Modern ethnicities
99-405: Diaspora Performing arts Government agencies Television Radio Newspapers The Elgeyo (also known as Keiyo ) are an ethnic group who are part of the larger Kalenjin ethnic group of Nilotic origin. They live near Eldoret , Kenya, in the highlands of the former Keiyo District , now part of the larger Elgeyo Marakwet County . The Elgeyo originally settled at the foothills of
198-632: A Nilo-Saharan homeland in eastern Sudan before 6000 BCE, with subsequent migration events northward to the eastern Sahara, westward to the Chad Basin , and southeastward into Kenya and Tanzania . Linguist Roger Blench has suggested that the Nilo-Saharan languages and the Niger–Congo languages may be branches of the same macro–language family. Earlier proposals along this line were made by linguist Edgar Gregersen in 1972. These proposals have not reached
297-657: A base east of Lake Turkana. This expansion led to the development of three groupings within Loikop society. The Samburu who occupied the 'original' country east of Lake Turkana as well as the Laikipia plateau. The Uasin Gishu occupied the grass plateaus now known as the Uasin Gishu and Mau while the Maasai territory extended from Naivasha to Kilimanjaro. This expansion was subsequently followed by
396-558: A community referred to as Siger. This was the Karamoja name for the community and derived from an adornment that this community favored. The Siger like the Kor, were seen as a 'red' people, they are also remembered as a 'heterogeneous, multi-lingual confederation, including Southern and Eastern Nilotic-speakers, and those who spoke Cushitic dilects'. According to Turkana traditions the Siger once held most of
495-709: A community that occupied the Uasin Gishu plateau perhaps as late as the 17th or 18th century. Seen to have developed out of the Elmenteitan culture of the East African Pastoral Neolithic c.3300-1200 BP, the Sirikwa culture was followed in much of its area by the Kalenjin, Maa, western and central Kenyan communities of the 18th and 19th centuries. Archaeological evidence indicates a highly sedentary way of life and
594-510: A cultural commitment to a closed defensive system for both community and livestock during the Iron Age. Family homesteads featured small individual family stock pens, elaborate gate-works and sentry points and houses facing into the homestead; defensive methods primarily designed to proof against individual thieves or small groups of rustlers hoping to succeed by stealth. Coins of Indian and English origin, some dating to this period have been found at
693-645: A dreamer among them saw strange animals living with the people up in the hills. Turkana warriors were thus sent forward to capture one of these strange beasts, which the dreamer said looked 'like giraffes, but with humps on their backs'. The young men therefore went and captured one of these beasts - the first camels the Turkana had seen. The owners of the strange beasts appear to have struck the Turkana as strange as well. The Turkana saw them as 'red' people, partly because of their lighter skin and partly because they daubed their hair and bodies with reddish clay. They thus gave them
792-979: A group of tribes indigenous to East Africa , residing mainly in what was formerly the Rift Valley Province in Kenya and the eastern slopes of Mount Elgon in Uganda. They number 6,358,113 individuals per the Kenyan 2019 census and an estimated 273,839 in Uganda according to the 2014 census mainly in Kapchorwa , Kween and Bukwo districts. The Kalenjin have been divided into 11 culturally and linguistically related tribes: Kipsigis (1.9 million), Nandi (937,000), Pokots (778,000), Sebei (350,000), Sabaot (296,000), Keiyo (451,000), Tugen (197,556), Cherengany 8,323, Marakwet (119,000), Ogiek (52,000), Terik (323,230), Lembus (71,600) and Sengwer (10,800). The Kalenjin speak
891-455: A linguistic consensus, however, and this connection presupposes that all of the Nilo-Saharan languages are actually related in a single family, which has not been definitively established. Linguist Christopher Ehret has made a case that a proto-Nilotic language was spoken by the third millennium B.C. He cites the eastern Middle Nile Basin south of the Abbai River as the supposed urheimat of
990-445: A part in significant southward expansion of Loikop territory from a base east of Lake Turkana. This expansion led to the development of three groupings within Loikop society. The Sambur who occupied the 'original' country east of Lake Turkana as well as the Laikipia plateau. The Uasin Gishu occupied the grass plateaus now known as the Uasin Gishu and Mau while the Maasai territory extended from Naivasha to Kilimanjaro. This expansion
1089-581: A peace agreement. During the negotiations, the Lembus were prevailed upon by Grant to state what they would not harm nor kill, to which the response was women. As such, they exchanged a girl from the Kimeito clan while Grant offered a white bull as a gesture of peace and friendship. This agreement was known as the Kerkwony Agreement. The negotiations were held where Kerkwony Stadium stands today. History of
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#17328522178381188-460: A period marked by reformation. Cultural changes, particularly the innovation of heavier and deadlier spears amongst the Loikop led to significant changes in methods and scale of raiding. The change in methods introduced by the Loikop also consisted of fundamental differences of strategy, in fighting and defense, and also in organization of settlements and of political life. The cultural changes played
