The Swahili world
It consists of some 3,000 km of coastline along the East African coastline between Somalia and Mozambique, as well as the surrounding islands and archipelagos, including Lamu, Mombasa, Pemba, Zanzibar, Kilwa and even the Comoros. It is a land of interbreeding where people of various origins have rubbed shoulders for centuries and together have shaped its history. But the cosmopolitanism of the population is explained above all by the ancient and regular relations established between the two continents of the Indian Ocean basin: Africa and Asia. It is the result of the integration of Persian and Arab migrants, especially those from Oman and Yemen, into the African societies of the coast. The meeting of these two continents has left its mark, which can be seen in the architecture, music, religion, culinary art and clothing habits.
The Swahili language is made up of significant Arabic and other indigenous languages. Apart from English, it is the language of communication between ethnic groups in Kenya. But on the coast, Swahili is the mother tongue and culture of a significant part of the population, of mixed origin.
The Bantu
Originally from West Africa, the Bantu arrived in the Lake Victoria region in successive waves. These farming populations colonized the central highlands and part of the regions around Lake Victoria. Linguistically and culturally very homogeneous, this group is dominated by the Kikuyu tribe (it is the largest in the country and today represents 22% of the total population) who traditionally live north of Nairobi.
Their role in the country's independence and their entrepreneurial spirit allowed them to monopolize political power for nearly 30 years. Their influence is less today, but is still significant. The Meru and Embu, farmers who live on the slopes of Mount Kenya, are very close to the Kikuyu. Their neighbors, the Kamba, who occupy the semi-desert regions between Nairobi and the coast, are reputed to have served as a link for trade between the Swahili of the coast and the tribes of the interior. These former traders now work in tourist crafts, livestock and the military. In the west of the country, between Lake Victoria and Mount Elgon, live the Luhya. This dense conglomeration of diverse populations, subject to multiple cultural influences, lives on agriculture and, to a lesser extent, livestock. Their "cousins", the Gusii and the Kuria, live a little further south.
The Nilotic peoples
The Nilotes are pastoralist peoples who came from the Nile Valley about 2,500 years ago. Their contacts and exchanges with the Cushitic and Bantu populations led them to agriculture and fishing. A distinction is made between the Southern, Eastern and Western Nilotic. The first group is the oldest. It gathers under the term of Kalenjin a group of ethnic groups (Kipsigi, Marakwet, Tugen, Nandi...) that occupy a large part of the fertile highlands of western Kenya. Only the Pokots who live north of Lake Baringo have maintained their pastoral activities. The second group, which arrived more recently (about a thousand years ago), is composed of nomadic pastoralists who have been able to preserve their traditions. The most famous are the Maasai, along with their northern cousins, the Samburu. The Maasai take their name from the language they speak, Maa (which the Samburu also speak).
So far, these tribes have managed to retain their traditions and fight hard for their vital rights. This is perhaps what makes the Maasai the best known ethnic group, even though they are a very small minority in the country, representing only 2% of the population. In the same group, we also find the Turkana. This people of nomadic pastoralists, perfectly adapted to arid regions, live west of Lake Turkana. Suffering from repeated droughts, part of the Turkana have turned to fishing, unfortunately without much success. Finally, the third group is constituted by the Luo who arrived, about 500 years ago, in the Lake Victoria region. Originally from Sudan, they are now excellent farmers and fishermen. They also enjoy a reputation as intellectuals and hold important positions in higher education and, more recently, in politics, due to their large demographic weight.
The Maasai
The Maasai, a Nilotic people living astride Kenya and Tanzania, were sung of by colonial romanticism as the nomadic herdsman par excellence. English writers saw the noble warrior roaming the plains, spear in hand, dressed simply in a red tunic. Some Maasai have maintained a semi-nomadic existence, moving their villages according to water sources.
