The Ancestry of Kenya S Modern Population Began Over 1,000 Years Ago with the Migration

Giga

Prejudice in Kenya:

Ethics of Development in a Global Environment

Farah Giga

EDGE

Professor Bruce Lusignan

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History, Influence and Prejudice in Kenya

Kenya, a country on the east coast of Africa, is rich in its culture and diversity. With a wide variety of ethnic groups and tribes, Kenya is a melting pot of ideas and interests. Although cultures and identities have become shared over the years, there are still differences that caused conflicts and prejudice between the many different groups that coexist in the country. The history of the country and the many influences that came to bear played an impact on how the different ethnicities interacted and the relationship they developed towards each other. Initially, the tribes conflicted over the resources and land available especially with nearly thirty to forty different ethnic groups residing together. Then with the era of exploration different influences a mixing of cultures not only brought about new identities but also brought conflicting ideas from other parts of the world. In addition, other problems arose from these new people as they usually gained power by oppressing others in the country, which resulted in prejudice and feelings of resentment between different ethnic groups. Furthermore, colonization drew arbitrary lines around the country bringing together warring factions and separating tribes. Finally when Kenya became a political entity, the prejudices came to the surface through government actions and tribal factions vying for power. Thus historical pasts and influences have played an important part in dictating the prejudices of today.

The ancestry of Kenya’s modern population began over 1,000 years ago with the migration of tribes into the country’s fertile heartland. Of the people who migrated into the region, four distinct language groups were established, the Bantu, Cushitic, and Paranilotic, Nilotic who still exist in Kenya today. “The blacks are divided into more than 30 ethnic groups belonging to four linguistic families…The largest ethnic groups are the Bantu-speaking Kikuyu, Luhya, and Kamba; the Nilotic-speaking Luo; and the Paranilotic-speaking Kalenjin” (Geography and History of Kenya).

The Bantu and Nilotic people mainly reside between Lake Victoria and the coast in what can be considered the interior part of the country. The Cushitic people initially inhabited Western parts of Kenya but were driven out of that region to eventually reside in the Northeastern parts of the country. Other groups that were found to have migrated into Kenya include Somali clans and Oromo people who migrated from the neighboring country of Ethiopia.

The Bantu speaking Kikuyu gradually emerged at the largest ethnic group of Kenya. Having originally come from Mount Kenya, in the fifteenth century, the Kikuyu began migrating towards the southwest three centuries later. In their movement, the Kikuyu absorbed many other tribes including Gumba and Athi and eventually split into two groups as they came to occupy much of the central part of Kenya.

The absorption of the Gumba is of particular interest as they were originally Cushitic speaking people. Primarily in the business of hunting and gathering, the Gumba roamed the open grasslands.

The Gumba passed on their knowledge of working with the skilled iron and pottery. For a time, the Gumba and Kikuyu had beneficial relationship where the Kikuyu exchanged meat and skins with the Gumba for agricultural products. However eventually the Gumba began to assimilate into the Kikuyu tribe. The Kikuyu were primarily agricultural people who cultivated their land, which led to friction among them, and the Gumba people who were angered as the Kikuyu cleared their hunting ground for cultivation. Kikuyu expansion increased tension between the two ethnic groups and war erupted between the two factions. This led to the end of the Gumba people as a separate ethnic entity during the middle of the nineteenth century.

The relationship between the Athi, the other group the Kikuyu absorbed and the Kikuyu tribe were similar. The Athi were a forest dwelling people who also partly assimilated with the Kikuyu tribe and some can still be found in the Rift Valley area. It was the Athi people who sold the heartland known as Kabete, to the Kikuyu for cattle. It was this transaction that keeps the Athi an important part of the Kikuyu history.

Another major group that emerged from the Bantu speaking people is the Kamba tribe who resided in the Mount Kilimanjaro area till the fifteenth century and moved to the Mbooni Hills, which is currently known as the Machakos District, late in the seventeenth century. They too were initially hunters and gatherers but soon realized that the new fertile lands that they had moved to were ideal for cultivation and thus began agriculture. However, the Kamba people had to give up agriculture when a population growth forced them to expand into less fertile areas. For a while the Kamba went back to their hunting and gathering ways but shortly discovered the value of ivory in trade. This began a period of ivory trade and elephant exploitation and developed a two-way caravan to the coast.

Their trade and exploitation spread into Tanzania and out into Kikuyu regions, as trade was really booming in the late eighteenth century.