1287-745: A rinderpest epidemic, other stock diseases, drought, mass starvation, and smallpox was referred to as (a second) Mutai . The nineteenth century saw massive upheaval among the Sirikwa societies, old identities such as the Maliri and the Chok were annihilated or assimilated giving way to new identities such as the Pokot . Others like the Sengwer and Lumbwa acculturated to the new reality, merging and dropping their old identities to become Nandi and Kipsigis . These new societies retained many elements of their old way of life – like
1386-455: A south-eastern projection, at least in the early period, into the elevated Rift grasslands of Nakuru which was taken over permanently by the Maasai, probably no later than the seventeenth century. Here Kalenjin place names seem to have been superseded in the main by Maasai names notably Mount Suswa (Kalenjin - place of grass) which was in the process of acquiring its Maasai name, Ol-doinyo Nanyokie,
1485-508: A start about 1800 while oral narratives and the few written records indicate peak aridity during the 1830s resulting in a notable famine in 1836. This arid period, and the consequent series of events, have been referred to as (the first) Mutai . A feature of the Mutai was increased conflict between neighboring communities, most noted of these has been the Iloikop wars . Cultural changes, particularly
1584-406: Is essentially now known as the Maasai breed - whose milk yield though modest in volume is rich in quality. With herds of sufficient size and mobility, combined with sheep and goat for a regular meat supply, the bearers of the Sirikwa culture pioneered an efficient way of exploiting unenclosed tracts of high grassland. This innovation likely allowed for the expansion, as attested archaeologically, from
1683-401: Is of Kipnyigei age-set. On the other hand, a married woman identifies herself using the age-set of her husband. For example, a woman married to a kipnyigei will identify herself as "Aabo Kipyigeii", meaning she is of a kipyigeei. Kalenjin people Modern ethnicities Diaspora Performing arts Government agencies Television Radio Newspapers The Kalenjin is
1782-486: Is present-day north-eastern Uganda by 1000 B.C. Linguist Christopher Ehret proposes that between 1000 and 700 BC, the Southern Nilotic speaking communities, who kept domestic stock and possibly cultivated sorghum and finger millet , lived next to an Eastern Cushitic speaking community with whom they had significant cultural interaction. The general location of this point of cultural exchange being somewhere near
1881-676: Is seen as a development from the local pastoral neolithic (i.e. Elmenteitan culture), as well as a locally limited transition from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. Radiocarbon dating of archaeological excavations done in Rongai (Deloraine) have ranged in date from around 985 to 1300 A.D and have been associated with the early development phase of the Sirikwa culture. Lithics from Deloraine Farm site show that people were abandoning previous technological strategies in favor of more expedient tool production as iron
1980-594: The Elmenteitan culture. The bearers of the Elmenteitan culture developed a distinct pattern of land use, hunting and pastoralism on the western plains of Kenya during the East African Pastoral Neolithic . Its earliest recorded appearance dates to the ninth century BC. Certain distinct traits of the Southern Nilotes, notably in pottery styles, lithic industry and burial practices, are evident in
2079-498: The Elmenteitan culture. The bearers of the Elmenteitan culture developed a distinct pattern of land use, hunting, and pastoralism on the western plains of Kenya during the East African Pastoral Neolithic . Its earliest recorded appearance dates to the ninth century BC (i.e. 900 to 801 BC). It is thought that around the fifth and sixth centuries BC, the speakers of the Southern Nilotic languages split into two major divisions:
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#17328522178382178-532: The Great Lakes region that is recognized as inhabited by the Southern Nilotic speakers lies in the present day Jie and Dodoth country in Uganda. Ehret postulates that between 1000 and 700 BC, the Southern Nilotic speaking communities, who kept domestic stock and possibly cultivated sorghum and finger millet, lived next to an Eastern Cushitic speaking community with whom they had significant cultural interaction. The general location of this point of cultural exchange
2277-472: The Iloikop wars . The expansion of Turkana and Loikop societies led to significant change within the Kalenjin-speaking society. Some communities were annihilated by the combined effects of the Mutai of the 19th century while others adapted to the new era. Members of collapsing communities were usually assimilated into ascending identities. Significant cultural change also occurred. Guarding cattle on
2376-708: The Kipsigis languages but can also be inclusive of Akie language in Tanzania and Pokot language spoken in Kenya; all being classified collectively as Kalenjin Language; while in combination with Datooga languages of Tanzania, this cluster is called Southern Nilotic languages . The Kalenjin language, along with the languages of the Datooga people of Tanzania , the Maasai , Luo , Turkana , Nuer , Dinka among others are classified as Nilotic languages . Linguistic evidence points to
2475-621: The Cherangani Hills, as their original homelands in Kenya. The impact of the cultural exchange that occurred around the Mt. Elgon region was most notable in borrowed loan words, adoption of the practice of circumcision, and the cyclical system of age-set organisation . The arrival of the Southern Nilotes on the East African archaeological scene is correlated with the appearance of the prehistoric lithic industry and pottery tradition referred to as
