoralism, seed farming and fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...
supplemented by hunting. Today, the Luo comprise a significant fraction of East Africa's intellectual and skilled labour force in various professions. They also engage in various trades, such as tenant fishing, small-scale farming, and urban work.
Luo people and people of Luo descent have made significant contributions to modern culture and civilization. Tom Mboya
Thomas Joseph Odhiambo Mboya (15August 19305July 1969) was a Kenyan trade unionist, educator, Pan-Africanist, author, independence activist, and statesman. He was one of the founding fathers of the Republic of Kenya.Kenya Human Rights Commissio ...
and Nigel N. Mwangi were key figures in the African Nationalist struggle.[The Politics of The Independence of Kenya by Kyle Keith. Palgrave MacMillan 1999] Luo scientists, such as Thomas R. Odhiambo (founder of the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) and winner of UNESCO's Albert Einstein Gold Medal in 1991) and Washington Yotto Ochieng
Washington Yotto Ochieng is a Kenyan academic who is Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Imperial College London. Previously, he was Head of the Centre for Transport Studies and Co-Director of the Institute for Secu ...
(winner of the Harold Spencer-Jones Gold Medal in 2019 from The Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN)) have achieved international acclaim for their contributions. Prof. Richard S. Odingo was the vice chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change when it received the Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolog ...
in 2007 with Al Gore
Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic no ...
.[Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – Nobel Lecture. Available from: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2007/ipcc/26114-intergovernmental-panel-on-climate-change-nobel-lecture-2007/ Cited 17-12-20] Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
, the first black President of the United States of America
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
and a Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolog ...
winner, was born to a Kenyan Luo father, Barack Obama Sr.
Barack Hussein Obama Sr. (; 18 June 1934 – 24 November 1982) was a Kenyan senior governmental economist and the father of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States. He is a central figure of his son's memoir, '' Dreams from My Fa ...
Lupita Nyong'o
Lupita Amondi Nyong'o (, ; ; born 1 March 1983) is a Kenyan-Mexican actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, and nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Tony Award.
The daughter of Kenyan politi ...
became the first black African to win an Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
in 2014.["'Pride of Africa: Kenya celebrates Nyong'o's Oscar". Boston Herald. 3 March 2014. Archived from the original on 9 March 2014. Retrieved 5 September 2014.]
The Luo are the originators of a number of popular music genres including benga
Benga may refer to:
Ethnonym
* Benga people, an indigenous ethnic group of Equatorial Guinea
* Benga language, spoke by the Benga people
* Benga music, a genre of music originating in Kenya
Places Romania
* ''Benga'', the old name of Mo ...
and ohangla. Benga
Benga may refer to:
Ethnonym
* Benga people, an indigenous ethnic group of Equatorial Guinea
* Benga language, spoke by the Benga people
* Benga music, a genre of music originating in Kenya
Places Romania
* ''Benga'', the old name of Mo ...
is one of Africa's most popular genres.
Location
The present day homeland of Kenyan and Tanzanian Luo lies in the eastern Lake Victoria basin
Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropics, tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface are ...
in the former Nyanza province in Western Kenya and the Mara region
Mara Region (''Mkoa wa Mara'' in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The region covers an area of . The region is comparable in size to the combined land area of the nation state of El Salvador. for El Salvador at The neigh ...
in northwestern Tanzania. This area falls within tropical latitudes and straddles the equator. This area also receives average rainfall averages. The average altitudes range between 3700 and 6000 feet above sea level.[Ogot, Bethwell A., ''History of the Southern Luo: Volume I, Migration and Settlement, 1500–1900'', (Series: ''Peoples of East Africa''), East African Publishing House, Nairobi, 1967 pp 31–39]
Origin
Origins
Luo people of Kenya and Tanzania form the majority of Nilotic peoples. During the British colonial period, they were known as Nilotic Kavirondo
The Luo of Kenya and Tanzania are a Nilotic ethnic group native to western Kenya and the Mara Region of northern Tanzania in East Africa. The Luo are the fourth-largest ethnic group (10.65%) in Kenya, after the Kikuyu (17.13%), the Luhya ( ...
. The exact location of origin of the Nilotic peoples is controversial but most ethnolinguists and historians place their origins between Bahr-el-Ghazal and Eastern Equatoria
Eastern Equatoria is a state in South Sudan. It has an area of 73,472 km². The capital is Torit. On October 1, 1972, the state was divided into Imatong and Namorunyang states and was re-established by a peace agreement signed on 22 Febr ...
in South Sudan
South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the ...
. They practiced a mixed economy of cattle pastoralism, fishing and seed cultivation. Some of the earliest archaeological findings on record, which describe a similar culture to this from the same region, are found at Kadero, 48 kilometres (30 miles) north of Khartoum
Khartoum or Khartum ( ; ar, الخرطوم, Al-Khurṭūm, din, Kaartuɔ̈m) is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing n ...
in Sudan, and date to 3000 BC. Kadero contains the remains of a cattle pastoralist culture as well as a cemetery with skeletal remains featuring Sub-Saharan African phenotypes. It also contains evidence of other animal domestication, artistry, long-distance trade, seed cultivation and fish consumption. Genetic and linguistic studies have demonstrated that Nubian people
Nubians () (Nobiin: ''Nobī,'' ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the region which is now northern Sudan and southern Egypt. They originate from the early inhabitants of the central Nile valley, believed to be one of the earliest cradles of ...
in Northern Sudan and Southern Egypt are an admixed group that started off as a population closely related to Nilotic peoples. This population later received significant gene flow from Middle Eastern and other East African populations.[ Nubians are considered to be descendants of the early inhabitants of the Nile valley who later formed the ]Kingdom of Kush
The Kingdom of Kush (; Egyptian: 𓎡𓄿𓈙𓈉 ''kꜣš'', Assyrian: ''Kûsi'', in LXX grc, Κυς and Κυσι ; cop, ''Ecōš''; he, כּוּשׁ ''Kūš'') was an ancient kingdom in Nubia, centered along the Nile Valley in wh ...
which included Kerma
Kerma was the capital city of the Kerma culture, which was located in present-day Sudan at least 5,500 years ago. Kerma is one of the largest archaeological sites in ancient Nubia. It has produced decades of extensive excavations and research, i ...
and Meroe and the medieval christian kingdoms of Makuria, Nobatia
Nobatia or Nobadia (; Greek: Νοβαδία, ''Nobadia''; Old Nubian: ⲙⲓⲅⲛ̅ ''Migin'' or ⲙⲓⲅⲓⲧⲛ︦ ⲅⲟⲩⲗ, ''Migitin Goul'' lit. "''of Nobadia's land''") was a late antique kingdom in Lower Nubia. Together with the tw ...
and Alodia
Alodia, also known as Alwa ( grc-gre, Aρουα, ''Aroua''; ar, علوة, ''ʿAlwa''), was a medieval kingdom in what is now central and southern Sudan. Its capital was the city of Soba, located near modern-day Khartoum at the confluence of t ...
. These studies suggest that populations closely related to Nilotic people long inhabited the Nile valley as far as Southern Egypt in antiquity.
For various reasons, slow and multi-generational migrations of Nilotic Luo Peoples
The Luo, (also spelled Lwo) are several ethnically and linguistically related Nilo-Semitic ethnic groups that inhabit an area ranging from Egypt and Sudan to South Sudan and Ethiopia, through Northern Uganda and eastern Congo (DRC), into we ...
occurred from South Sudan
South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the ...
into Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...
and western Kenya
)
, national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
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from at least 1000 AD continuing up until the early 20th century. Some authors note that the early phases of this expansion coincide with the collapse of the Christian Nubian kingdoms of Makuria and Alodia
Alodia, also known as Alwa ( grc-gre, Aρουα, ''Aroua''; ar, علوة, ''ʿAlwa''), was a medieval kingdom in what is now central and southern Sudan. Its capital was the city of Soba, located near modern-day Khartoum at the confluence of t ...
, the penetration of Arabs into central Sudan as well as Nilotic
The Nilotic peoples are people indigenous to the Nile Valley who speak Nilotic languages. They inhabit South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. Among these are the Burun-sp ...
adoption of Iron Age technology. The northern most group of Luo peoples
The Luo, (also spelled Lwo) are several ethnically and linguistically related Nilo-Semitic ethnic groups that inhabit an area ranging from Egypt and Sudan to South Sudan and Ethiopia, through Northern Uganda and eastern Congo (DRC), into we ...
- The Shilluk - advanced north along the White Nile in the 16th century, conquering territory as far as modern day Khartoum. They established the Shilluk Kingdom
The Shilluk Kingdom, dominated by the Shilluk people, was located along the left bank of the White Nile river in what is now South Sudan and southern Sudan. Its capital and royal residence was in the town of Fashoda. According to Shilluk folk h ...
. In the 15th century, Luo peoples
The Luo, (also spelled Lwo) are several ethnically and linguistically related Nilo-Semitic ethnic groups that inhabit an area ranging from Egypt and Sudan to South Sudan and Ethiopia, through Northern Uganda and eastern Congo (DRC), into we ...
moved into the Bunyoro-Kitara Kingdom and established the Babiito dynasty in Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...
. This group assimilated into Bantu culture.
The Luo of Kenya
)
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and Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...
are classified as Southern Luo
Southern Luo is a dialect cluster of Uganda and neighboring countries. Although Southern Luo dialects are mutually intelligible, there are six ethnically and culturally distinct varieties which are considered to be separate languages socially.
P ...
.and are the only 'river lake Nilotes' having migrated and lived along the Nile river. They entered Kenya and Tanzania via Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...
from the Bahr el-Ghazal region in South Sudan
South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the ...
. The Luo speakers who migrated into Kenya were chiefly from four Luo-speaking groups: the Acholi, Adhola and Alur people (From Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...
and parts of South Sudan
South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the ...
and Eastern Congo), especially Acholi and Padhola
The Adhola people, also known as Jopadhola, are a Nilotic ethnic group of Luo peoples that live in Tororo District of Eastern Uganda and comprise about eight percent of the country's total population. They speak Dhopadhola, (a Luo language) ...
