KENYA UKAMBA AND MASAKU UPRISING..
The Kamba or Ukamba people are a Bantu ethnic group - or tribe - who live in the semi-arid formerly Eastern Province of Kenya stretching east from Nairobi to Tsavo and north up to Embu, Kenya. This land is called Ukambani which constitutes of Makueni County, Kitui County and Machakos County.They are closely related in language and culture to the Kikuyu, Embu, Mbeere and Meru, and are concentrated in the lowlands of Southeast Kenya from he vicinity of Mount Kenya to the Coast.The local climate is semi-arid with hilly terrain and an altitude of 1000 to 2100 metres above sea level.
The first group of Kamba people settled in present-day Mbooni Hills in the Machakos District of Kenya in the second half of the 17th century before spreading to the greater Machakos, Makueni and Kitui Districts.Other authorities suggest that they arrived in their present lowlands east of Mount Kenya area of inhabitation from earlier settlements further to the north and east,[ while others argue that the Kamba, along with their closely related Eastern Bantu neighbours the Kikuyu, Embu, Mbeere and Meru moved into Kenya from points further south.
According to Ethnologue, there are approximately 6,960,000 Kamba speakers, with the number increasing. They live in Kenya, and are concentrated in the Machakos, Kitui, Makueni counties and southern Embu county of the former Eastern Province, Eastern parts of Muranga and Kiambu counties, Taita -Taveta county and Kwale County of the former Coast Province. and also form one of the largest populations in the urban city - counties of Nairobi and Mombasa. The Akamba share borders with the Maasai people are literally separated by the Kenya-Uganda railway from Athi to Kibwezi. Up until late 20th Century the Maasai and the Akamba communities were involved in persistent cattle-rustling and pasture conflicts especially on the pasture-rich Konza plains. This attracted the interest of colonial government who created Cooperative Society and the later the establishment of Konza, Potha and Malili Ranches
Apart from Kenya, Kamba people can also be found in Uganda, Tanzania and in South American country of Paraguay. The population of Akamba in Kenya is over 4, 448,000, about 10,280 in Uganda, 320,000 in Tanzania and about 35,000 in the South American country of Paraguay.
The Kamba speak the Kamba language (also known as Kikamba) as a mother tongue. It belongs to the Bantu branch of the Niger-Congo language family. Interestingly, Kikamba has no letters c, f, j, r, x, q and p in its alphabet
Like many Bantus the Akamba were originally hunters and gatherers, became long distance traders because of their knowledge of the expansive area they inhabited and good relations with neighbouring communities as well as excellent communication skills, later adopted subsistence farming and pastoralism due to the availability of the new land that they came to occupy
Today, the Akamba are often found engaged in different professions: some are agriculturalists, others are traders, while others have taken up formal jobs. Barter trade with the Kikuyu, Maasai, Meru and Embu people in the interior and the Mijikenda and Arab people of the coast was also practised by the Akamba who straddled the eastern plains of Kenya. • Kenya Kamba Traditiona... ..- BY E.NYANDORO
10 окт 2020