2574-628: The Chok. The Chemwal appear to have been referred to as Siger by the Karamojong on account of a distinctive cowrie shell adornment favored by the women of this community. The area occupied by the Chemwal stretched between Mount Elgon and present day Uasin Gishu as well as into a number of surrounding counties. Far west, a community known as the Maliri occupied present-day Jie and Dodoth country in Uganda. The Karamojong would eject them from this region over
2673-595: The Datooga dropped the age-sets and retained the age-grades as central to social cohesion. The Southern Nilotic speakers cremated their deceased in caves as at Njoro River cave, Keringet caves and possibly Egerton caves, much unlike the Southern Cushitic speakers who buried their dead in cairns . Both however had similar grave goods, which typically included stone bowls, pestle rubbers and palettes. Linguistic studies indicate separate and significant interaction between
2772-588: The Elgeiyo People divided their land into 21 east-west stretches to control intermarriage and displacement of a clan by other clans and a system of totems was acquired. The land was divided so that each group had access to the banks of Kerio River and thus the totems ran perpendicular to the river. From the south to the north the clans are Metkei, Kapkwoni, Maoi, Tumeiyo, Kowochi, Mwen, Choop, Morop, Samich, Kapsiro, Kenenei Kipking'wo, Sego, Epke, Chang'ach, Rokocho, Mutei, Maam, Irong', Kaptany, and Kapchemutwa. The land
2871-665: The Elgeyo escarpment, in the area between Kerio river to the east and the escarpment to the west. Due to drought and famine in the valley, the Keiyos climbed the escarpment and started to settle on the highland east of Uasin Gishu plateau. When the British came, the Keiyos were pushed to settle in clusters called reserves. The Keiyos are avid long distance marathon runners and have produced elites such as Ezekiel Kemboi , Vivian Cheruiyot . Kelvin Kiptum ,
2970-543: The Elmenteitan and SPN producing societies, obsidian was the dominant source of lithic raw material for tool production, though lower quality alternatives were used occasionally. The obsidian was sourced at two discrete points with the Elmenteitan culture sourcing their obsidian from an outcrop of green obsidian on the northeast slope of Mt. Eburu . The Southern Nilotes of this time, like some of their neighbors, practiced circumcision of both sexes though significant differences in practice are discerned through linguistics. Unlike
3069-579: The Hyrax Hill archaeological site and may indicate contacts with international trade networks. At their greatest extent, their territories covered the highlands from the Chepalungu and Mau forests northwards as far as the Cherangany Hills and Mount Elgon. There was also a south-eastern projection, at least in the early period, into the elevated Rift grasslands of Nakuru which was taken over permanently by
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3168-457: The Iloikop wars appear to have brought about the pressures that resulted in this period of conflict. Von Höhnel (1894) and Lamphear (1988) recorded narratives concerning conflict between the Turkana and Burkineji or at least the section recalled as Sampur that appear to have been caused by even earlier demographic pressures. Turkana narratives recorded by Lamphear (1988) provide a broad perspective of
3267-528: The Kalenjin and incoming British. This was tempered on the Kalenjin side by the prophesies of various seers. Among the Nandi, Kimnyole had warned that contact with the Europeans would have a significant impact on the Nandi while Mongo was said to have warned against fighting the Europeans. Matson, in his account of the resistance, shows 'how the irresponsible actions of two British traders, Dick and West, quickly upset
3366-523: The Kalenjin people The Kalenjin people are an ethnolinguistic group indigenous to East Africa, with a presence, as dated by archaeology and linguistics, that goes back many centuries. Their history is therefore deeply interwoven with those of their neighboring communities as well as with the histories of Kenya , Uganda , Tanzania , South Sudan , and Ethiopia . Genetic studies of Nilo-Saharan -speaking populations are in general agreement with archaeological evidence and linguistic studies that argue for
3465-576: The Karamajong. However, for communities then resident in what is present-day Kenya many disaster narratives relate the start with the Aoyate , an acute meteorological drought that affected much of East and Southern Africa in the early nineteenth century. Nile records indicate that the three decades starting about 1800 were marked by low rainfall levels in regions south of the Sahara. East African oral narratives and
3564-458: The Karamojong and arose from a distinctive cowrie shell adornment favored by this community. The area occupied by the Sekker stretched between Mount Elgon and present-day Uasin Gishu as well as into a number of surrounding counties. Far west, a community known as the Maliri occupied present day Jie and Dodoth country in Uganda. The Karamojong would eject them from this region over the course of
3663-530: The Karamojong, an Iron Age community that practiced a pastoral way of life. To the north of the Sekker and Chok were the Oropom (Orupoi) , a late neolithic society whose expansive territory is said to have stretched across Turkana and the surrounding region as well as into Uganda and Sudan. Wilson (1970) who collected traditions relating to the Oropom observed that the corpus of oral literature suggested that, at its tail end,