The Kamba ivory trade hit its peak in the middle of the nineteenth century, which was the primary reason for the prosperity of the coastal port of Mombasa. At that time, many other groups started challenging the monopoly of the Kamaba people. In addition internal conflict and feud within the Kamba tribe started to affect trade business alongside the attempts of the other people who occupied the highlands of Kenya to keep the Kamba people out of their lands. The other reason that the tribes tried to prevent the Kamba people from entering their regions was because the Kamba had began raiding other tribes for slaves. Ultimately, the elephants started becoming endangered in that area forcing the Kamba people to travel very far for ivory. Caravan traffic was in danger as the country in general was experiencing turmoil, Kamba trade slowly reduced and finally competition from the Uganda railroad that ran through Mombasa and Kisumu eliminated the aggressive monopoly the Kamba held over a century.

The other Bantu-speaking people migrated out into western Kenya in a region near Lake Victoria. They began this move in the eleventh century followed by other tribes interested in agriculture. These people eventually became known as the Luhya. In the sixteenth century the Nilotic speaking Luo people, coming from what is now Uganda, pushed Luhya back towards the east. The Luo people adopted the agricultural practices of the Luhya for a while, but some went onto continue conquering new lands. In this quest for more territory, the Luo came up against the Bantu speaking Kisii people who were also on the same mission as the Luo, to expand into that part of the region. Along with these two groups vying for this territory, there was also the Nilotic people who were residing along the edge of the territory to the east. The territorial maneuvering by the three groups was not always peaceful as war over the land often erupted. The fighting over the land continued until British rule took control in the twentieth century, which also brought and end to occupation of territories of rival ethnic people.

As for the other ethnic groups, their migration into and around Kenya is vague. The Nilotic people migrated into Kenya from Ethiopia. The Maasai people who moved south through the Rift Valley became the dominating group in southwest Kenya. Despite being internally weak from war within its own people, no one dared to tangle with the Maasai people who were feared for their reputation. The last Nilotic people to arrive into Kenya were the Turkana tribe who resided in the northwest regions of Kenya. These mixtures of tribes formed the early ancestry of the modern Kenyan people however the country was influenced by my other outside cultures who came primarily to the country for its resources and trade.

The coast of Kenya was the center for much of the East African trade with ivory, tortoiseshell and spices being noted as early as the first and second centuries. However the earliest outside influence can be traced back to the Arab Muslim traders who set up a trade center on along the coast, which later also saw a Persian influence in the tenth century. The towns that they set up along the coast became a strong link commercially between East Africa and the Indies. The port towns along the coast at particularly Mombasa, Malindi, Lamu and Pate exchanged elephant ivory and slaves for salt, cloth beads and metal goods (Bliss). Even a team of traders from China are said to have reached the coasts of Kenya brining their culture and influences as well. The sultan of Kilwa ruled over these Kenyan towns, but the Arabs were functioning rather autonomously from the sultan’s rule and began competing in Kenya to control the largest part of the country’s trade and commercial prosperity. Eventually the town of Malindi surpassed Mombasa, another rival port town, to become the richest trading center on the East African coast.

The strong migration of Arab families to Kenya from primarily the southern part of Arabia known as Hadramaut, led to the formation of a unique Islamic culture in the coastal regions, which resulted from a considerable amount of intermarrying between the Arab immigrants and the Bantu-speaking tribes of Kenya. “The intermingling of Arabs and indigenous inhabitants formed the Swahili culture and language” (East African Living Encyclopedia).A new language and culture stemmed from the integration of these two cultures, which came to be known as Swahili, an Arabic term for coast. “Since the early 20th century Swahili has become a major African tongue, and it is the official language of Kenya; Kikuyu, Luo, and English are also widely used” (Geography and History of Kenya). Swahili became the dominant language of the country and is still the national language today.

The Arab Muslims were not the only outside influence to affect Kenyan culture, the Portuguese also maintained an influence in Kenya for 200 years when the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama stopped at Mombasa and Malindi, prosperous port towns along the coast of Kenya on a 1498 voyage to India. The ruler of Malindi developed relationships with the newly arrived Portuguese people and allowed them to trade in the port there. However, Mombasa, the other rival port town was against the Portuguese intruding into their town. In 1505, commander Francisco de Almeida, who had already occupied Kilwa and Sofala with his troops, raided the town. Mombasa became a center of resistance by the Arabs living there and in 1529 the Portuguese once again attacked with the help of Malindi. At the same time, the Portuguese forced the ruler of Malindi to recognize and pay tribute to the royal Portuguese town and accept its rule there.