.[ It is estimated that Dholuo has 90% lexical similarity with Lep Alur ( Alur language); 83% with Lep Achol ( Acholi language); 93% with Dhopadhola (Padhola language), 74% with Anuak, and 69% with Jurchol (]Luwo
The Luwo (also called Jur Chol and Luo of Bahr el Ghazal) are a Nilotic ethnic group that live in the western parts of South Sudan. They are part of a larger group of ethno-linguistically related Luo peoples of East Africa. They speak the Jur lan ...
) and Dhi-Pari (Pari).[
Luo of Kenya and Tanzania are also called Joluo or Jonagi/Onagi(a person who has his six lower teeth removed as a rite of passage during puberty), singular Jaluo, Jaonagi or Joramogi/Nyikwaramogi, meaning "Ramogi's heirs." The Luo clans of Kenya and Tanzania were called Ororo, while among the Nuer they were called Liel. In the Dinka tribe, the Luo are called the Jur-Chol. The present-day Kenya Luo traditionally consist of 27 tribes, each in turn composed of various clans and sub-clans ("Jo-" indicates "people of").
]
Migration into Kenya
Oral history and genealogical evidence have been used to estimate timelines of Luo expansion into and within Kenya and Tanzania. Four major waves of migrations into the former Nyanza province in Kenya
)
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are discernible, starting with the People of Jok (''Joka Jok''), which is estimated to have begun around 1490–1517. ''Joka Jok'' were the first and largest wave of migrants into northern Nyanza. These migrants settled at a place called Ramogi Hill, then expanded around Northern Nyanza. The People of Owiny' (''Jok’Owiny'') and the People of Omolo (''Jok’Omolo'') followed soon after (1598–1625). A miscellaneous group composed of the Suba, Sakwa, Asembo, Uyoma and Kano then followed. The Suba originally were Bantu-speaking people who assimilated into Luo culture. They fled from the Buganda Kingdom
Buganda is a Bantu kingdom within Uganda. The kingdom of the Baganda people, Buganda is the largest of the traditional kingdoms in present-day East Africa, consisting of Buganda's Central Region, including the Ugandan capital Kampala. The 14 m ...
in Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...
after the civil strife that followed the murder of the 24th Kabaka of Buganda
the kabaka Palace in kireka
Kabaka is the title of the king of the Kingdom of Buganda.Stanley, H.M., 1899, Through the Dark Continent, London: G. Newnes, According to the traditions of the Baganda they are ruled by two kings, one spiritual an ...
in the mid 18th century and settled in South Nyanza, especially at Rusinga
Rusinga Island, with an elongated shape approximately 10 miles (16 km) from end to end and 3 miles (5 km) at its widest point, lies in the eastern part of Lake Victoria at the mouth of the Winam Gulf. Part of Kenya, it is linked to Mbita ...
and Mfangano islands. Luo speakers crossed Winam Gulf
Winam Gulf is a significant extension of northeastern Lake Victoria into western Kenya. Formerly known as Kavirondo Gulf, Nyanza Gulf, and Lake Nyanza Gulf, it is a shallow inlet and is connected to the main lake by Rusinga Channel ( wide), w ...
of Lake Victoria from Northern Nyanza into South Nyanza starting in the early 17th century.
As Luo speakers migrated deeper into western Kenya, they encountered the descendants of various people who had long occupied the region. The great lakes region has been inhabited since the early stone age. The Kanysore culture, located at Gogo falls in Migori county
Migori County is a county in the former Nyanza Province of southwestern Kenya. It is located in Southwestern Kenya and borders Homa Bay County (North), Kisii County (North E), Narok (South East), Tanzania (West and South) and Lake Victoria to ...
, are thought to be the first hunter gatherers in East Africa to produce ceramics. Twa people
Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with ...
are thought to have created the rock art present on Mfangano Island
Mfangano Island lies in the eastern part of Lake Victoria, at the mouth of the Winam Gulf. Part of Kenya, it lies west of Rusinga Island. The island is 65 km² in area and rises to 1,694 m at Mount Kwitutu. It had a population of 16,282 at ...
. Bantu speakers, early migrants from West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, M ...
, are thought to have reached western Kenya by 1000 BC. They brought with them iron-forging technology and novel farming techniques, turning the great lakes region into one of Africa's main population centres and earliest iron smelting regions. The Urewe culture was dominant from 650 BC to 550 BC. This culture was found in northern Nyanza. Bantu speaking groups found in the Lake Victoria basin today include the Luhya, Suba, Kunta, Kuria and Kisii Kisii may refer to:
* Kisii, Kenya, the inaugural capital city of Kenya
* Kisii County, one of the 47 counties of Kenya
* Gucha District, in Kenya, also known as ''South Kisii District''
* Nyamira District, in Kenya, also known as ''North Kisii Di ...
. Southern Nilotic speakers, the Nandi, Kipsigis Kipsigis may refer to:
*the Kipsigis people of Kenya
*Kipsigis language
Kipsigis (or Kipsikii, Kipsikiis) is part of the Kenyan Kalenjin dialect cluster, It is spoken mainly in Kericho and Bomet counties in Kenya. The Kipsigis people are the m ...
and Maasai also were found in this area.
Luo expansion into these already inhabited areas led to trade, conflict, conquest, inter-marriage and cultural assimilation. The previous inhabitants were pushed by Luo speakers to their present day boundaries. Luo customs and habits also changed as they adopted the culture of the communities with which they interacted. Conflict and raids in this diverse area led to the development of defensive savanna architecture, typified by the stone walled ruins, Thimlich Ohinga
Thimlich Ohinga is a complex of stone-built ruins in Migori county, Nyanza Kenya, in East Africa. It is the largest one of 138 sites containing 521 stone structures that were built around the Lake Victoria region in Kenya. These sites are high ...
in South Nyanza. Neville Chittick
Dr. Neville H. Chittick (September 18, 1924 – July 27, 1984) was a British scholar and archaeologist. He specialized in the historic cultures of Northeast Africa, and also devoted various works to the Swahili Coast.
Biography
Chittick was bor ...
, the director of the British Institute of History and Archaeology in East Africa was the first to assert that the site was likely to have been constructed before the arrival of Luo speakers. This assertion is poorly supported archaeologically, however, because most of the stone walled structures are dated to within the period of Luo expansion. Nevertheless, Luo speakers maintained Thimlich Ohinga
Thimlich Ohinga is a complex of stone-built ruins in Migori county, Nyanza Kenya, in East Africa. It is the largest one of 138 sites containing 521 stone structures that were built around the Lake Victoria region in Kenya. These sites are high ...
and continued the tradition of building stone walled fortresses (''Ohingni'') as well as defensive earthworks (''Gunda Bur'') in both Northern and Southern Nyanza. These defensive earth works would curve around living areas surrounding them. Some of these defensive structures enclosed several hundred houses.[Pitt Rivers Museum Luo Visual History. Luo Settlements and Home Structures. Available from: http://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/Luo/luo/page/exhibition-settlements/index.html] Archaeological and ethnographic analyses of the sites have shown that the spatial organisation of these structures most closely resembles the layout of traditional Luo homesteads. Ceramic analysis also confirms continuity between the earliest inhabitants of these sites and Luo speakers.[ With the arrival of the Europeans, these sites were slowly vacated as colonial administration established peace in the region. The families living in the enclosures moved out into individual homesteads using ]euphorbia
''Euphorbia'' is a very large and diverse genus of flowering plants, commonly called spurge, in the family Euphorbiaceae. "Euphorbia" is sometimes used in ordinary English to collectively refer to all members of Euphorbiaceae (in deference to t ...
instead of stone as fencing material. By the mid 20th century, they were all abandoned.[
]
Colonial times
Early British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
contact with the Luo was indirect and sporadic. Relations intensified only when the completion of the Uganda Railway
The Uganda Railway was a metre-gauge railway system and former British state-owned railway company. The line linked the interiors of Uganda and Kenya with the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa in Kenya. After a series of mergers and splits, the li ...
had confirmed British intentions and largely removed the need for local alliances. In 1896, a punitive expedition
A punitive expedition is a military journey undertaken to punish a political entity or any group of people outside the borders of the punishing state or union. It is usually undertaken in response to perceived disobedient or morally wrong beh ...
was mounted in support of the Wanga ruler Mumia in Ugenya against the Kager clan led by Ochieng Ger III, otherwise known as Gero. Over 200 were quickly killed by a Maxim gun
The Maxim gun is a recoil-operated machine gun invented in 1884 by Hiram Stevens Maxim. It was the first fully automatic machine gun in the world.
The Maxim gun has been called "the weapon most associated with imperial conquest" by historian ...
. Another 300 people in the Uyoma resistance were killed by an expedition led by Sir Charles Horbley (Bwana Obila Muruayi) when they were confiscating Luo cattle to help feed the Indian workers who were building the Uganda railway. Following these clashes, Luo spiritual leaders advised the people to actively cooperate with the British. By 1900, the Luo chief Odera was providing 1,500 porters for a British expedition against the Nandi. The British set up regional headquarters first at Mumias
Mumias is a town in Kakamega County of Kenya. The town has an urban population of 116,358 (2009 census).
Mumias was the centre of the Mumias District. The town is linked by road to Kakamega (in east), Busia (west), Bungoma (north), Butere (sout ...
then at Kisumu
Kisumu ( ) is the third-largest city in Kenya after the capital, Nairobi, and the coastal city of Mombasa (census 2019). It is the third-largest city after Kampala and Mwanza in the Lake Victoria Basin.
Apart from being an important polit ...
. They worked to submit the Luo to colonial control and administration. Within a few decades, traditional leaders and political structures were replaced by colonial chiefs.[Pitt Rivers Museum Luo Visual History. The Luo Encounter with Europeans. Available from: http://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/Luo/luo/page/exhibition-encounter-europeans/index.html]
The Seventh-day Adventist Church missionaries were amongst the earliest Christian missionaries to proselytise to Luo people. Arthur Carscallen
Arthur Asa Grandville Carscallen (1879–1964), was a Seventh-day Adventist pastor, missionary, administrator, linguist, and publisher.
Early years
Born in Canada, Carscallen grew up in North Dakota, where he was baptized at age 20, just prior ...
, a Canadian Seventh-day Adventist
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, and ...
(SDA) was the first Adventist to work in Kenya with Peter Nyambo, from Nyasaland
Nyasaland () was a British protectorate located in Africa that was established in 1907 when the former British Central Africa Protectorate changed its name. Between 1953 and 1963, Nyasaland was part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasala ...