3762-625: The Keiyo community gradually moved and settled in urban areas to do work in major urban centers including Eldoret town, where they actively engage in businesses alongside the Marakwets, Nandis, and other non-Kalenjins. Elgeiyo people speak a Kalenjin /Kutiit language that falls under the Kipsigis - Nandi - Keiyo - Southern Tugen - Cherang'any' cluster. The Keiyo dialect has four predominant subdialects. These are Irong, Mutei, Marichor and Metkei. Territorially,
3861-584: The Keiyo retained eight. The order is given below. Ebendo was given out during initiation. The age set system is organized in such a way that a father and a son cannot be of the same or sequential age sets. That is, there must be one ebendo between a father and a son. For example, a Kipkoimet cannot beget a Kaplelach. The Elgeiyo do not consider a woman to have an age set. Hence, she can marry any age set except that in which her father belongs. The age sets are: A member of an age set for example kipyigei, identifies himself in Keiyo as "A'ii Kipyigei", meaning he
3960-572: The Maasai were struggling to control their resources of cattle and grazing land. Around this time, two instances of epizootics broke out in the Rift Valley region. In 1883, bovine Pleuro-Pneumonia spread from the north and lingered for several years. The effect of this was to cause the Loikop to regroup and to go out raiding more aggressively to replenish their herds. This was followed by a far more serious outbreak of Rinderpest which occurred in 1891. This period – characterized by disasters, including
4059-488: The Maasai, probably no later than the seventeenth century. A body of oral traditions from various East African communities points to the presence of at least four significant Kalenjin-speaking population groups present prior to the 19th century. The earliest mention appears to be of the Lumbwa . Meru oral history describes the arrival of their ancestors at Mount Kenya where they interacted with this community. The Lumbwa occupied
Elgeyo people - Misplaced Pages Continue
4158-599: The Mara plains and as far as southeastern Lake Nyanza. Their presence on the Mara and Loita plains would continue through to the seventeenth century AD when they were driven south by the Maasai during the Il-Tatua wars. Archaeological and linguistic evidence point to significant differences in ways of life between the Elmenteitan culture and the Savanna Pastoral Neolithic cultures that had preceded them in Kenya. For both
4257-485: The Oropom observed that the corpus of oral literature suggested that, at its tail end, the society "had become effete, after enjoying for a long period the fruits of a highly developed culture". Bordering the Maliri in Uganda were the Karamojong, an Iron Age community that practiced a pastoral way of life. Towards the end of 18th century and through the 19th century, a series of droughts, plagues of locusts, epidemics , and in
4356-614: The Siger northwards to the head of Lake Turkana...Still others were pushed back onto the Suk Hills to the south to be incorporated by the Southern-Nilotic speaking Pokot...Many were assimilated by the Turkana...and the victors took possession of the grazing and water resources of Moru Assiger The collapse of the Siger/Sengwer community is generally believed to have seen the rise of a prophet-diviner class among many pastoral communities and
4455-525: The Southern Cushities and somewhat like the early Bantu, they initiated circumcised men into age-sets. The age-sets, however, were quite different from those of the Bantu of the time in that they formed a cycling system which in its early form comprised both age-sets as well as a generational component. It is thought that the eight age-sets in the system were grouped into two generations, each comprising four of
4554-438: The Southern Nilotic speakers and Bantu speaking communities. Word evidence shows that in this interaction, there was highly gendered migration from the Bantu speaking communities into Southern Nilotic-speaking areas during the period, ca. 500-800 A.D., with Luhya women being the migrants. The evidence for this lies in the words that passed from the Bantu language into the Southern Nilotic language during this period. In contrast to
4653-501: The Swahili coast that led to, or cut through the territories of the bearers of the Sirikwa culture. A body of oral traditions from various East African communities points to the presence of at least four significant Kalenjin-speaking population groups present prior to the 19th century. Meru oral history describes the arrival of their ancestors at Mount Kenya where they interacted with a community referred to as Lumbwa . The Lumbwa occupied
4752-519: The Tarash, which ran northwards below the foothills of the Moru Assiger massif on their right and the escarpment on their left. As they advanced, the Turkana came to realize they were not alone in this new land. At night fires could be seen flickering on the slopes of nearby mountains, including Mt. Pelekee which loomed up in the distance directly before them... Lamphear notes that Tukana traditions aver that
4851-513: The Turkana owned part of the land on the west now occupied by the Karamoyo, whilst the southern portion of their land belonged to the Burkineji. The Karamoyo drove the Turkana further east, and the Turkana, in their turn, pushed the Burkineji towards Samburuland". Lamphear states that Turkana narratives indicate that at the time of interaction with the 'Kor', the Turkana were in even closer proximity to
4950-604: The alarm from ridge to ridge, so that the herds could be combined and rushed to the cover of the forests. There, the approaches to the glades would be defended by concealed archers, and the advantage would be turned against the spears of the plains warriors. More than any of the other sections, the Nandi and Kipsigis, in response to Maasai expansion, borrowed from the Maasai some of the traits that would distinguish them from other Kalenjin: large-scale economic dependence on herding, military organization and aggressive cattle raiding, as well as centralized religious-political leadership. By