As the Portuguese continued to rule the regions at a distance with the sultans as figureheads in their respective towns, more and more resentment against this foreign invasion began to build against them. In 1589, Mombasa renounced Portguese rule and asked for protection by Mirale Bey the Turkish cosair. A Portuguese fleet was sent from Goa, which captured the Turkish fleet and left Mombasa. The Zimba, a group of Kenyan warriors who had destroyed Kilwa earlier, then looted Mombasa. The Zimba then turned toward Malindi but they were defeated when the neighboring tribe of Segeju intervened in Malindi. The sultun of Malindi, with the assistance of the Segeju, then moved his court to Mombasa and invited the Portuguese back to establish a fort there.

In 1593, the Portuguese began building a major defense unit at Fort Jesus, at the entrance to Mombasa’s port, as a preventive measure as well as to increase their strength and visibility in East Africa. Afterwards, the Portuguese rule in Kenya remained stable for nearly forty years. In 1963, they lost their holdings in Mombasa to an Arab sultan for close to eight years, but managed to reclaim it. However, Oman in southeastern Arabia was becoming more and more powerful and they shortly after began challenge the Portuguese power to regain control of the coast. In 1660, the Omani troops conquered Mombasa, but the Portuguese managed to keep Fort Jesus for close to another forty years. The Portuguese once again tried to regain power in 1728, but their attempts failed. This brought and end to European influence in Kenya until British arrived centuries later.

Although the Portuguese spent nearly 200 years on the coast of Kenya they never attempted to colonize the region. The only legacy they left behind was a few words they had contributed to the Swahili and a couple of coastal towns for trade. However, did have one major contribution to Kenya, which was the introduction of New World crops such as maize, cassava, and potatoes. This became the staple food of Kenya in many regions and played a significant role in the growth of the population of Kenya. Once the Omani people took over, that was the only remains of Portuguese influence.

After the Omani seized Fort Jesus and banished the Portuguese from the East Coast, the ruler of Oman took control over Kenya. Although his rule was not very powerful the Omani people managed to have strong control through Arab families who ruled the coastal towns of Kenya. In particular, the Mazrui family, who began ruling Mombasa in 1727, was the strongest of these.

Said al Busaidi overthrew the sultan of Oman in 1741, and formed a dynasty. At the change of rule, the Mazrui family took advantage of the opportunity break away from Oman and established their own independent rule in Mombasa. The Mazrui family rule eventually came to dominate the Kenyan coast.

Said bin Sultan, a strong member of the Busaidi family came to power in 1806 with the intention of bringing Omani authority back to East Africa. Also at the same time, the British were trying to end the slave trade and piracy in the Persian Gulf. The British involvement influenced how Said and his successors ruled through most of the nineteenth century. One example of British influence was convincing the Said to restrict involvement in slave trade in 1823. The treaty did very little to curb slave trade except to keep it from spreading into new markets, however the treaty did establish an acceptance of Omani rule as well as begin to establish a British influence.

Said’s troop worked to overthrow the Mazrui influence and managed to do so from the Archipelago by 1824. The Said wanted control of Mombasa, which was an important coastal town at the time. Afraid that the Said would take over, the town approached a captain of a British naval vessel to help them maintain control over their town. The captain agreed that Mombasa would become a protectorate of the British government as he found this to be a good opportunity for the British to achieve their goal of curbing slavery in Kenya especially through a port town like Mombasa. The captain did not have the authority to make such kind of agreement and the British government did not hold the agreement valid. In 1828, the Mazrui lost control of Mombasa to the Omani all except for Fort Jesus, which managed to remain under Mazrui control.

The British, still concerned about slave trade, continued to influence the Said especially when he moved his court from Oman to Zanzibar in 1840. At the time, Zanzibar was the primary center of slave trade in East Africa. This move gave the British the opportunity to influence the Said with yet another treaty in 1845 that imposed trading limitations on the coast. The treaty did not to anything to curb slave trade as it continued in full swing in that area. The horrors of slave trade continued on and appalled the British public after hearing accounts from British officers and other Europeans who had traveled. The public put pressure and support for the British to establish a permanent station to patrol slavery on the coast. Furthermore, the British made the Omani government to put more restrictions on trade. By 1873, the British made the current ruler, Barghash, stop all slave sales and shipping in coastal areas under his control. Slave trade continued inland until finally in 1877, this was ordered to stop as well. To ensure the end of the slave trade, British troops were placed in East Africa in a missionary center for free slaves. In 1880, Swahili slave traders attacked the British in Mombasa because they associated the trade restrictions with them. This resulted in disgruntlement on the Kenyan coast till the twentieth century.