(Present day Malawi). The first mission was opened with the assistance of German missionary Abraham C. Enns, in November 1906 at Gendia Hill, Kendu Bay
Kendu Bay is a bay and town in Kenya. The area is the part of Rachuonyo North District in Homa Bay County. It is located on the shore of Lake Victoria along Katito-Homa-Bay road. It is the headquarters of the district. Kisumu, the largest urban ...
. These missionaries established stations at Wire Hill, Rusinga Island
Rusinga Island, with an elongated shape approximately 10 miles (16 km) from end to end and 3 miles (5 km) at its widest point, lies in the eastern part of Lake Victoria at the mouth of the Winam Gulf. Part of Kenya, it is linked to Mbita ...
, Kanyadoto, Karung, Kisii Kisii may refer to:
* Kisii, Kenya, the inaugural capital city of Kenya
* Kisii County, one of the 47 counties of Kenya
* Gucha District, in Kenya, also known as ''South Kisii District''
* Nyamira District, in Kenya, also known as ''North Kisii Di ...
and Kamagambo. These were all in South Nyanza. The first Luo SDA converts were baptised on 21 May 1911. Carscallen was the first to reduce Dholuo to writing. He produced a textbook of grammar and started translating the bible into Dholuo. Catholic missionaries and Anglican missionaries through the Church Mission Society (CMS) were also active throughout Nyanza, but mainly focused on Northern Nyanza.[Pitt Rivers Museum Luo Visual History. Westernisation of the Luo. Available from: http://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/Luo/luo/page/exhibition-european-education/index.html]
It remains unclear whether Luo people westernised due to colonial pressure or they readily accepted aspects of western culture. However, by the 1930s, the Luo way of life had changed significantly and westernized.[ Some suggest that the efforts of Chiefs (''Ruoth'') such as Odera Akang'o played a role in this. In 1915, the Colonial Government sent ''Odera Akang'o'', the '' ruoth'' of Gem, to ]Kampala
Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...
, Uganda. He was impressed by the British settlement there and upon his return home he initiated a forced process of adopting western styles of "schooling, dress and hygiene". This resulted in the rapid education of the Luo in the English language and English ways. European education carried out by the Christian missionaries also played a role in the westernization of the Luo.[
The apparent acquiescence to British colonial rule was shattered by a movement known as Mumboism that took root in South Nyanza. In 1913, Onyango Dunde of central Kavirondo proclaimed to have been sent by the serpent god of Lake Victoria, Mumbo to spread his teachings. The colonial government recognized this movement as a threat to their authority because of the Mumbo creed. Mumbo pledged to drive out the colonialists and their supporters and condemned their religion. Since violent resistance had been proven to be futile as the Africans were outmatched technologically, this movement focused on anticipating the end of colonialism, rather than actively inducing it. This movement was classified as a millennialist cult. Mumboism spread amongst the Luo and the ]Kisii people
The Abagusii (also known as Kisii (Mkisii/Wakisii) in Swahili, or Gusii in Ekegusii) are a highly diverse East African ethnic group and nation indigenous to Kisii (formerly Kisii District) and Nyamira counties of former Nyanza, as well as p ...
. The Colonial authorities suppressed the movement by deporting and imprisoning adherents in the 1920s and 1930s.
The earliest modern African political organization in Kenya Colony
The Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, commonly known as British Kenya or British East Africa, was part of the British Empire in Africa. It was established when the former East Africa Protectorate was transformed into a British Crown colony in ...
sought to protest pro-settler policies, and increased taxes on Africans and the despised ''Kipande'' (Identifying metal band worn around the neck). Mass meetings were organized separately by Luo people in Kavirondo Kavirondo is the former name of the region surrounding Kavirondo Gulf (now Winam Gulf) as well as of two native peoples living there under the regime of British East Africa (The "Nilotic Kavirondo" and the "Bantu Kavirondo"). Broadly, this was defi ...
and the Kikuyu people in Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper h ...
. A strike at the CMS mission school in Maseno
Maseno is a town in Kisumu, the third largest city in Kenya. It is located along Kisumu - Busia highway 25 kilometers to the provincial capital and it is in north west ward. Another road connects Maseno to Vihiga town, located 15 kilometers east o ...
was organised by Daudi Basudde. He raised concerns about the damaging implications on African land ownership by switching from the East African Protectorate to the Kenya Colony
The Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, commonly known as British Kenya or British East Africa, was part of the British Empire in Africa. It was established when the former East Africa Protectorate was transformed into a British Crown colony in ...
. A series of meetings dubbed ''Piny Owacho'' (Voice of the People) culminated in a large mass meeting held in December 1921 advocating for individual title deeds, getting rid of the ''Kipande'' system and a fairer tax system. Bound by the same concerns, James Beauttah
James Beauttah (1889–1985) led the Kikuyu Central Association, Kenya's first all-African political organization together with Joseph Kang'ethe. They were later joined by Jomo Kenyatta in 1924 as they lay the foundation that would be the beginn ...
, one of the founders of the Kikuyu Central Association
The Kikuyu Central Association (KCA), led by James Beauttah and Joseph Kang'ethe, was a political organisation in colonial Kenya formed in 1924 to act on behalf of the Gĩkũyũ community by presenting their concerns to the British government. ...
initiated an alliance between the Kikuyu and Luo communities. Archdeacon W. E. Owen, an Anglican missionary and prominent advocate for African affairs, formalised and canalised the ''Piny’ Owacho'' (Voice of the People) movement. Colonial authorities would come to praise him as having re-directed the political movement, which was thought of as premature. However, locals perceived him as their advocate. He started the Kavirondo Taxpayers Welfare Association and became its president, offering Africans an avenue through which they could address their grievances. However, he concentrated primarily on welfare issues and avoided politics that would upset colonial authorities.
Oginga Odinga started the Luo Thrift and Trading Corporation (LUTATCO) after noting that Luo business owners, who were the most financially independent Africans, loathed education. He also sought to uplift the economic status of the Luo community whilst proving that education was useful for business. The LUTATCO office was the first African owned building in Kisumu
Kisumu ( ) is the third-largest city in Kenya after the capital, Nairobi, and the coastal city of Mombasa (census 2019). It is the third-largest city after Kampala and Mwanza in the Lake Victoria Basin.
Apart from being an important polit ...
Town. One of the many business ventures it engaged in included the publication of African Nationalist newspapers including Achieng Oneko
Ramogi Achieng Oneko (1920–2007) was a Kenyan freedom fighter and a politician. In Kenya, he is considered as a national hero.
He was born in Tieng'a village in Uyoma sub-location in Bondo District in 1920 and educated at Maseno School.
De ...
's vernacular newspaper ''Ramogi'' and Paul Ngei's radical newspaper ''Uhuru Wa Africa''. For his efforts he was appointed as ''‘Ker’'' or Chief of the Luo Union, an organisation that represented the interests of the greater Luo Peoples in East Africa. Oginga Odinga would become a Key political figure in Kenya. He first ventured into politics when he joined the Kenya African Union
The Kenya African Union (KAU) was a political organization devoted to achieving independence for British Kenya. In 1960 it became the current Kenya African National Union (KANU).
Formation
The Kenya African Union was founded in 1944 under the nam ...
. Harry Thuku
Harry Thuku (1895 – 14 June 1970) was a Kenyan politician, one of the pioneers in the development of modern African nationalism in Kenya. He helped found the Young Kikuyu Association and the East African Association before being arrested and ...
, a pioneering Kikuyu politician, founded the Kenya African Study Union in 1944 which later became the Kenya African Union
The Kenya African Union (KAU) was a political organization devoted to achieving independence for British Kenya. In 1960 it became the current Kenya African National Union (KANU).
Formation
The Kenya African Union was founded in 1944 under the nam ...
. This was an African nationalist organisation that demanded amongst other things, access to white owned land. It was multitribal. Jomo Kenyatta became president of KAU in 1947. In an effort to gain nationwide support of KAU, Jomo Kenyatta visited Kisumu
Kisumu ( ) is the third-largest city in Kenya after the capital, Nairobi, and the coastal city of Mombasa (census 2019). It is the third-largest city after Kampala and Mwanza in the Lake Victoria Basin.
Apart from being an important polit ...
in 1952. His effort to build up support for KAU in Nyanza inspired Oginga Odinga, the ''Ker'' (chief) of the Luo Union to join KAU and delve into politics.
Mau Mau Uprising
The Luo generally were not dispossessed of their land by white settlers, avoiding the fate that befell the pastoral ethnic groups inhabiting the Kenyan "White Highlands
The White Highlands is an area in the central uplands of Kenya. It was traditionally the homeland of indigenous Central Kenyan communities up to the colonial period, when it became the centre of European settlement in Kenya, and between 1902 and 19 ...
". Many Luo played significant roles in the struggle for Kenyan independence, but the people were relatively uninvolved in the Mau Mau Uprising (1952–60). Instead, they used their education to advance the cause of independence peacefully. An intense propaganda campaign by the colonial government effectively discouraged other Kenyan communities, settlers and the international community from sympathising with the movement by emphasising on real and perceived acts of barbarism perpetrated by the Mau Mau. Although a much smaller number of Europeans lost their lives compared to Africans during the uprising, each individual European loss of life was publicised in disturbing detail, emphasising elements of betrayal and bestiality.[ As a result, the protest was mainly supported by the ]Kikuyu Kikuyu or Gikuyu (Gĩkũyũ) mostly refers to an ethnic group in Kenya or its associated language.
It may also refer to:
* Kikuyu people, a majority ethnic group in Kenya
*Kikuyu language, the language of Kikuyu people
*Kikuyu, Kenya, a town in Cent ...
who began the uprising. Luo supporters of Mau Mau and those deemed by the colonial government to support it were imprisoned as well. Most notably, Ramogi Achieng Oneko, a KAU leader and one of the Kapenguria six. Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
's grandfather, Hussein Onyango Obama
The family of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States, is a prominent American family active in law, education, activism and politics. Obama's immediate family circle was the first family of the United States from 2009 to 2017, a ...
, was involved in the African nationalist movement. He was imprisoned and tortured by the colonial authorities on suspicions that he was involved in the Mau Mau rebellion. Luo lawyer Argwings Kodhek, the first East African to obtain a law degree, became known as the Mau Mau lawyer as he would successfully defend Africans accused of Mau Mau crimes pro bono.