5049-629: The alarm from ridge to ridge, so that the herds could be combined and rushed to the cover of the forests. There, the approaches to the glades would be defended by concealed archers, and the advantage would be turned against the spears of the plains warriors. More than any of the other sections, the Nandi and Kipsigis, in response to Maasai expansion, borrowed from the Maasai some of the traits that would distinguish them from other Kalenjin: large-scale economic dependence on herding, military organization and aggressive cattle raiding, as well as centralized religious-political leadership. The family that established
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#17328522178385148-441: The ancient Luhya societies which appear to have been matrilineal. From the archaeological record, it is postulated that the emergence and early development of the Sirikwa culture occurred in the central Rift Valley i.e. Rongai/Hyrax Hill, not later than the 12th century A.D. Between this period and about the 17th century i.e prior to the Loikop expansion -the Sirikwa pioneered an advanced form of pastoral management. They were not
5247-497: The archaeological record. Ehret suggests that around the fifth and sixth centuries BC, the speakers of the Southern Nilotic languages split into two major divisions – the proto-Kalenjin and the proto-Datooga. The former took shape among those residing to the north of the Mau range while the latter took shape among sections that moved into the Mara and Loita plains south of the western highlands. The material culture referred to as Sirikwa
5346-522: The area was beset by a terrible drought, the Aoyate, 'the long dry time'...The Siger community was decimated and began to collapse. Some abandoned their mountain and fled eastwards, but ran into even drier conditions: '[It] became dry and there was great hunger. The Siger went away to the east to Moru Eris, where most of them died of heat and starvation. So many died that there is still a place called Kabosan ["the rotten place"]'. Bands of Turkana fighting men forced
5445-403: The central Rift Valley into the western highlands, the Mt. Elgon region and possibly into Uganda. For several centuries, the bearers of the Sirikwa culture would be the dominant population of the western highlands of Kenya. At their greatest extent, their territories covered the highlands from the Chepalungu and Mau forests northwards as far as the Cherangany Hills and Mount Elgon. There was also
5544-405: The century and their traditions describe these encounters with the Maliri. The arrival in the district of the latter community is thought by some to be in the region of six to eight centuries ago. Bordering these communities were two distinct communities whose interactions and those with the Kalenjin-speaking communities would lead to notable cultural change. The Maliri in Uganda were neighbored by
5643-556: The colonial government set up base in Eldama Ravine under the leadership of certain Messrs. Ternan and Grant, an intrusion that was not taken to kindly by the Lembus community. This triggered conflict between the Lembus and the British, the latter of whom fielded Maasai and Nubian soldiers and porters. The British eventually overcame the Lembus following which Grant and Lembus elders negotiated
5742-440: The common border between Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, and Ethiopia. Ehret suggests that the cultural exchange perceived in borrowed loan words, adoption of the practice of circumcision and the cyclical system of age-set organisation dates to this period. The arrival of the Southern Nilotes on the East African archaeological scene is correlated with the appearance of the prehistoric lithic industry and pottery tradition referred to as
5841-471: The course of the century and their traditions describe these encounters with the Maliri. The arrival in the district of the latter community is thought by some to be in the region of six to eight centuries ago. To the north of Chemngal were the Oropom (Orupoi) , a late neolithic society whose expansive territory is said to have stretched across Turkana and the surrounding region as well as into Uganda and Sudan. Wilson (1970) who collected traditions relating to
5940-407: The early 1880s, Kamba , Kikuyu and acculturating Sirikwa/Kalenjin raiders were making inroads into Maasai territory, and the Maasai were struggling to control their resources of cattle and grazing land. The latter decades of the nineteenth century, saw the early European explorers start advancing into the interior of Kenya. Many present-day identities were by then recognized and begin to appear in
6039-594: The eastern Middle Nile Basin south of the Abbai River , as the nursery of the Nilotic languages . That is to say south-east of present-day Khartoum . It is thought that beginning in the second millennium B.C. , particular Nilotic speaking communities began to move southward into present-day South Sudan where most settled and that the societies today referred to as the Southern Nilotes pushed further on, reaching what
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#17328522178386138-428: The expansive Uasin Gishu plains. Like the rest of the Kalenjin, the Keiyo originated from a country in the north known as Emetab Burgei, which means the hot country. The people are said to have traveled southwards, passing through Mount Elgon or Tulwetab Kony in Kalenjin. The Sebeii settled around the slopes of the mountain while the others travelled on in search of better land. The Keiyo and Marakwet settled in
