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Ngai
Ngai (also called Múrungu or Enkai) is the monolithic Supreme God in the spirituality of the Kikuyu (or Gikuyu) and the closely related Embu, Meru and Kamba groups of Kenya, and the Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania. Ngai is creator of the universe and all in it. Regarded as the omnipotent God,Middleton, John; Kershaw, Greet ; ''The Kikuyu and Kamba of Kenya: East Central Africa, Part 5,'' Routledge (reprint, 2017), p. 128,(Retrieved 5 April 2019) the Kikuyu, Embu, Meru, Kamba and the Maasai of Kenya worshiped Ngai facing the Mt. Kirinyaga (Mount Kenya) while prayers and goat sacrificial rituals were performed under the sacred Mugumo tree (a fig tree species). Occasions which may warrant sacrifice or libation include times of drought; epidemics; during planting and harvesting; and human life stages such as birth, marriage and death. Ngai in Kikuyu, Embu, Meru and Kamba Worship Ngai was often referred to as "Mwene Nyaga", meaning "Owner of the Dazzling Light". Kenyan anthropologist, ...
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Kikuyu People
The Kikuyu (also ''Agĩkũyũ/Gĩkũyũ'') are a Bantu ethnic group native to Central Kenya. At a population of 8,148,668 as of 2019, they account for 17.13% of the total population of Kenya, making them Kenya's largest ethnic group. The term ''Kikuyu'' is derived from the Swahili form of the word Gĩkũyũ. is derived from the word mũkũyũ which means sycamore fig (''mũkũyũ'') tree". Hence ''Agĩkũyũ'' in the Kikuyu language translates to "Children Of The Big Sycamore". The alternative name ''Nyũmba ya Mũmbi'', which encompasses ''Embu'', ''Gikuyu'', and ''Meru'', translates to "House of the Potter" (or "Creator"). History Origin The Kikuyu belong to the Northeastern Bantu branch. Their language is most closely related to that of the Embu and Mbeere. Geographically, they are concentrated in the vicinity of Mount Kenya. The exact place that the Northeast Bantu speakers migrated from after the initial Bantu expansion is uncertain. Some authorities sugges ...
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Mount Kenya
Mount Kenya (Kikuyu language, Kikuyu: ''Kĩrĩnyaga'', Kamba language, Kamba, ''Ki Nyaa'') is the highest mountain in Kenya and the Highest mountain peaks of Africa, second-highest in Africa, after Mount Kilimanjaro, Kilimanjaro. The highest peaks of the mountain are Batian (), Nelion () and Point Lenana (). Mount Kenya is located in the former Eastern Province (Kenya), Eastern and Central Province (Kenya), Central provinces of Kenya; its peak is now the intersection of Meru County, Meru, Embu County, Embu, Laikipia County, Laikipia, Kirinyaga County, Kirinyaga, Nyeri County, Nyeri and Tharaka Nithi County, Tharaka Nithi counties, about south of the equator, around north-northeast of the capital Nairobi. Mount Kenya is the source of the name of the Kenya, Republic of Kenya. Mount Kenya is a volcano created approximately 3 million years after the opening of the East African Rift. Before glaciation, it was high. It was covered by an ice cap for thousands of years. This has resul ...
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Embu People
The Embu are a Bantu people inhabiting Embu county in Kenya. They speak the Embu language as a mother tongue. To the south of Embu are to be found their cousins, the Mbeere people. In essence Embu county encompasses the ethnic Kîembu dialect (Embu proper), from whom the Embu county's name derives, and the Kimbere dialect spoken by their Mbeere counterparts who inhabit the lower reaches of the county. Historically, both were just referred to as the Embu people. To the west, Embu neighbours are the closely related Kikuyu in Kirinyaga, Nyeri, Kiambu, Muranga and Nyandarua counties. The Meru people border the Embu to the East. Origin The Embu are of Bantu origin.Arnold Curtis, ''Kenya: a visitor's guide'', (Evans Brothers: 1985), p.7. They inhabit the southern windward slopes and farmlands of Mount Kenya. Along with their closely related Eastern Bantu neighbors the Kikuyu, Mĩĩrũ, Mbeere and Kamba the Embu are believed to have entered their present habitat from the coast of E ...