Pre-independence politics
Following the suppression of the Mau Mau uprising and containment of Kikuyu politicians, Luo anticolonial activists filled the gap, achieving prominence on the political scene. Tom Mboya
Thomas Joseph Odhiambo Mboya (15August 19305July 1969) was a Kenyan trade unionist, educator, Pan-Africanist, author, independence activist, and statesman. He was one of the founding fathers of the Republic of Kenya.Kenya Human Rights Commissio ...
, a Suba Luo, stepped into the limelight and became one of the major figures in the struggle for Kenya's independence. His intelligence, discipline, oratory and organisational skills set him apart. Tom Mboya
Thomas Joseph Odhiambo Mboya (15August 19305July 1969) was a Kenyan trade unionist, educator, Pan-Africanist, author, independence activist, and statesman. He was one of the founding fathers of the Republic of Kenya.Kenya Human Rights Commissio ...
started the Kenya Federation of Labour (KFL), which quickly became the most active political body in Kenya, representing all the trade unions. Mboya's successes in trade unionism earned him respect and admiration. Mboya established international connections, particularly with labour leaders in the United States of America
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
through the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) was an international trade union. It came into being on 7 December 1949 following a split within the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), and was dissolved on 31 October 2006 when ...
(ICFTU). He used these connections and his international celebrity status to counter moves by the colonial government Tom Mboya started the Nairobi People's Convention Party (NPCP), inspired by Kwame Nkurumah's People's Convention Party
The People's Convention Party is a former political party in Ghana.
It merged with the National Convention Party in 1996 and became the reformed Convention People's Party
The Convention People's Party (CPP) is a socialist political party i ...
. It became the most organised and effective political party in the country. It later merged with the Kenya Independence Movement and KAU to form the Kenya African National Union (KANU), which would go on to rule the country until 2002. Tom Mboya also started the Kennedy Airlift scholarship program in order to address the issue of a lack of African skilled labour. Over 800 Kenyans and East Africans benefited from this program including environmentalist and Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolog ...
winner Wangari Maathai
Wangarĩ Muta Maathai (; 1 April 1940 – 25 September 2011) was a Kenyan social, environmental and a political activist and the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. As a beneficiary of the Kennedy Airlift, she studied in the Un ...
, former vice president George Saitoti
George Musengi Saitoti, E.G.H. (3 August 1945 – 10 June 2012) was a Kenyan politician, businessman and American- and British-trained economist, mathematician and development policy thinker.
As a mathematician, Saitoti served as Head of the ...
and Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
's father, Barack Obama Sr
Barack Hussein Obama Sr. (; 18 June 1934 – 24 November 1982) was a Kenyan senior governmental economist and the father of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States. He is a central figure of his son's memoir, '' Dreams from My Fa ...
. [Airlift to America. How Barack Obama Sr., John F. Kennedy, Tom Mboya, and 800 East African Students Changed Their World and Ours by Tom Shachtman]
The first election for African Members of the Legislative Council (MLCs) was in 1957. Tom Mboya
Thomas Joseph Odhiambo Mboya (15August 19305July 1969) was a Kenyan trade unionist, educator, Pan-Africanist, author, independence activist, and statesman. He was one of the founding fathers of the Republic of Kenya.Kenya Human Rights Commissio ...
and Oginga Odinga were elected. In June 1958, Oginga Odinga called for the release of Jomo Kenyatta who had been imprisoned following the crackdown on the Mau Mau uprising. He made this call at a Legislative council debate. He endured months of persecution for taking this stand before it became the rallying call for the African nationalist movement. The Lancaster House Conferences were held in London to discuss Kenya's independence and constitutional framework. Tom Mboya and Oginga Odinga enlisted the assistance of Thurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first African-A ...
, an American Lawyer and civil rights activist to draft the first constitution.[
]
Independent Kenya
After Kenya became independent on 12 December 1963, Oginga Odinga declined the presidency of Kenya and agreed to assume the vice presidency with Jomo Kenyatta as the head of government. Their administration represented the Kenya African National Union
The Kenya African National Union (KANU) is a Kenyan political party that ruled for nearly 40 years after Kenya's independence from British colonial rule in 1963 until its electoral loss in 2002. It was known as Kenya African Union (KAU) from 19 ...
(KANU) party. The Luo and the Kikuyu inherited the bulk of political power in the first years following Kenya's independence in 1963.[ However, differences with Kenyatta caused Odinga to defect from the party and abandon the vice presidency in 1966. Cold war political intrigues were at play in local Kenyan politics. The ]western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
and eastern blocs actively sought to influence local policy making and win allies resulting in a proxy cold war in Kenya. Local politics became enmeshed with cold war ideological divisions.[Freedom and suffering. Chapter in: Kenya: Between Hope and Despair, 1963 – 2011 by Daniel Branch. Yale University Press. Nov 2011] Odinga and Bildad Kaggia
Bildad Mwaganu Kaggia (1921 – 7 March 2005) was a Kenyan nationalist, activist, and politician. Kaggia was a member of the Mau Mau Central Committee. After independence he became a Member of Parliament. He established himself as a militant, fi ...
, a Kikuyu politician and Mau Mau leader, criticised the Kenyatta government for adopting a corrupt land redistribution policy that did not benefit the poor and landless. Pio Gama Pinto
Pio Gama Pinto (31 March 1927 – 24 February 1965) was a Kenyan journalist, politician and freedom fighter. He was a socialist leader who dedicated his life to the liberation of the Kenyan people and became independent Kenya's first martyr in ...
, a prominent anti-colonial activist, Odinga's chief tactician and link to the eastern bloc was assassinated on 25 February 1965 in what is recognised as Kenya's first political assassination. Odinga became increasingly sidelined in government and was eventually compelled to resign and start his own political party – the Kenya People's Union (KPU).[Kenya: The Post-Kenyatta Conundrum. CIA Intelligence Memorandum. Approved for release 2008/11/18. Available from: https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP85T00875R001100130082-2.pdf] The Kenya People's Union (KPU) had strong support amongst the Luo. The Kenyatta government persecuted this party. A security Act was passed in Parliament in July 1966 that permitted the government to carry out detention without trial ostensibly to maintain law and order in situations where the current order was threatened. This Act was immediately used against KPU members. In August 1966, government police arrested prominent Luo KPU members including Ochola Mak'Anyengo (the secretary general of the Kenya Petroleum Oil Workers Union), Oluande Koduol (Oginga Odinga's private secretary) and Peter Ooko (the general secretary of the East African Common Services Civil Servants Union) and detained without trial.
The Cold war intrigues reached their peak in 1969. Since Odinga's exit from KANU, the Luo increasingly became politically marginalised. Argwings Kodhek, the pioneering Mau Mau lawyer died in a car crash under mysterious circumstances on 29 January 1969. Tom Mboya
Thomas Joseph Odhiambo Mboya (15August 19305July 1969) was a Kenyan trade unionist, educator, Pan-Africanist, author, independence activist, and statesman. He was one of the founding fathers of the Republic of Kenya.Kenya Human Rights Commissio ...
, widely touted as the heir apparent to Kenyatta, was assassinated 6 months after on 5 July 1969. The political tension led to the Kisumu massacre when Kenyatta's presidential guard and police forces shot and killed several civilians in Kisumu
Kisumu ( ) is the third-largest city in Kenya after the capital, Nairobi, and the coastal city of Mombasa (census 2019). It is the third-largest city after Kampala and Mwanza in the Lake Victoria Basin.
Apart from being an important polit ...
Town, the capital of Nyanza Province. Following this massacre, KPU was banned, turning Kenya into a ''de facto'' one party state. All KPU members were arrested and detained without trial, including Oginga Odinga. The political marginalisation of Nyanza province worsened and continued under the Moi administration.[
Oginga Odinga was released from detention in 1971. The government continued to discourage his active participation in politics as he could not run for office in the 1974 general elections.][Encyclopedia Britannica. The Republic of Kenya. Kenyatta's rule. Available from: https://www.britannica.com/place/Kenya/World-War-II-to-independence] In 1982, Odinga attempted to start a new political party - Kenya African Socialist Alliance. Section 2A of the Kenyan constitution was amended making Kenya a ''de jure'' one party state therefore preventing Odinga's efforts. A coup attempt that same year by Kenya Air Force soldiers in August, led by a Luo, Hezekiah Ochuka
Hezekiah Rabala Ochuka, (alias Awour) (23 July 1953 – 9 July 1987) was Senior Private in the Kenya Air Force, who ruled Kenya for about six hours after planning and executing a coup against president Daniel arap Moi. Hezekiah Ochuka was the c ...
was foiled. Oginga Odinga and his son Raila Odinga
Raila Amolo Odinga (born 7 January 1945) is a Kenyan politician, former Member of Parliament (MP) for Langata and businessman who served as the Prime Minister of Kenya from 2008 to 2013. He is assumed to be the Leader of Opposition in Kenya sin ...
were accused of involvement and detained without trial for several months. These events led to many years of marginalisation of the Luo community. The perception of marginalisation was further enforced by the murder of Robert Ouko, the Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1990. Economic and political marginalisation of the community and disastrous economic management in Kenya, particularly under the KANU party's administration of the nascent state, had tragic consequences for the people of Kenya. Despite the economic potential of nearby Lake Victoria, Kenya continues to struggle with poverty and HIV/AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...
.
Local and international pressure in the early 1990s resulted in the Moi government repealing the amendment of section 2A of the constitution. Multi-party politics was therefore permitted in Kenya. The Forum for Restoration of Democracy (FORD), a multi-tribal opposition party led by Oginga Odinga, Kenneth Matiba
Kenneth Stanley Njindo Matiba (1 June 1932 – 15 April 2018) was a Kenyan politician and an activist for democracy. He came in at second place in the 1992 presidential election. In November 2007, he announced that he would stand as a president ...
and Martin Shikuku
Joseph Martin Shikuku Oyondi (December 25, 1932– August 22, 2012) was a Kenyan politician.
Spouse: Dolorosa Regina Elizabeth Achieng Shikuku: born 12 June 1942- Died 5 December 2004.
Children: Sylvano Madanji Shikuku: Both 16 November 1966, Emm ...
was formed. This party split up due to internal wrangling into ethnic based opposition parties - FORD-Asili (led by Matiba) and FORD-Kenya (led by Oginga Odinga). Oginga Odinga died in 1994.