6237-437: The few written records indicate peak aridity during the 1830s resulting in recorded instances of famine in 1829 and 1835 in Ethiopia and 1836 in Kenya. Among Kenyan Rift Valley communities this arid period, and the consequent series of events, have been referred to as Mutai . A feature of the Mutai was increased conflict between neighboring communities, most noted of these has been the Iloikop wars . Earlier conflicts preceding
6336-455: The final decades of the 19th century, a rapid succession of sub-continental epizootics affected these communities. There is an early record of the great Laparanat drought c.1785 that affected the Karamajong. However, for communities then resident in what is present-day Kenya many disaster narratives relate the start with the Aoyate , an acute meteorological drought that affected much of East and Southern Africa. Nile records distinctly indicate
6435-400: The first culture to herd cattle, goats and sheep in the high grasslands; this having happened at least two thousand years previously. The achievement of the Sirikwa culture, sometime after 1000AD, was the introduction of a more efficient exploitation of the lush pastures through less emphasis on beef and more on dairy production. For this purpose they perfected a small breed of Zebu cattle - what
6534-475: The groom's family to the prospective bride's family, the Bantu of 1500 to 2000 years ago likely contracted marriage through bride service , whereby the prospective groom would work in the potential bride's household for a period of time. This arrangement, therefore, served to make men the migrants in contrast to payment of bride price which made women the migrants. The marrying of Luhya women to Kalenjin men would have conferred benefits to men of both societies at
6633-455: The innovation of heavier and deadlier spears amongst the Loikop are seen to have led to significant changes in methods and scale of raiding during the 19th century. The change in methods introduced by the Loikop also consisted of fundamental differences of strategy, in fighting and defense, and also in organization of settlements and of political life. The cultural changes played a part in significant southward expansion of Loikop territory from
6732-413: The introduction of a variety of beads from European markets. Their territory was not as a whole recognized as a geographic locality. However, there was a standardized set of classifications for geographic localities across the respective territories. Of these geographic classifications, the Kokwet was the most significant political and judicial unit among the Kalenjin. The governing body of each kokwet
6831-478: The iron-age Sirikwa societies they were primarily semi-nomadic pastoralists. Their economy revolved around raising livestock and cultivating sorghum and pearl millet on the western highlands of Kenya as it had since at least the last millennium B.C. There appear to have been areas of specialization across different regions, communities living on the Elgeyo escarpment for instance traditionally focused on irrigated cultivation. A variety of crops had been borrowed from
6930-407: The lower reaches of Mount Kenya though the extent of their territory is presently unclear. North-east of this community, across the Rift Valley , a community known as the Chok (later Suk) occupied the Elgeyo escarpment. Pokot oral history describes their way of life, as that of the Chemwal whose country may have been known as Chemngal, a community that appears to have lived in association with
7029-407: The lower reaches of Mount Kenya though the extent of their territory is presently unclear. North-east of this community, across the Rift Valley , a community known as the Chok (later Suk) occupied the Elgeyo escarpment. Pokot oral history describes their way of life, as that of the Siger (or Sengwer) , a community that appears to have lived in association with the Chok. The name Siger was used by
7128-526: The mid-nineteenth century, both these communities were expanding at the expense of the Maasai . The Iloikop wars ended in the 1870s with the defeat and dispersal of the Laikipiak . However, the new territory acquired by the Maasai was vast and left them overextended thus unable to occupy it effectively. This left them open to encroachment by other communities. By the early 1880s, Kamba , Kikuyu and Kalenjin raiders were making inroads into Maasai territory, and
7227-546: The name 'Kor'. Lamphear states that Turkana traditions agree that the Kor were very numerous and lived in close pastoral association with two other communities known as 'Rantalle' and 'Poran', the names given to the Cushitic speaking Rendille and Boran communities. According to Von Höhnel (1894) "a few decades" prior, the Burkineji occupied districts on the west of the lake and that they were later driven eastwards into present day Samburu. He later states that "some fifty years ago
7326-726: The neighboring Bantu communities and New World foods introduced following the arrival of the Portuguese on the Swahili coast during the fifteenth century. Of these, indigenous vegetables and herbs, beans, pumpkins, sweet potatoes and tobacco were grown widely while maize and bananas were also cultivated though in small quantities. They traded locally for goods such as honey, pottery, tobacco pipes and weaponry as well as medical and magical services while connections to international markets supplied foreign goods such as iron wire and cloth in exchange for ivory. The long tradition of beadwork benefited from