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Kamba People
The Kamba or Akamba (sometimes called Wakamba) people are a Bantu ethnic group who predominantly live in the area of Kenya stretching from Nairobi to Tsavo and north to Embu, in the southern part of the former Eastern Province. This land is called ''Ukambani'' and constitutes Makueni County, Kitui County and Machakos County. They also form the second largest ethnic group in 8 counties including Nairobi and Mombasa counties. Origin The Kamba are of Bantu origin.Joseph Bindloss, Tom Parkinson, Matt Fletcher, ''Lonely Planet Kenya'', (Lonely Planet: 2003), p.35. They are closely related in language and culture to the Kikuyu, the Embu, the Mbeere and the Meru, and to some extent relate closely to the Digo and the Giriama of the Kenyan coast. Kambas are concentrated in the lowlands of southeast Kenya from the vicinity of Mount Kenya to the coast. The first group of Kamba people settled in the present-day Mbooni Hills in the Machakos District of Kenya in the second h ...
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Mumbi
{{No footnotes, date=July 2020 Mũmbi Muthiga is regarded as the mother of the Gĩkũyũ people. The word Mũmbi can be translated as the creator, "one who moulds/creates/builds". She and Gĩkũyũ were married, and both are claimed ancestor to all the Agĩkũyũ people. The story of Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi has been recorded by various writers throughout the Gĩkũyũ orator and history; notable among them are Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of independent Kenya, Louis Leakey and the prolific Gĩkũyũ writer Gakaara wa Wanjaũ and another Gĩkũyũ writer known as Mathew Njoroge Kabetũ among many others. The name Mumbi comes from the Bantu root verb KUMBA, "BA", the same root word that gives rise to "UMBA". The prefix "Mu" is the Bantu noun classifier for nouns that have souls, like humans. The verb UMBA indicates the action of moulding, shaping, designing or creating. The suffix "i" replaces the terminal "a" in the Bantu language noun or verb to create the name for the performer o ...
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Meru People
The Meru or Amîîrú (including the Ngaa) are a Bantu ethnic group that inhabit the Meru region of Kenya on the fertile lands of north and eastern slopes of Mount Kenya, in the former Eastern Province of Kenya. The word Meru means Shining Light in Kimîîrú language. In Kiswahili, it is Ng'aa, a Bantu word meaning "Dazzling Shine" in both Kimîîrú and Kiswahili languages. Ameru in Kimîîrú language therefore means The Shining Ones or The Children Of The Shining One. The Ameru people comprise nine sections: the Igoji, Imenti, Tigania, Mitine, Igembe, Mwimbi, Muthambi, Chuka and Tharaka. The Tharaka live in the semi-arid part of the greater Meru and they, together with the Mwimbi, Muthambi and Chuka, form the Tharaka-Nithi County. The Ameru are however unrelated to the Wameru of northern Tanzania, other than both being avid farming Bantu communities. Languages The Ngaa people known as Meru speak the Kimîîrú language. Kimîîrú, Kikamba, Kiembu, Kimbeere and Ki ...
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Harvill Secker
Harvill Secker is a British publishing company formed in 2005 from the merger of Secker & Warburg and the Harvill Press. History Secker & Warburg Secker & Warburg was formed in 1935 from a takeover of Martin Secker, which was in receivership, by Fredric Warburg and Roger Senhouse. The firm became renowned for its political stance, being both anti-fascist and anti-communist, a position that put them at loggerheads with the ethos of many intellectuals of the time. When George Orwell parted company with Communist Party sympathizer Victor Gollancz over his editing of '' The Road to Wigan Pier'' (1937), he took his next book '' Homage to Catalonia'' to Secker & Warburg, who published it in 1938. They also published, after 18 months of rejections and setbacks, '' Animal Farm'' (1945), and Orwell's subsequent books.Orwell, Sonia, and Ian Angus (eds), ''The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell Volume 4: In Front of Your Nose (1945–1950)''. Penguin, 1970. Orwe ...
