The Greeks indiscriminately called every black people group south of Egypt “Ethiopian” (the burnt faces). The Namoratunga cemetery and rock art sites, dated to about 300 B.C., are clearly related to the prehistory of … h) Specialization emerged mainly due to inter-community trade in the region. The Somali Around 2500 and 3000 years ago, Cushites were already occupying the grasslands of the Kenya highlands cultivating food crops like sorghum, millet and rearing long horned humpless cattle. Until the arrival of the Nilotes some five hundred years ago, the ancestors of both the Eastern and Southern Cushites occupied a much larger part of East Africa than they do today, extending into the inter-lakes region as well as central and southern Kenya. Samburu 5. E.g. Boni 9. • The Dahallo or Sanye of lower Tana are the only southern Cushites in Kenya. Cushites in Kenya The Cushitic speakers were the first outside people to move to Kenya in the modern era (between 3000-5000) years ago into the area around Lakes Turkana. Kikuyu 2. The majority of the Somali people live in Somalia. Reasons for migration of cushites in Kenya: a) Escaping from clan or family feuds. 7.List any two Bantus found in Kenya ,uganda and Tanzania. The cushites attacked the Eastern Bantu communities who had settled at shungwaya, and forced them to move to their present homeland in Kenya. Some cushites who had been converted to Islam spread the religion in the areas where they settled. Boran 4. They were progressively displaced in a southerly direction and/or absorbed by incoming Nilotic and Bantu groups until they wound up in Tanzania. The Orma, who occupy a small enclave around Garsen and the Tana River near the Kenyan coast, are also Oromo-speaking. Christianity is another threat to these peoples' cultural integrity, as is the gradual process of modernization which increasingly makes their traditional way of life - which includes hunting - less viable. 9000 years ago). The Cushitic languages (spoken by Cushitic peoples) are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family spoken in the Horn of Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Sudan and Egypt. Galla There are three main language groups in Kenya from which the tribes can be divided, These are the Bantus, Nilotes and Cushites, it is from these three ethnic groups that we have the 42 tribes which make up the Kenyan population. Somali 2. Other languages with more than one million speakers are Hadia (1.6 million), Kambata (1.4 million), and Afar (1.5 million). South Cushitic is a subbranch of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family, historically spoken by peoples living south of the Horn of Africa (where most Cushitic speakers are situated), these Cushites seemingly made it as far as Southern Africa as early as 2,000 years ago or more [1], having reached areas like Kenya and Tazania much earlier. Some examples of these peoples include the Cushiticspeaking ethnic gro… Due to the dryness of their habitat throughout most of the year, Cushites are mainly nomadic pastoralists  who keep large herds of cattle, camels, goats and sheep. Uganda-Baganda,Batoro. Kenya-Agikuyu,pokomo. Cushites, or Cushitic people, live in the arid and semi-arid eastern and North-Eastern parts of Kenya. The Cushitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. Nilotes in Kenya: After the arrival and several years of settlement by the Cushitic speakers, another group, probably in search of pastures, arrived through the Uganda-Sudan- Ethiopian border region around 2000 years ago. They reside along a very large area of land that runs from the east of Lake Turkana, stretches to the north of Kenya, and through to the Indian Ocean. In broad terms the peoples now designated Cushite are the cultural descendants of those peoples. Results of Cushitic Migration into Kenya. • They originated from the area north of Kenya, either Somalia or Ethiopia. As a consequence of these movements, there are no longer any Southern Cushites left in Kenya. The term means poor people (who do not have cattle)! Cushites, or Cushitic people, live in the arid and semi-arid eastern and northeastern parts of Kenya. - In Kenya they are spread over a small part as compared to the two countries. Daholo 12. The first known inhabitants of present-day Kenya were Cushitic-speaking tribes that migrated to the northwest region from Ethiopa around 2000 B.C.E. While some scholars including Zaborski (1986) and Lamberti (1991) have kept the issue alive and suggested that Omotic can still be classified as part of Cushitic, Rolf Theil (2006), in keeping with the noted Chadicist Paul Newman, excludes Omotic from Afroasiatic altogether. Their settlement led to increased rivalry and conflicts for ownership of land. They reside along a very large area of land that runs from the east of Lake Turkana, stretches to