The Ilchamus (sometimes spelled Iltiamus, also known as Njemps), are a Maa-speaking people living south and southeast of

Lake Baringo Lake Baringo is, after Lake Turkana, the most northern of the Kenyan Rift Valley lakes, with a surface area of and an elevation of . The lake is fed by several rivers: the Molo River, Molo, Perkerra River, Perkerra and Ol Arabel. It has no obvio ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

. They numbered approximately 32,949 people in 2019 and are closely related to the Samburu living more to the north-east in the

Rift Valley Province Rift Valley Province () of Kenya, bordering Uganda, was one of Kenya's eight provinces, before the 2013 Kenyan general election. Rift Valley Province was the largest and one of the most economically important provinces in Kenya. It was dominated ...

. They are one of the smallest ethnic groups in Kenya. In their oral traditions, the Ilchamus economy underwent a succession of elaborations: from foraging and fishing to a sophisticated system of irrigation, and then this was mixed with pastoralism under the influence of Samburu immigrants and neighbouring Maasai. These changes involved a series of embellishments in their culture and social organization. However, this evolving system did not survive the challenges of the capitalist economy in post-colonial Kenya, leading to a more polarized society with diminishing prospects for the majority of Ilchamus.

Language

Camus or Chamus (autonym: il-Chamus) is classified under the

Maa languages The Maa languages are a group of closely related Eastern Nilotic languages (or from a linguistic perspective, dialects, as they appear to be mutually intelligible) spoken in parts of Kenya and Tanzania by more than a million speakers. They are s ...

in the Eastern Nilotic language branch. It is closely related to the

Samburu language Samburu is a Maa language dialect spoken by Samburu pastoralists in northern Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya ...

(between 89% and 94% lexical similarity), to the point of being considered a Samburu dialect by some. Together, Samburu and il-Chamus form the northern division of the Maa languages.

References

External links

Ethnologue report on Camus (as a Samburu dialect)

Samburu and Camus on The Rosetta Project
Languages of Kenya Maa languages Nilotic peoples Ethnic groups in Kenya {{Kenya-ethno-group-stub

Language

See also

References

External links