Ford-Kenya later split and Odinga's son, Raila Odinga
Raila Amolo Odinga (born 7 January 1945) is a Kenyan politician, former Member of Parliament (MP) for Langata and businessman who served as the Prime Minister of Kenya from 2008 to 2013. He is assumed to be the Leader of Opposition in Kenya sin ...
started the National Development Party of Kenya (NDP) which had considerable Luo support. This party merged with KANU in 2002, just before the general elections
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
. Raila Odinga is widely credited with enabling Mwai Kibaki to win the 2002 presidential election through the support of his Liberal Democratic Party. This relationship turned sour however and Raila Odinga
Raila Amolo Odinga (born 7 January 1945) is a Kenyan politician, former Member of Parliament (MP) for Langata and businessman who served as the Prime Minister of Kenya from 2008 to 2013. He is assumed to be the Leader of Opposition in Kenya sin ...
led the vote against Mwai Kibaki in the 2005 Kenyan constitutional referendum
A constitutional referendum was held in Kenya on 21 November 2005. Although many government officials, including President Mwai Kibaki, had campaigned for a "yes" vote, the proposed new constitution was rejected by 58% of voters.
Despite the ...
which was widely perceived as a referendum against Kibaki. More than 1,000 people were killed and 600,000 displaced in the 2007–2008 Kenyan crisis following the 2007 general elections. The campaign and election period were heavily polarised along ethnic lines. Raila Odinga led the Orange Democratic Movement
The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) is a centre-left political party in Kenya. It is the successor of a grassroots people's movement which was formed during the 2005 Kenyan constitutional referendum campaign. This movement separated in Augu ...
against Mwai Kibaki's Party of National Unity. A power sharing agreement mediated by Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan (; 8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founde ...
led to a coalition government with Raila Odinga receiving the new position of Prime Minister. The ethnic rivalry between the Kikuyu and the Luo underscores deeply rooted historical issues that involve access to resources and power. This rivalry continues to shape Kenya's political trajectory.
Despite the polarised politics that have led to economic and political marginalisation, several members of the Luo community continue to achieve prominence in Kenya. These include, James Orengo
James Aggrey Bob Orengo is a Kenyan lawyer, a well known human rights activist and politician who is the current governor for Siaya County. He is also one of the few Kenyan lawyers who have attained the professional grade of Senior counsel in t ...
, Professor Anyang' Nyong'o
Peter Anyang' Nyong'o (born 10 October 1943) is a Kenyan politician and author who is the Governor of Kisumu County. He is a former Secretary-General of Orange Democratic Movement (the current Secretary-General is Edwin Sifuna). Professor Nyong' ...
, Peter Oloo-Aringo, Dalmas Otieno and Peter Ombija. Dr. PLO Lumumba who is the former Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission director also is a Luo. Lupita Nyong'o
Lupita Amondi Nyong'o (, ; ; born 1 March 1983) is a Kenyan-Mexican actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, and nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Tony Award.
The daughter of Kenyan politi ...
won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film 12 Years a Slave
''Twelve Years a Slave'' is an 1853 memoir and slave narrative by American Solomon Northup as told to and written by David Wilson. Northup, a black man who was born free in New York state, details himself being tricked to go to Washington, D.C. ...
in 2014. Prominent Luo doctors and scientists include the late Prof. David Peter Simon Wasawo, the first science professor in East and Central Africa and first black East African to study and lecture science courses at Makerere university; Thomas R. Odhiambo, prominent entomologist, founder of the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology
The International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE, branded as ''icipe'') is an international scientific research institute, headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya that works towards improving lives and livelihoods of people in Africa.
I ...
(ICIPE) and the African Academy of Sciences, winner of the Albert Einstein Gold Medal (1991); Washington Yotto Ochieng
Washington Yotto Ochieng is a Kenyan academic who is Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Imperial College London. Previously, he was Head of the Centre for Transport Studies and Co-Director of the Institute for Secu ...
, winner of the Harold Spencer-Jones Gold Medal 2019 from The Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN) following his outstanding contribution to navigation; Prof. Henry Odera Oruka, philosopher; Professor George Magoha, a consultant urologist and former Vice-Chancellor of University of Nairobi; and Prof Richard Samson Odingo, vice-chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which received the 2007 Nobel peace prize.[
]
Genetics
Tishkoff ''et al'' in 2009 published the largest study done to characterise genetic variation and relationships among populations in Africa. They examined 121 African populations, 4 African American populations and 60 non-African populations. Their results indicated a high degree of mixed ancestry reflecting migration events. In East Africa, all population groups examined had elements of Nilotic
The Nilotic peoples are people indigenous to the Nile Valley who speak Nilotic languages. They inhabit South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. Among these are the Burun-sp ...
, Cushitic
The Cushitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken primarily in the Horn of Africa, with minorities speaking Cushitic languages to the north in Egypt and the Sudan, and to the south in Kenya and Tanzania. As o ...
and Bantu ancestry, amongst others, to varying degrees. They also found that, by and large, genetic clusters were consistent with linguistic classification, with notable exceptions including the Luo of Kenya. Despite being Nilotic speakers, the Luo cluster with the Bantu speaking populations that surround them. They suggest that this indicates a high degree of admixture occurred during the southward migration of Southern Luo.[ David Reich's laboratory also noted similar findings. They found that mutation frequencies in the Luo were much more similar to those of the surrounding Bantu speakers. They suggested that Luo speakers in East Africa may not always have been socially disadvantaged as they migrated into territories already inhabited by Bantu speakers. This is in keeping with oral history, which affirms that large groups of Bantu speakers adopted Luo language, culture and customs that were dominant at the time.
66% of tested Luo men were found to have Y ]Haplogroup E-M2
Haplogroup E-M2 (or E1b1a) is a human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup. It is primarily distributed in sub-Saharan Africa. E-M2 is the predominant subclade in West-Central Africa, Southern Africa and the African Great Lakes, and occurs at moderate fr ...
(E1b1a) which is common among Bantu speaking peoples.
Culture and customs
Traditional system of government
Traditionally, the Luo people were a patriarchal society with a decentralized government system. The family was headed by the father or the first wife ''mikayi'' or son in the absence of the father. Many families came together through a traced relations by blood to form a clan, ''anyuola'', which mostly brought together the heads of different families together as people of the same descent, ''jokang'ato''. Many clans came together to form a village called ''gweng''which was headed by a village elder titled ''dodo'' or ''jaduong' gweng who ruled with the assistance of elders who were traditionally men of status gained through commerce, wealth, war, or eloquence. Many villages came together to form a sub-tribe which was headed by a hereditary chieftaincy by the eldest son ''Ruoth''.
The Luo government structure was stronger at the sub-tribe level under ''Ruoth'' who had a council of elders, ''galamoro mar jodongo'' or ''jodong gweng, from all the villages in their territory. The Luos organized their defense and security at the sub-tribe level which was headed by a commander, ''Osumba Mrwayi'', who was part of the council of elders. The council also had a spokesperson who talked on behalf of the council in official matters in village market meetings, religious, and cultural ceremonies that ''Ruoth'' presided over.
Sub-tribe relations with each other was ad-hoc as there was no single ruler of the Luo people. Sub-tribes came together during calamities, war, and natural disasters like drought, famines, and floods to help each other. ''Sumo'', the act of sharing produce with people who were struck by famine was a common tradition with Kisumo being one of the renowned marketplaces where those who were struck by famine never missed the generosity of their Luo counterparts.
The concept of a Luo ruler ''ker'' was coined by Jaramogi Oginga Odinga
Jaramogi Ajuma Oginga Odinga (October 1911 – 20 January 1994) was a Luo chieftain who became a prominent figure in Kenya's struggle for independence. He later served as Kenya's first Vice-President, and thereafter as opposition leader. Oding ...
during the formation of the Luo Union in 1947 that was aimed at uniting all people of Luo descent in East Africa. Jaramogi Oginga Odinga was the first Luo ''Ker''. As part of distinguishing a tribal leader from a national leader, part of the conditions was that a Luo ''Ker'' would not go into national politics and when Jaramogi Oginga Odinga went into national politics in 1957, he had to quit being a ''Ker''.
In recent years, the Luo ''Ker'' seat has been claimed by different factions of Luo council of elders that started with the appointment of Willis Opiyo Otondi by Raila Odinga
Raila Amolo Odinga (born 7 January 1945) is a Kenyan politician, former Member of Parliament (MP) for Langata and businessman who served as the Prime Minister of Kenya from 2008 to 2013. He is assumed to be the Leader of Opposition in Kenya sin ...
in 2010 to replace Ker Riaga Ogalo. Traditionally, the Ker was elected by a Council of Elders and was not appointed as it happened with Opondo Otondi, and a Luo ''Ker'' could only leave office under two conditions, resignation or death. Ker Riaga Ogalo argued that he had not resigned nor died to warrant the appointment of another Ker while Opiyo Otondi argued that he was the duly elected Ker of the Luo people. Ker Riaga Ogalo represented Raila in numerous political forums and helped build Raila Odinga's political career contrary to the requirements of the council during the days they were in good talking terms.
Ker Riaga Ogalo is credited for having progressive ideas of all modern Luo Kers by championing for circumcision of the Luo men to help in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Circumcision was alien to the Luo tradition but his leadership made many hearts to accept the new changes. Ker Riaga Ogalo also served as the Vice-Chairman of the National Council of Elders. During the last years of his reign, he argued that Raila was deterring the Luo People to grow democratically and economically with his style of polictics. Ker Riaga Ogalo died in 2015 after a kidney infection at the Kenyatta National Hospital. The Council's wrangles continued after his demise with today Willis Opiyo Otondi still claiming to be the legitimate ker rivalled by Ker Nyandiko Ong'adi who was elected by the Luo Council of Elders in 2015 to replace ker Riaga Ogalo.
The attempt to centralize the Luo people under one authority have not been easy given their history with a decentralized government structure.
Rites of passage
Traditionally, the names given to children often reflected the conditions of the mother's pregnancy or delivery (including, for example, the time or season).