In terms of their social structure, the Maasai people are composed of five original clans (seven according to some scholars) corresponding to the five sons of the founding ancestor and subdividing in turn into several groups. The supreme authority is exercised by the "laibon", who is at the same time chief, priest and sorcerer. The social role of each is defined by custom and is ordered according to age. The young Moran warriors are responsible for the security of the herds.the Council of Elders selects twenty-nine of them, endowed with superior moral and physical qualities. These young Morans were given a higher hierarchical status that they would maintain throughout their lives. Two of them stand out even more: the "olaigue-nani", spokesman and leader of the age group, and the "olotuno", spiritual leader of the age group. The rites of passage are one of the most important aspects of Maasai culture. The lives of men are regulated by the passage from one age group to the next, according to rituals passed down from generation to generation. The ceremonies of ilmoran (warrior) and eunoto (coming of age) are the two most important stages. The first takes place just after circumcision: young Maasai (12-14 years old) are then considered warriors (Morans). For six to ten years, they live among themselves, away from their families. This long period of apprenticeship was intended to allow them to strengthen and help each other. To prove their courage, the Morans had to kill a lion. This tradition, now forbidden, is still practiced exceptionally. The Maasai live in respect of wildlife, and their knowledge is increasingly used to preserve wildlife. Some of these former "lion killers" have become "protectors", working with associations and NGOs in this field. The eunoto takes place around the age of 20, the festival lasts four days with dances and songs. The highlights of the festival are the cutting of the Moran's hair, the milk ceremony and the meat ceremony. As an adult, the young warrior can get married.
Family life is regulated according to the roles and functions of each member. The women have the right to enjoy the milk of the animals. They are feared and respected, but must undergo female circumcision and experience difficult living conditions: they build and maintain the huts, care for the animals, carry water and wood, and do all the household work. Their life expectancy is lower than that of men. The latter leave the children and the Morans to look after the herds, and spend their time talking and walking in the bush. The traditional diet of the Maasai is cow's milk, blood and sometimes meat. All the trees of the bush and their roots are also consumed according to their properties.
Modern life is disrupting the traditional way of life of this people of herders and semi-nomadic warriors. Displaced several times in recent history, some of them have moved towards a way of life outside their ancestral customs. Many of them are "reconverted" into tourism (employed by the numerous camps and lodges of the parks and conservancies), sometimes in the fight against poaching. However, they are among the most traditional of Kenya's peoples, and it is always far from the cities that one can meet them. For the wilderness, which they respect, protect and fear at the same time, is and will remain their first home. Unfortunately, the epinal image that is presented to tourists is often instrumentalized and folklorized for commercial purposes.
The Cushitic peoples
The first people to colonize Kenya were Couchites, related to the present-day Somali (Somalis are referred to as the inhabitants of Somalia, and Somali as the ethnic group). They introduced cattle breeding, agriculture, irrigation and many practices and customs that are still in use today (notably the burning of pastures and circumcision). These populations have been gradually assimilated and their language only survives in a few isolated tribes (the Dahalo who live on the edge of the Tana delta for example). On the other hand, a second, more recent wave of Cushitic immigrants arrived from the north in the 14th and 15th centuries.
These pastoral populations, culturally quite similar, are characterized by a particularly complex social organization. The main groups are the Somali, the Rendille and the Oromo (Gabbra, Boran, Orma...), and form the majority of the population of the north-eastern quarter of the country. The first group includes about ten clans (Degodia, Gurreh, Ogaden, Hawiya...) and live in the north-east. Of Muslim religion, they are camel breeders but also dynamic traders. The second are a small tribe of nomadic pastoralists living between Marsabit and Lake Turkana; they are culturally quite close to their geographical neighbors, the Samburu. Finally, the Oromo, who group together several tribes, live with their herds along the border with Ethiopia.
Minorities from the colonial empire
As in most of the former British colonies, the Indo-Pakistani community is important here. The number of its nationals remains modest, but their economic influence is considerable. They control almost all the businesses and monopolize key positions in real estate and services. It is almost impossible to find a store in town that is not run by an Indian.
