Africa
About a third of the people derive their livelihood from farming and herding, which have long been mainstays of the economy. The chief farming areas are in the highlands, around Lake Victoria, and along the coast. Because of scant rainfall, most of the country can be used for little but grazing. Until the early 20th [...]
History and Origin of the Swahili Tribe The Swahili tribe are a coastal people with a very rich historical and cultural heritage. Some of the earliest inhabitants of the East African coast were their ancestors, Cushitic herdsmen. The Cushitic people were joined by Bantu speaking tribes, including the Mijikenda, with whom they freely inter-married. Other groups [...]
The Turkana tribe is a nomadic pastoralist people that inhabit the Turkana district in Kenya’s Rift Valley Province. This Kenyan Nilotic tribe constitutes the second largest pastoralist community in Kenya next to the Maasai. They speak the Turkana language, which is Nilotic and similar to the Maasai language. The Turkana, like the Samburu and Maasai, still maintain [...]
The Samburu tribe are a Nilotic tribe that inhabits Kenya’s northern plains. They are a Maa-speaking group, and are very similar to the Maasai tribe. Like the Maasai, the Samburu are nomadic pastoralists, moving from one place to another following patterns of rainfall in search of fresh pasture and water for their cattle, camels, goats and sheep. [...]
Kenya’s Northeastern Province is home to the country’s Somali tribe, a Cushitic tribe that also resides in larger numbers in the neighboring Republic of Somalia and Ethiopia. Kenyan Somalis number about half a million people, and are the largest among all of Kenya’s Cushitic tribes. Their territory, formerly known as the Northern Frontier Districts, is [...]