Further, the Luos have traditionally practiced the removal of six lower teeth between the ages of twelve and sixteen. The practice is referred to as "Nago lak" ( Nago is the process, lak means teeth). It is from this ritual that the Luos are also called onagi meaning those who have their teeth removed. This practice has now fallen largely out of use.
Cuisine
A popular Luo meal includes fish (rech) especially tilapia
Tilapia ( ) is the common name for nearly a hundred species of cichlid fish from the coelotilapine, coptodonine, heterotilapine, oreochromine, pelmatolapiine, and tilapiine tribes (formerly all were "Tilapiini"), with the economically most ...
(ngege) and omena, usually accompanied with ugali
Ugali or Posho or sima (for others, see ) is a type of maize meal made from maize or corn flour in several countries in Africa. Sima is sometimes made from other flours, such as millet or sorghum flour, and is sometimes mixed with cassava flour. ...
(called ''kuon'' in Dholuo) and traditional vegetables like osuga and apoth. Many of the vegetables eaten by the Luo were shared after years of association with their Bantu neighbours, the Abaluhya and the Abagusii
The Abagusii (also known as Kisii (Mkisii/Wakisii) in Swahili, or Gusii in Ekegusii) are a highly diverse East African ethnic group and nation indigenous to Kisii (formerly Kisii District) and Nyamira counties of former Nyanza, as well as ...
. Traditional Luo diet consisted of kuon made of sorghum or millet accompanied by fish, meat, or vegetable stews.
Religious customs
Like many ethnic communities in Uganda, including the Langi, Acholi, and Alur, the Luo do not practice the ritual
A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized ...
circumcision
Circumcision is a procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin is excised. Top ...
of males as initiation.
Local churches include ''Legio Maria'', ''Roho'', ''Nomiya'' and ''Fweny'' among others. There are Luo Muslim communities, with a notable group living in Kisumu, Kenya.
Marriage customs
Historically, couples were introduced to each other by matchmakers, but this is not common now. Like many other communities in Kenya, marriage practices among the Luo have been changing and some people are moving away from the traditional way of doing things.
The Luo successfully expanded their culture through intermarriage with other groups in the region, and many Luo today continue to marry outside the Luo community. This mainly acceptable since it is an exogamous community with restrictions at clan level both paternally and maternally. The traditional marriage ceremony takes place in two parts, both involving the payment of a bride price
Bride price, bride-dowry ( Mahr in Islam), bride-wealth, or bride token, is money, property, or other form of wealth paid by a groom or his family to the woman or the family of the woman he will be married to or is just about to marry. Bride dow ...
by the groom. The first ceremony, the Ayie, involves a payment of money to the mother of the bride; the second stage involves giving cattle to her father. Often these two steps are carried out at the same time, and, as many modern Luos are Christians, a church ceremony often follows.
Music
Traditionally, music was the most widely practiced art in the Luo community. At any time of day or night, music would be made. Music was not played for its own sake. Music was functional, being used for ceremonial, religious, political, or incidental purposes. Music was performed during funerals ('' Tero buru''), to praise the departed, to console the bereaved, to keep people awake at night, and to express pain and agony. It was also used during cleansing and chasing away of spirits. Music was also played during ceremonies like beer parties ('' Dudu, ohangla dance
Ohangla is a traditional dance among the Luo (Kenya and Tanzania), Luo community. It was used to celebrate weddings and also in funeral ceremony as part of Tero Buru. Ohangla consists of more than 8 drums hit by a stick and a cylindrical shoulder ...
''), welcoming back the warriors from a war, during a wrestling match ('' Olengo''), during courtship, etc. Work songs also existed. These were performed both during communal work like building, weeding, etc. and individual work like pounding of cereals, or winnowing. Music was also used for ritual purposes like chasing away evil spirits ''(nyawawa)'', who visit the village at night, in rain making, and during divination and healing.
The Luo music was shaped by the total way of life, lifestyles, and life patterns of individuals of this community. Because of that, the music had characteristics which distinguished it from that of other communities. This can be seen, heard, and felt in their melodies, rhythms, mode of presentation and dancing styles, movements, and formations.
The melodies in Luo music were lyrical, with a lot of vocal ornamentations. These ornaments came out clearly, especially when the music carried an important message. Their rhythms were characterized by a lot of syncopation and acrusic beginning. These songs were usually presented in solo-response style, although some were solo performances. The most common forms of solo performances were chants. These chants were recitatives with irregular rhythms and phrases, which carried serious messages. Most of the Luo dances were introduced by these chants. One example is the dudu dance.
Another unique characteristic in the Luo music is the introduction of yet another chant at the middle of a musical performance. The singing stops, the pitch of the musical instruments go down and the dance becomes less vigorous as an individual takes up the performance is self-praise. This is referred to as ''Pakruok''. There was also a unique kind of ululation, ''Sigalagala'', that marked the climax of the musical performance. Sigalagala was mainly done by women.
The dance styles in the Luo folk music were elegant and graceful. They involved either the movement of one leg in the opposite direction with the waist in step with the syncopated beats of the music or the shaking of the shoulders vigorously, usually to the tune of the nyatiti
The nyatiti is a five to eight-stringed plucked bowl yoke lute from Kenya. It is a classical instrument played by the Luo people of Western Kenya, specifically in the Siaya region south of Kisumu. It is about two to three feet long with a bowl ...
, an eight-stringed instrument.
Adamson (1967) commented that Luos clad in their traditional costumes and ornaments deserve their reputation as the most picturesque people in Kenya. During most of their performances, the Luo wore costumes and decorated themselves not only to appear beautiful, but also to enhance their movements. These costumes included sisal skirts (''owalo''), beads (''Ombulu / tigo
Millicom International Cellular SA (NASDAQ U.S.: TIGO, NASDAQ Stockholm: TIGO_SDB) is a Luxembourgish fixed line and mobile telecommunications services provider dedicated to emerging markets in Latin America operating under the Tigo brand. As of ...
'') worn around the neck and waist, and red or white clay worn by the ladies. The men's costumes included '' kuodi'' or ''chieno'', a skin worn from the shoulders or from the waist respectively to cover their nakedness, ''Ligisa'', the headgear, shield and spear, reed hats, and clubs, among others. All these costumes and ornaments were made from locally available materials.
The Luo were also rich in musical instruments which ranged from percussion (drums, clappers, metal rings, ''ongeng'o or gara'', shakers), strings (e.g., ''nyatiti'', a type of lyre; '' orutu'', a type of fiddle), wind (''tung (instrument), tung a horn,''Asili
Asili is a village on the southwest coast of Tutuila Island, American Samoa
American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the islan ...
'', a flute, ''A bu-!'', to a specific type of trumpet).
Currently the Luo are associated with the ''benga
Benga may refer to:
Ethnonym
* Benga people, an indigenous ethnic group of Equatorial Guinea
* Benga language, spoke by the Benga people
* Benga music, a genre of music originating in Kenya
Places Romania
* ''Benga'', the old name of Mo ...
'' style of music. It is a lively style in which songs in Dholuo, Swahili, or English are sung to a lively guitar riff. It originated in the 1950s with Luo musicians like George Ramogi and Ochieng' Kabaselle trying to adapt their traditional dance rhythms to western instruments. The guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...
(acoustic, later electric) replaced the nyatiti
The nyatiti is a five to eight-stringed plucked bowl yoke lute from Kenya. It is a classical instrument played by the Luo people of Western Kenya, specifically in the Siaya region south of Kisumu. It is about two to three feet long with a bowl ...
as the string instrument. ''Benga'' has become so popular that it is played by musicians of all ethnicities like mugithi among the Kikuyu, and it is no longer considered a purely Luo style. It has become Kenya's characteristic pop sound.
Luo singer and nyatiti player Ayub Ogada
Job Seda (1956 – 1 February 2019), better known as Ayub Ogada, was a Kenyan singer. He was a singer favoring the nyatiti (an eight-stringed lyre with its origins credited to the Luo, a tribe in Nyanza Kenya) as his characteristic instrument. ...
received widespread exposure in 2005 when two of his songs were featured in Alberto Iglesias
Alberto Iglesias Fernández-Berridi (born 21 October 1955) is a Spanish composer. He was first noticed as a score composer for Spanish films, mostly from Pedro Almodóvar and Julio Medem. His career became more international with time and he eve ...
' Academy Award-nominated score for Fernando Mereilles' film adaptation of ''The Constant Gardener
''The Constant Gardener'' is a 2001 novel by British author John le Carré. The novel tells the story of Justin Quayle, a British diplomat whose activist wife is murdered. Believing there is something behind the murder, he seeks to uncover the t ...
''.
Other Luo musicians, in various genres, are Akothee, Suzanna Owiyo, Daniel Owino Misiani
Daniel Owino Misiani (22 February 1940 – 17 May 2006) was a Tanzanian-born musician based in Kenya, where he led the Shirati Jazz collective. He was known as the "King of History" in Kenya; overseas and in Tanzania, he was known as "the grand ...
, Collela Mazee, Achieng' Abura, George Ramogi
George Ramogi (1945–1997) was a Kenyan musician, who empowered the traditional luo ''benga and rumba'' genre of music. Ramogi was known for his spur of the good life and his notable appearances at bars and clubs in western Kenya- Nyanza region. ...
, Musa Juma Musa Juma Mumbo (December 6, 1968Daily Nation, March 18, 2011/ref> – March 15, 2011) was a rumba and Benga musician from Kenya. He was born to the second wife of his father, a policeman, and into a family of 18 children. He grew up in Homabay wh ...
, Tony Nyadundo
Tony Nyadundo is a musician from Kenya. He performs the '' Ohangla,'' a traditional style of music by the Luo community. He is backed by the Ohangla Boys band. He is now branded the "King of Ohangla".
Early life
He was born in Kal in Tanzania. To ...
and Onyi Papa Jey.