7425-416: The nineteenth century, saw the early European explorers start advancing into the interior of Kenya. By this time, the Kalenjin – more so the Nandi, had acquired a fearsome reputation. Thompson was warned in 1883 to avoid the country of the Nandi, who were known for attacks on strangers and caravans that would attempt to scale the great massif of the Mau. Nonetheless, trade relations were established between
7524-504: The office of Orkoiyot (warlord/diviner) among both the Nandi and Kipsigis were migrants from northern Chemwal regions. By the mid-nineteenth century, both the Nandi and Kipsigis were expanding at the expense of the Maasai . The Iloikop wars ended in the 1870s with the defeat and dispersal of the Laikipiak . However, the new territory acquired by the Maasai was vast and left them overextended thus unable to occupy it effectively. This left them open to encroachment by other communities. By
7623-448: The plateaus depended less on elaborate defenses and more on mobility and cooperation. Both of these requiring new grazing and herd-management strategies. The practice of the later Kalenjin – that is, after they had abandoned the Sirikwa pattern and had ceased in effect to be Sirikwa – illustrates this change vividly. On their reduced pastures, notably on the borders of the Uasin Gishu plateau, when bodies of raiders approached they would relay
7722-448: The plateaus depended less on elaborate defenses and more on mobility and cooperation. Both of these requiring new grazing and herd-management strategies. The practice of the later Kalenjin – that is, after they had abandoned the Sirikwa pattern and had ceased in effect to be Sirikwa – illustrates this change vividly. On their reduced pastures, notably on the borders of the Uasin Gishu plateau, when bodies of raiders approached they would relay
7821-597: The precarious modus vivendi between the Nandi and incoming British'. Conflict, led on the Nandi side by Koitalel Arap Samoei – Nandi Orkoiyot at the time, was triggered by West's killing in 1895. The East Africa Protectorate, Foreign Office, and missionary societies administrations reacted to West's death by organizing invasions of Nandi in 1895 and 1897. Invading forces were able to inflict sporadic losses upon Nandi warriors, steal hundreds of livestock, and burn villages, but were not able to end Nandi resistance. 1897 also saw
7920-638: The prelude to the conflict between the Turkana and a community he refers to as Kor, a name by which the Turkana still call the Samburu in the present day. By the end of the Palajam initiations, the developing Turkana community was experiencing strong ecological pressures. Behind them, up the escarpment in Karamoja, other evolvig Ateker societies such as the Karimojong and Dodos were occupying all available grazing lands. Therefore Turkana cattle camps began to push further down
8019-458: The present Uasin Gishu plateau, Kerio Valley , and Cherangani Hills . The arrival of the warring Uasin Gishu Maasai in the present day Uasin Gishu plateau forced the Elgeyo to move away into the present day Kerio Valley during the expansion of the tribe. The loss of much of their grazing lands forced them to reduce their herds and rely more on agriculture. Due to population growth over time,
8118-605: The proto-Kalenjin and the proto-Datooga. The former took shape among those residing to the north of the Mau range, while the latter took shape among sections that moved into the Mara and Loita plains south of the western highlands. While few large-scale excavations have been done on sites outside the Central Rift, regional surveys indicate that the population was far denser in the southern highlands during this time. The Datooga were specialized pastoralists on considerable scale, spreading their settlements westward after 400BC across
8217-470: The recent world record holder also comes from the tribe. The Keiyo subsist mainly on grain, milk, blood, and meat provided by their cattle, sheep, and goats. The names Keiyo and Elgeyo have been used interchangeably. The former name is disputed as a corruption of the latter, which was coined by the Uasin Gishu Maasai , who were the neighbors of the Keiyo in the mid-19th century on the western side of
8316-596: The red mountain during the period of European exploration. Archaeological evidence indicates a highly sedentary way of life and a cultural commitment to a closed defensive system for both the community and their livestock during the Sirikwa period. Family homesteads featured small individual family stock pens, elaborate gate-works and sentry points and houses facing into the homestead; defensive methods primarily designed to proof against individual thieves or small groups of rustlers hoping to succeed by stealth. Links with external trade networks are indicated by caravan routes from
8415-482: The same case". About the time contacts were being made this time, two instances of epizootics broke out in the Rift Valley region. In 1883, bovine Pleuro-Pneumonia spread from the north and lingered for several years. The effect of this was to cause the Loikop to regroup and to go out raiding more aggressively to replenish their herds. This was followed by a far more serious outbreak of Rinderpest which occurred in 1891. This period - characterized by disasters, including
8514-405: The senior age-grade known as payyan . It is speculated, though yet unproven, that the age-grade system of the Southern Nilotic period comprised four pairs of age-grades to match the four stages of each generation in the age-set system. The full complexity of this system would breakdown differently in the descendant communities with the Kalenjin retaining the age-sets and losing the age-grades while
