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Athi People
The Athi (sing. Mwathi, pl. A-Athi) were an ethnic group who lived around Mount Kenya up to and during the eighteenth and possibly nineteenth centuries. Many of their traditions have been captured among the Meru and Kikuyu people of Kenya. According to Meru traditions, the Athi were predated in their areas of occupation by the Agumba people. History Settlement According to Meru traditions recorded by Fadiman, the period of entry onto Mount Kenya is recalled as the time of ax and fire-stick. As the hunters ventured into the forest zone, each "Mwathi...marked of a specific hunting region, often adjacent to that of hunter neighbors from other clans. Using 'ax, red clay, and fire-stick' to stake his claim". The hunters then progressed 'west' (uphill) into the forest in search of both meat and honey, making sure to remain within their self selected boundaries. Meru traditions aver that the forest hunters of this era were armed, "only with small bows, axes and iron knives". They "declare ...
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Mount Kenya
Mount Kenya ( Kikuyu: ''Kĩrĩnyaga'', Kamba, ''Ki Nyaa'') is the highest mountain in Kenya and the second-highest in Africa, after Kilimanjaro. The highest peaks of the mountain are Batian (), Nelion () and Point Lenana (). Mount Kenya is located in the former Eastern and Central provinces of Kenya; its peak is now the intersection of Meru, Embu, Laikipia, Kirinyaga, Nyeri and 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 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 resulted in very eroded slopes and numerous valleys radiating from the peak. There are currently 11 small glaciers, which are shrinking rapidly, and may disappear by 2050. The forested slopes are an important source of water for much of ...
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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 ...
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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 sugge ...
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Kenya
) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , official_languages = Constitution (2009) Art. 7 ational, official and other languages"(1) The national language of the Republic is Swahili. (2) The official languages of the Republic are Swahili and English. (3) The State shall–-–- (a) promote and protect the diversity of language of the people of Kenya; and (b) promote the development and use of indigenous languages, Kenyan Sign language, Braille and other communication formats and technologies accessible to persons with disabilities." , languages_type = National language , languages = Swahili , ethnic_groups = , ethnic_groups_year = 2019 census , religion = , religion_year = 2019 census , demonym = ...
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Agumba People
The Agumba (also Gumba) people were an ethnic group who inhabited the forests of Mount Kenya, but are now either extinct or assimilated. Sources The Agumba people are known of only through the oral tradition of the Kikuyu, Embu, and Meru peoples. Origins Routledge notes that the traditions collected among the Kikuyu were "definitely to the...effect that the A'si preceded the Agum'ba and that the latter two people lived side by side in villages". However, according to Meru traditions, the Agumba predated the Athi people in their areas of occupation. A specific instance of tradition relating to rituals also seems to affirm this fact, "A-Athi traditions suggest (that rituals) were adopted ('bought') from earlier hunting peoples whom they encountered as they entered the forest. Neither instance seem to provide a point of origin beyond their presence on Mount Kenya. Language The Agumba of Meru tradition spoke a Kalenjin dialect that bears similarity to present-day Okiek languages. T ...
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Fire Making
Fire making, fire lighting or fire craft is the process of artificially starting a fire. It requires completing the fire triangle, usually by heating tinder above its autoignition temperature. Fire is an essential tool for human survival and the use of fire was important in early human cultural history since the Lower Paleolithic. Today, it is a key component of Scouting and bushcraft. Archaeology Evidence for fire making dates to at least the early Middle Paleolithic, with dozens of Neanderthal hand axes from France exhibiting use-wear traces suggesting these tools were struck with the mineral pyrite to produce sparks around 50,000 years ago. At the Neolithic site of La Draga, researchers have found that fungi were used as tinder. Hearths are one of the most common features found at archaeological sites. Ötzi, also called the Iceman, a well-preserved natural mummy of a man who lived between 3400 and 3100 BCE, found in September 1991 in the Ötztal Alps, ...
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Rift Valley Province
Rift Valley Province ( sw, Mkoa wa Bonde la Ufa) of Kenya, bordering Uganda, was one of Kenya's eight provinces, before the Kenyan general election, 2013. Rift Valley Province was the largest and one of the most economically important provinces in Kenya. It was dominated by the Kenya Rift Valley which passes through it and gives the province its name. According to the 2009 Census, the former province covered an area of and would have had a population of 10,006,805, making it the largest and most populous province in the country. The bulk of the provincial population inhabited a strip between former Nairobi and Nyanza Province. The capital was the town of Nakuru. Counties As of March 2013 after the Kenyan general election, 2013, the Province was partitioned into counties and Rift Valley Province was dissolved. Geography The Great Rift Valley runs south through Kenya from Lake Turkana in the north and has several unique geographical features, including the Elgeyo es ...
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Okiek People
The Okiek ( Ogiek: ), sometimes called the Ogiek or Akiek (although the term Akiek sometimes refers to a distinct subgroup), are a Southern Nilotic ethnic group native to Tanzania and Southern Kenya (in the Mau Forest), and Western Kenya (in the Mount Elgon Forest). In 2019 the ethnic Okiek population was 52,596, although the number of those speaking the Akiek language was as low as 500. History In 1903, C.W.Hobley recorded eleven Okiek communities, a hunter-gatherer society, living in western Kenya. He noted that a number of entire sections were bi-lingual, speaking either Maasai, Kipsigis or Nandi in addition to their own languages. Hunter-gatherer communities also lived on the eastern highlands of Kenya where they were known in local traditions by the names "Gumba" and "Athi". Language Many Ogiek speakers have shifted to the languages of surrounding peoples: the Akiek in northern Tanzania now speak Maasai and the Akiek of Kinare, Kenya now speak Gikuyu. The Ogiek are one o ...
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