Modern ethnicities
47-405: 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
94-657: 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
141-709: 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
188-510: 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
235-979: 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
282-581: 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
329-745: 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
376-508: 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
423-401: 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
470-486: 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
517-676: 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
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#1732855595075564-594: 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
611-472: 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
658-708: 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
705-628: 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
752-588: 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
799-665: 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 ,
846-579: 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
893-528: 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
940-625: 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,
987-584: 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
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#17328555950751034-621: 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
1081-488: 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
1128-534: 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
1175-604: 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
1222-603: 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
1269-556: 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
1316-495: 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
1363-519: 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
1410-594: 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
1457-428: 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
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1504-556: 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
1551-503: 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
1598-460: 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
1645-478: 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
1692-509: 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
1739-526: 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
1786-726: 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
1833-416: 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
1880-448: 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
1927-597: 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
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1974-458: 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,
2021-470: 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
2068-578: 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
2115-599: 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
2162-430: 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
2209-478: 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),
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