Kinship, family, and inheritance
Ocholla Ayayo writes in "Traditional Ideology and Ethics among the southern Luo":
"When the time of the inheritance comes the ideology of seniority is respected: the elder son receives the largest share, followed in the order of seniority. If it is the land to be divided, for instance, the land of the old grandfather's homestead, the senior son gets the middle piece, the second the land to the right hand side of the homestead, and the third son takes the land on the left hand side. After the father's death the senior son takes over the responsibilities of leadership. These groups when considered in terms of genealogy, are people of the same grandfather, and are known in Dholuo as Jokakwaro. They share sacrifices under the leadership of the senior brother. If the brother is dead the next brother in seniority takes the leadership of senior brother. The responsibility and prestige position of leadership is that it puts one into the primary position in harvesting, cultivation, as well as in eating specified parts of the animal killed, usually the best parts. It is the senior brother, who is leading in the group, who can first own the fishing boat. Since it is he who will be communicating with the ancestors of their father or grandfather, it is he who will conduct or lead the sacrifices of religiousity of the boat, as we have noted earlier. ..The system of the allocation of land by the father while he is still alive is important since it will coincide with the system of inheritance of land. The principle of the division of the land in monogamous families is rather simple and straightforward. ..The senior son takes the centre portion of all the land of the homestead up to and beyond the gate or to the buffer zone; the second son then has the remainder of the land to divide with the other brothers. If the land is divided among the elder sons after they are married, and take to live in their lands, it often happens that a youngest son remains in the village of the father to care for him in his old age. His inheritance is the last property, called Mondo and the remaining gardens of his mother. ..In the case of a polygamous village, the land is divided along the same lines, except that within the village, the sons claim the area contiguous to the houses of their mother. Each wife and her children are regarded as if the group constituted was the son of a single woman.By that I mean the children of the senior wife, Mikayi, are given that portion of the total area which could have been given to the senior son in a monogamous family. The sons of Nyachira, the second wife, and the sons of Reru, the third wife, lay claim to those portions which would have fallen to the second and third sons of Mikayi in a monogamous village".
Paul Hebinck and Nelson Mango explain in detail the family and inheritance system of the Luo in their article "Land and embedded rights: An analysis of land conflicts in Luoland, Western Kenya." Parker MacDonald Shipton also writes extensively about kinship, family and inheritance among the Luo in his book "Mortgaging the Ancestors: Ideologies of Attachment in Africa":
"Outside the homestead enclosure, or (where there is no more enclosure) beyond and before its houses, Luo people have favored a layout of fields that in some ways reflects placements of houses within. The following pattern, as described in Gordon Wilson's work from the 1950s, is still discernable in our times—not just in informants’ sketches of their ideals, but also in the allocations of real lands where space has allowed following suit. If there is more than one son in a monogamous homestead, the eldest takes land in front of or to the right of the entrance, and the second son takes land on the left. The third receives land to the right and center again, but farther from the father's homestead. The fourth son, if there is one, goes to the left but farther from the paternal homestead than the second. Further sons alternate right and left. While elder sons might thus receive larger shares than the younger ones, the youngest takes over the personal garden (mondo) kept by the father for his own use—as if as a consolation prize".
List of notable people of Luo descent
File:Dan Aceda at Thursday Night Live in NaIrobi by Paul Munene.jpg, Dan 'Chizi' Aceda
Musician
File:Evans Odhiambo Kidero 2015.jpg, Evans Kidero
Evans Odhiambo Kidero (born 20 May 1957) is a Kenyan politician and former Governor of Nairobi County. He served as CEO of Mumias Sugar Company for 8 years, resigning in 2012 to join elective politics.
Early life
Kidero was born in Majengo as ...
First Governor of Nairobi County
Nairobi City County is one of the 47 counties of Kenya. With a population of 4,397,073 in the 2019 census, it is the third smallest yet the most populous of the counties, also serving as the capital of Kenya. In 2013, the county entity was effe ...
File:Larry Madowo BBC anchor.jpg, Larry Madowo
Larry Madowo (born 14 July 1987) is a Kenyan journalist and a CNN International Correspondent. He was previously a North America Correspondent for the BBC and also anchored breaking news and presented BBC World News America from Washington, DC ...
Journalist. BBC Correspondent.
File:Ochola Makanyengo Pipe.webp, Ochola Ogaye Mak’Anyengo
Anti-colonial activist, trade unionist and politician
File:Tom Mboya 1962 (cropped).jpg, Tom Mboya
Thomas Joseph Odhiambo Mboya (15August 19305July 1969) was a Kenyan trade unionist, educator, Pan-Africanist, author, independence activist, and statesman. He was one of the founding fathers of the Republic of Kenya.Kenya Human Rights Commissio ...
Statesman. One of Kenya's founding fathers.
File:Susan Mboya Official Photo.jpg, Susan Mboya
Corporate executive and philanthropist
File:Miguna Miguna.jpg, Miguna Miguna
Miguna Miguna is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya. He practices law as an attorney, a barrister and solicitor in Toronto, Canada. Miguna served as a senior adviser to former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga from 2009 to 2011.
Early li ...
Barrister. Former adviser to the Prime Minister on coalition affairs
File:SXSW 2019 4 (47282558132) (cropped).jpg, Lupita Nyong'o
Lupita Amondi Nyong'o (, ; ; born 1 March 1983) is a Kenyan-Mexican actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, and nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Tony Award.
The daughter of Kenyan politi ...
Actress. First black African Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
winner
File:Tavia Nyong'o 03.jpg, Tavia Nyong'o
Cultural critic
File:President Barack Obama.jpg, Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
44th President of the United States of America
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
File:Jaramogi Oginga Odinga (cropped).jpg, Oginga Odinga
First Vice-President of Kenya
File:Raila A. Odinga.jpg, Raila Odinga
Raila Amolo Odinga (born 7 January 1945) is a Kenyan politician, former Member of Parliament (MP) for Langata and businessman who served as the Prime Minister of Kenya from 2008 to 2013. He is assumed to be the Leader of Opposition in Kenya sin ...
Former Prime Minister of Kenya. African Union High Representative for Infrastructure Development
File:Johnny Oduya Jets2 2012-02-11.JPG, Johnny Oduya
Professional Ice-Hockey defenceman
File:Margaret A Ogola.jpg, Margaret Ogola
Paediatrician and Author. Winner of the 1995 Commonwealth Writers' Prize
Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...
File:Bethwell Allan Ogot.jpg, Bethwell Ogot
Historian
File:Dennis Oliech.jpg, Dennis Oliech
Professional Footballer
File:2014 David Otunga.jpg, David Otunga
David Daniel Otunga''Lawyer ' (born April 7, 1980) is an American actor and former professional wrestler. Otunga is best known for his time working with WWE. He was the runner-up on the first season of ''NXT''. He is also an original member of ...
Actor, Lawyer, former WWE professional wrestler
File:Yvonne Owuor.jpg, Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor
Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor (born 1968) is a Kenyan writer who is the author of novels, short stories and essays. She won the 2003 Caine Prize for African Writing for her story "Weight of Whispers".
Education and professional life
Born in Nairobi, Ke ...
Author. Winner of the 2003 Caine Prize for African Writing
The Caine Prize for African Writing is an annual literary award for the best original short story by an African writer, whether in Africa or elsewhere, published in the English language. The £10,000 prize was founded in the United Kingdom in 20 ...
Academics, medicine, and science
* George Magoha
* Osir John
* Tavia Nyong'o
*Washington Yotto Ochieng
Washington Yotto Ochieng is a Kenyan academic who is Head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Imperial College London. Previously, he was Head of the Centre for Transport Studies and Co-Director of the Institute for Secu ...
* Peter Amollo Odhiambo
* Thomas R. Odhiambo
* Bethwell Allan Ogot
*Henry Odera Oruka
Henry Odera Oruka (1 June 1944, Nyanza Province – 9 December 1995, Nairobi) was a Kenyan philosopher who is best known for "Sage Philosophy". It was a project started in the 1970s in an attempt to preserve the knowledge of the indigenous thin ...
* Richard Samson Odingo
* David Wasawo
Walter Jaoko
* Fredrick Ogada
* Zedekiah Solomon Osano
* Titus Solomon Osano
* Jannet Adhiambo Ouko
* Eng. Alphonce Odhiambo
Kenneth Simbiri
Business and economics
* Susan Mboya
*Isis Nyong'o
Isis Nyong’o Madison is a Kenyan-American media and technology entrepreneur. Currently the principal at strategic advisory firm Asphalt & Ink, she has also previously worked with InMobi, Google and MTV Africa. The Senior Advisor at Albright St ...
*Barack Obama Sr.
Barack Hussein Obama Sr. (; 18 June 1934 – 24 November 1982) was a Kenyan senior governmental economist and the father of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States. He is a central figure of his son's memoir, '' Dreams from My Fa ...
* Rosemary Odinga
* Washington Aggrey Okumu
* Martin Oduor-Otieno
Politics, activism, trade unionism, diplomacy and law
* Sheikh Omar Al Bashir
* Osir John Dholuo Dictionary
*Powel Ayala Apopo Powel may refer to:
* David Powel (c.1549–1598), Welsh clergyman and historian
* Samuel Powel (1738–1793), American colonial politician
*William Garrigues Powel (1852–1894), American politician
* Powel Crosley Jr. (1886–1961), American indus ...
* Dennis Akumu
* Elijah Omolo Agar
* Wilson Ndolo Ayah
* Evans Odhiambo Kidero
* Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba
* Ochola Ogaye Mak’Anyengo
* Pamela Odede Mboya
*Tom Mboya
Thomas Joseph Odhiambo Mboya (15August 19305July 1969) was a Kenyan trade unionist, educator, Pan-Africanist, author, independence activist, and statesman. He was one of the founding fathers of the Republic of Kenya.Kenya Human Rights Commissio ...
*Miguna Miguna
Miguna Miguna is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya. He practices law as an attorney, a barrister and solicitor in Toronto, Canada. Miguna served as a senior adviser to former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga from 2009 to 2011.
Early li ...
* Anyang’ Nyong’o
*Auma Obama
Rita Auma Obama (born 1960), is a Kenyan-British community activist, sociologist, journalist, author, and half-sister of the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama. Obama serves as the executive chairwoman of Sauti Kuu Foundation ( ...
*Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
* Malik Obama
* Sarah Onyango Obama
*Oburu Odinga
Oburu Ng'ong'a Oginga (born 15 October 1943) is a Kenyan politician who is currently serving as senator for Siaya County, having been elected in the elections of August 2022. He is an immediate former member for the East African Legislative Asse ...
* Oginga Odinga
*Raila Odinga
Raila Amolo Odinga (born 7 January 1945) is a Kenyan politician, former Member of Parliament (MP) for Langata and businessman who served as the Prime Minister of Kenya from 2008 to 2013. He is assumed to be the Leader of Opposition in Kenya sin ...