8613-421: The sets. Within the system, a man and his son would belong to age-sets that were of alternate generations. Alongside the age-sets there was an age grade system which had been simplified to a two-tier system by the early stages of the Sirikwa era. By that time, a young man when initiated would join an age-set while simultaneously joining the first age-grade known as muren . At the same time, his father would join
8712-429: The society "had become effete, after enjoying for a long period the fruits of a highly developed culture". Towards the end of 18th century and through the 19th century, a series of droughts, plagues of locusts, epidemics , and in the final decades of the 19th century, a rapid succession of sub-continental epizootics affected these communities. There is an early record of the great Laparanat drought c.1785 that affected
8811-399: The speakers of this language, that is to say south-east of present-day Khartoum. Beginning in the second millennium B.C. , particular Nilotic communities began to move southward into far South Sudan , where most settled. However, the societies today referred to as the Southern Nilotes pushed further on, reaching what is present-day north-eastern Uganda by 1000 B.C. The earliest area in
8910-400: The surrounding country 'until the Kor and their allies came up from the south and took it from them. In the process, the Kor and Siger had blended to some extent'. According to Lamphears account, Turkana traditions directly relate the collapse of the 'Siger' to the Aoyate. He notes that; ...as Turkana cattle camps began making contact with these alien populations and their strange livestock,
9009-564: The time since for the Kalenjin, Luhya women would have contributed expanded agricultural variety and productivity to the homestead. On the other hand, a Luhya father, by marrying his daughter to a Kalenjin man could increase his own wealth and position within Luhya society. Over the long term such relations, by increasing men's wealth in cattle, undoubtedly helped bring into being new customary balance's between men and women's authority and status in Luhya society. These societies are today patrilineal unlike
9108-578: The tumwek of marriage such as Koito . The Saget'ab eito ceremony was held every number of years to mark the change of 'ages' and the Kipsundet festivals celebrated every September (Kipsunde) and October (Kipsunde oeng) to mark the change in seasons. To a significant extent however, the Maasai era fundamentally changed the character of the Sirikwa/Kalenjin-speaking communities, the magnitude of which still remains unclear. The latter decades of
9207-433: The wide variety of Kalenjin loanwords in Luhya today, all but one of the words that were adopted from Luhya relate to cultivation and cooking, which were traditionally women's duties in ancient Luhya society. It has been suggested that the social institution of marriage led to the select migration. In that, whereas the Southern Nilotic speaking pastoralists contracted marriage through payment of cattle and other livestock by
9306-530: The written record. In the introduction to Beech's account on the Suk, Eliot notes that they seemed "unanimous in tracing their origin to two tribes called Chôk(or Chũk) and Sekker (and that) at present they call themselves Pôkwut...', he also recognizes five dialects, "Nandi, Kamasia, Endo (and) Suk, the difference being the greatest between the first and the last. The Maragwet language, which is presumably akin, appears not to have been studied, and there are probably others in
9405-499: Was entering common use. The spread of iron technology led to the abandonment of many aspects of Pastoral Neolithic material culture and practices. From the Central Rift, the culture radiated outwards toward the western highlands, the Mt. Elgon region and possibly into Uganda . The Sirikwa culture was the predominant Kenyan hinterland archaeological culture of the Pastoral Iron Age, c.2000 BP. The name Sirikwa derives from
9504-430: Was its kokwet council; the word kokwet was in fact variously used to mean the whole neighbourhood, its council and the place where the council met. The head of kokwet was poyop kok (village elder). Social order was regulated by Kamuratanet and cultural life largely revolved around its teaching through folklore and observation of the various tumwek (rituals/customs), the important one's being Tumdo (Initiation) and
9603-541: Was somewhere near the common border between Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, and Ethiopia. This corresponds with a number of historical narratives from the various Kalenjin sub-tribes, which point to Tulwetab/Tuluop Kony ( Mount Elgon ) as their original point of settlement in Kenya. There are also accounts from Kalenjin speaking communities, in particular, the Sebeii, living near Mt. Elgon, who point to Kong'asis (the East), and more specifically
9702-478: Was sub-divided to members of the same clan marked by a series of stones referred to as Koiwek. The Elgeiyo social organization centers on the age set, or ebendo . There are eight age-sets ( ebenwek ) which are rotational, meaning after the end of one age set (after approximately 120 years), a new age set begins. Unlike the Nandi and the Tugen, who have only seven age sets (due to loss of an entire age set in battle),
9801-432: Was subsequently followed by the Iloikop wars . The expansion of Turkana and Loikop societies led to significant change within the Sirikwa society. Some communities were annihilated by the combined effects of the Mutai of the 19th century while others adapted to the new era. Members of collapsing communities were usually assimilated into ascending identities. Significant cultural change also occurred. Guarding cattle on
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