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South African History Project
The South African History Project (2001-2004) was established and initiated by Professor Kader Asmal, former Minister of Education in South Africa. This initiative followed after the publication of the Manifesto on Values, Education and Democracy and the Report of the History and Archaeology Panel in South Africa in 2001.This report was written by leading scholars who advised the then Minister of Education on the strengthening of the teaching of history in South African schools after the end of apartheid. The South African History Project addressed the challenges of revitalising the teaching and learning of history by setting up provincial networks which brought stakeholders in education, heritage, tourism and publishing together for the first time in post-apartheid South Africa. Origin and development The South African History Project came to be established as a result of a report presented by the Working Group on Values, Education and Democracy presented to then Minister o ...
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Yosef Ben-Jochannan
Yosef Alfredo Antonio Ben-Jochannan (; December 31, 1918 – March 19, 2015), referred to by his admirers as "Dr. Ben", was an American writer and historian. He was considered to be one of the more prominent Afrocentric scholars by some Black Nationalists, while most mainstream scholars, such as Mary Lefkowitz,''History Lesson'', pp. 67–69. dismissed him because of the basic historical inaccuracies in his work, as well as disputes about the authenticity of his educational degrees and academic credentials.Gabriel Haslip-Viera, ''Taíno revival: critical perspectives on Puerto Rican identity and cultural politics'', (Markus Wiener Publishers: 2001), p. 14. Early life and education Ben-Jochannan stated that he was born in Ethiopia to a Puerto Rican Jewish mother and an Ethiopian Jewish father. Other sources say that he "was probably Puerto Rican but claimed to be of Ethiopian Jewish extraction." A ''New York Times'' article published after Ben-Jochannan's death said: " ere is ...
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Creation Myth
A creation myth (or cosmogonic myth) is a symbolic narrative of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it., "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Creation myths develop through oral traditions and therefore typically have multiple versions." While in popular usage the term '' myth'' often refers to false or fanciful stories, members of cultures often ascribe varying degrees of truth to their creation myths. In the society in which it is told, a creation myth is usually regarded as conveying profound truthsmetaphorically, symbolically, historically, or literally. They are commonly, although not always, considered cosmogonical mythsthat is, they describe the ordering of the cosmos from a state of chaos or amorphousness. Creation myths often share several features. They often are considered sacred accounts and can be found in nearly all known religious traditions. They are all stories with a plot and ...
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Supreme Being
In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically conceived as being omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and omnibenevolent, as well as having an eternal and necessary existence. God is often thought to be incorporeal, evoking transcendence or immanence. Some religions describe God without reference to gender, while others use terminology that is gender-specific and . God has been conceived as either personal or impersonal. In theism, God is the creator and sustainer of the universe, while in deism, God is the creator, but not the sustainer, of the universe. In pantheism, God is the universe itself, while in panentheism, the universe is part (but not the whole) of God. Atheism is an absence of belief in any God or deity, while agnosticism is the belief that the existence of God is ...
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Human
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, and language. Humans are highly social and tend to live in complex social structures composed of many cooperating and competing groups, from families and kinship networks to political states. Social interactions between humans have established a wide variety of values, social norms, and rituals, which bolster human society. Its intelligence and its desire to understand and influence the environment and to explain and manipulate phenomena have motivated humanity's development of science, philosophy, mythology, religion, and other fields of study. Although some scientists equate the term ''humans'' with all members of the genus '' Homo'', in common usage, it generally refers to ''Homo sapiens'', the only extant member. Anato ...
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