* Joshua Orwa Ojode
*John Henry Okwanyo
John Henry Okwanyo was a politician from Kenya. He served in the government and cabinet of Daniel arap Moi, Kenya's second president, for many years. During this time, he held the post of member of parliament for the Larger Migori constituency ...
* Peter Oloo-Aringo
*Patrick Ayiecho Olweny
Patrick Ayiecho Olweny is a Kenyan politician. He belongs to the Orange Democratic Movement and was elected to represent the Muhoroni Constituency in the National Assembly of Kenya in the 2007 Kenyan parliamentary election. In 2010 he created trib ...
* Raychelle Awour Omamo
* Dallienst Marshel
* William Odongo Omamo
* Ramogi Achieng Oneko
* Phoebe Asiyo
* Dalmas Otieno
* Robert Ouko
*Raphael Tuju
Raphael Tuju, EGH (born 30 March 1959) is a Kenyan politician. In 2002—after a career as a journalist, TV producer, and real estate investor—Tuju was elected to parliament and has served the Government of Kenya in various capacities since ...
Florence Simbiri- Jaoko
* Dr.Fordrane Albert Okumu ( Okumu Okumu) Data scientist and leader of Luo liberation Army
Arts, music and media
* Lydia Achieng Abura
* Dan "chizi" Aceda
* Akothee
* Catherine Susan Anyango
* Esther Arunga
*Omondi Justus Rang'ang'a Omondi is both a surname and a given name. It is most common with the Luo Tribe in East Africa. The name itself is given to Male children born early in the morning. Amondi is a female version of the name. It may refer to:
People with this name incl ...
* Gaylyne Ayugi
* Okatch Biggy
* Tedd Josiah
* Princess Jully
*Musa Juma Musa Juma Mumbo (December 6, 1968Daily Nation, March 18, 2011/ref> – March 15, 2011) was a rumba and Benga musician from Kenya. He was born to the second wife of his father, a policeman, and into a family of 18 children. He grew up in Homabay wh ...
*Larry Madowo
Larry Madowo (born 14 July 1987) is a Kenyan journalist and a CNN International Correspondent. He was previously a North America Correspondent for the BBC and also anchored breaking news and presented BBC World News America from Washington, DC ...
*Gidi Gidi Maji Maji Gidi Gidi Maji Maji (also known as GidiGidi MajiMaji or GidigidiMajimaji) is a Kenyan hip hop duo from Nairobi. Its two members are Maji Maji (Julius Owino) and Gidi Gidi (Joseph Ogidi). Their lyrics are mostly in Luo language, with some English a ...
*Daniel Owino Misiani
Daniel Owino Misiani (22 February 1940 – 17 May 2006) was a Tanzanian-born musician based in Kenya, where he led the Shirati Jazz collective. He was known as the "King of History" in Kenya; overseas and in Tanzania, he was known as "the grand ...
* Mercy Myra
*Tony Nyadundo
Tony Nyadundo is a musician from Kenya. He performs the '' Ohangla,'' a traditional style of music by the Luo community. He is backed by the Ohangla Boys band. He is now branded the "King of Ohangla".
Early life
He was born in Kal in Tanzania. To ...
*Lupita Nyong’o
Lupita Amondi Nyong'o (, ; ; born 1 March 1983) is a Kenyan-Mexican actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, and nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Tony Award.
The daughter of Kenyan politi ...
*Ayub Ogada
Job Seda (1956 – 1 February 2019), better known as Ayub Ogada, was a Kenyan singer. He was a singer favoring the nyatiti (an eight-stringed lyre with its origins credited to the Luo, a tribe in Nyanza Kenya) as his characteristic instrument. ...
* Joseph Olita
*Sidede Onyulo
Sidede Onyulo (1955–2008) was a Kenyan actor, most famous for his role as Owour in Oscar-winning movie ''Nowhere in Africa''.
Early life
Sidede Onyulo was born Peter Sidede Onyulo in Kajulu (Kenya), attended school at Muthaiga Primary (1965– ...
* Suzzana Owíyo
*George Ramogi
George Ramogi (1945–1997) was a Kenyan musician, who empowered the traditional luo ''benga and rumba'' genre of music. Ramogi was known for his spur of the good life and his notable appearances at bars and clubs in western Kenya- Nyanza region. ...
*Tina Ogal
* Prince Indah
* Linet Aluoch Pamba
Writers and playwrights
* Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye
*Asenath Bole Odaga
Asenath Bole Odaga (1937–2014) was a Kenyan publisher and author of novels, plays, children's books, and other literary works. Odaga also promoted literature in Kenyan languages and the study of oral literature by writing in Luo and co-autho ...
* Argwings Odera - Award Winning Investigative Journalist
* Margaret Ogola
*Grace Ogot
Grace Emily Ogot (née Akinyi; 15 May 1930 – 18 March 2015) was a Kenyan author, nurse, journalist, politician and diplomat. Together with Charity Waciuma she was the first Anglophone female Kenyan writer to be published.Mike Kuria, ed. ''Ta ...
* Yvonne Adhiambo Owuo
* Tina Ogal
Sports
* Conjestina Achieng
* Daniel Adongo
* Teddy Akumu
*Andrew Amonde
Andrew Noel Omondi Amonde (born 25 December 1983) is a Kenyan rugby union player and television producer. He plays for Kenya's national sevens team and has been its captain since 2012. Amonde captained Kenya's Olympic sevens team at the 2016 Su ...
* Collins Omondi Obuya
* David Oluoch Obuya
* Billy Odhiambo
* Rees Odhiambo
*Thomas Odoyo
Thomas Odoyo Migai (born 12 May 1978) is a former Kenyan cricketer and a former One Day International captain. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-handed medium-fast bowler, often regarded as the best ever bowler produced by Kenya in inter ...
* David Johnny Oduya
* Joseph Okumu
* Dennis Oliech
*Michael Olunga
Michael Olunga Ogada (born 26 March 1994) is a Kenyan professional footballer who plays as a striker for Qatari club Al-Duhail and captains the Kenya national team.
Club career
Early career and Gor Mahia
While still a student at the Upper ...
*Johanna Omolo
Johanna Ochieng Omolo (born 31 July 1989) is a Kenyan professional footballer who plays for the Belgian club Oostende as a defensive midfielder.
Club career
Born in Nairobi, Omolo has played club football in Kenya, Belgium and Luxembourg for Co ...
* Eric Johana Omondi
* Brian Onyango
*Lameck Onyango
Lameck Onyango Ngoche (born 22 September 1973) is a former Kenyan cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-pace bowler. Though initially not one of cricket's more successful figures, his career began a turnaround during his ...
* Peter Opiyo
* Arnold Origi
*Divock Origi
Divock Okoth Origi (born 18 April 1995) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a forward for club AC Milan and the Belgium national team.
Origi began his career at Lille, and scored on his professional debut for them in 2013. A ...
* Ian Otieno
*David Otunga
David Daniel Otunga''Lawyer ' (born April 7, 1980) is an American actor and former professional wrestler. Otunga is best known for his time working with WWE. He was the runner-up on the first season of ''NXT''. He is also an original member of ...
* Mark Ouma
* David Owino
* Eric Ouma
* David Tikolo
* Steve Tikolo
* Tom Tikolo
See also
* Arthur Carscallen
Arthur Asa Grandville Carscallen (1879–1964), was a Seventh-day Adventist pastor, missionary, administrator, linguist, and publisher.
Early years
Born in Canada, Carscallen grew up in North Dakota, where he was baptized at age 20, just prior ...
, as superintendent of the Seventh-day Adventist Mission in British East Africa from 1906–1921, he compiled and published the first Dholuo grammar and dictionary.
* Kisumu City - The third-largest city in Kenya
* Gor Mahia FC
Gor Mahia Football Club (), commonly also known as ''K'Ogalo'' (), is a football club based in Nairobi, Kenya. They have won the Kenyan Premier League a record 19 times, and have also won the FKF President's Cup a record 11 times. They are the o ...
- A Kenyan football club
* Legio Maria, a large religious group originating in Luoland
* Luo peoples
The Luo, (also spelled Lwo) are several ethnically and linguistically related Nilo-Semitic ethnic groups that inhabit an area ranging from Egypt and Sudan to South Sudan and Ethiopia, through Northern Uganda and eastern Congo (DRC), into we ...
- several ethnically and linguistically related Nilotic ethnic groups
* Luo Union (Welfare Organisation) - A defunct East African welfare organisation that united Luo peoples
The Luo, (also spelled Lwo) are several ethnically and linguistically related Nilo-Semitic ethnic groups that inhabit an area ranging from Egypt and Sudan to South Sudan and Ethiopia, through Northern Uganda and eastern Congo (DRC), into we ...
Sources
* Kyle Keith. "The Politics of The Independence of Kenya." Palgrave MacMillan 1999
* Ogot, Bethwell A., ''History of the Southern Luo: Volume I, Migration and Settlement, 1500–1900'', (Series: ''Peoples of East Africa''), East African Publishing House, Nairobi, 1967
* Reich, David. Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group (27 March 2018).
References
Suggested reading
* Herbich, Ingrid. "The Luo." In ''Encyclopedia of World Cultures Supplement'', C. Ember, M. Ember and I. Skoggard (eds.), pp. 189–194. New York: Macmillan Reference, 2002
* Ogot, Bethwell A., ''History of the Southern Luo: Volume I, Migration and Settlement, 1500–1900'', (Series: ''Peoples of East Africa''), East African Publishing House, Nairobi, 1967
* Senogazake, George, ''Folk Music of Kenya'',
* Mwakikagile, Godfrey, ''Ethnic Politics in Kenya and Nigeria'', Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Nova Science Publishers is an academic publisher of books, encyclopedias, handbooks, e-books and journals, based in Hauppauge, New York. It was founded in 1985. A prolific publisher of books, Nova has received criticism from librarians for not ...
, Huntington, New York, 2001; Godfrey Mwakikagile, ''Kenya: Identity of A Nation'', New Africa Press, Pretoria, South Africa, 2008.
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luo people of Kenya and Tanzania
Ethnic groups in Kenya
Ethnic groups in Tanzania
Ethnic groups in Uganda
Kenya–Tanzania relations
Nilotic peoples
People of Luo descent