the north of Kenya, and through to the Indian Ocean. Cushites in Kenya - InformationCradle. They … This latter group includes the Borana (by far the largest group numerically), the Gabbra, and the ancestors of the Rendille. Luo 2. b) There was population pressure in their area of origin. Ham was one of the three sons of Noah to survive the global flood.Cush was the father of Nimrod the hunter (Genesis 10:8–9). The Burji are farmers in Moyale and Marsabit districts. They include: 1. Cushites include Somali, Rendille, Borana and Oromo tribes. Also called Dahaloan-speakers, the continued existence of the Southern Cushites as separate and independent Kenya peoples is highly unlikely, as the eastern border of Kenya with Somalia has become little more than a reflection of Somalia's internal conflicts, with heavily-armed raiders, bandits and massacres prevalent throughout the 1990s. Some sources therefore refer to the Cush of this period as the Meroitic Empire or simply Meroe. Nowadays, Cushitic-speaking peoples are dispersed over a large portion of the arid north and northeast of Kenya, and also comprise the majority in Ethiopia and Eritrea. Kamba is the 5th largest tribe in the Kenya accounting for over 10 percent of Kenya’s … The Kenyan Government, incidentally, is either unable or unwilling to pay anything more than lip-service to the problem. However, the arrival of both the Bantu and especially the Nilotic-speaking peoples scattered the Cushitic populations. The Maasai called these hunter-gatherers by the name Torobo (Il Torobo), pronounced very like the word Dorobo. They speak Afro-Asiatic languages, and originally came from Ethiopia and Somalia in north-east Africa. Sakuye 8. • In Tanzania they include the Boni, Iraqi and Burungi Eastern Cushites. 6.The original home land of the cushites was the horn of Africa. Turkana 4. The Borana are nomadic and occupy the north-east part of Kenya. Eastern Cushites began to arrive about one thousand years later, and occupied much of the country's current area. Jun 21, 2016 - Explore Ismail Mohamed's board "Cushites" on Pinterest. Kamba 6. Major Cushitic languages include Oromo, Somali, Beja, Agaw, Afar, Saho The Swahili tribe traditional garment is a long white robe popularly known a… • They include; Borana, Somali, Oromo, Gabra, Rendile and Burji. Examples of Cushites include: - The Rift Cushite peoples – that is the Dorobo and Okiek. These Cushites are sometimes associated with the land of Midian, which was also in that region. There was massive warfare during the migrations leading to killing of many people in the process. These scholars consider Omotic to be an independent branch of Afroasiatic. Cushites learnt mixed farming. The figure given in the 2009 population census for the number of Somalis in Kenya is believed to be inaccurate and has been nullified pending an official recount. Some groups headed south into Tanzania, whilst others headed west into the Rift Valley, where they were eventually assimilated by the ancestors of the Maasai and other Nilotic tribes. Speakers of Cushitic languages and the descendants of speakers of Cushitic languages are referred to as Cushitic peoples. g) New technology infused into various communities. 8.The western Bantus in Kenya include: Abaluhya,Abagusii and Abakuria. Yaaka 11. The vast majority of Kenyan Cushites are from the Eastern branch, with only a few pockets of numerically tiny Southern Cushites surviving, mainly near the coast. These are the southern Nilotic speakers. - The North-East Cushites-that is the Somali, Boran and Galla among others. Gabbra 6. More recently, perhaps some three hundred years ago, the 'Oromo Expansion', which originated in southern Ethiopia, reclaimed some of the land that had been lost, mainly at the expense of the Bantu who were forced south into the much more fertile highland areas of Kenya, where they remain today. Nilotes in Kenya – Origin Cushitic languages are spoken primarily in the Horn of Africa (Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia), as well as the Nile Valley (Sudan and Egypt), and parts of the African Great Lakes region (Tanzania and Kenya). Kenya is a land of great diversity in its people and cultures. The Cushites migrated from Northern Africa to East Africa around 2000 B.C. 1Room Kenya KCSE History and Government Form 1 Lesson 25: The Eastern Cushites: The Borana. Tanzania-Nyamwezi,hehe. the Cushites moved their capital upstream to a city called Meroe. learned of circumcision and age set system from the southern Cushites. Within Kenya's population of Eastern Cushites, two main distinctions are made: to the east, bordering Somalia, are the Somali-speaking people (also called Somaloid, or Garre), whilst to the north, bordering Ethiopia and indeed occupying a good part of southern Ethiopia, are the Oromo-speakers (formerly and pejoratively called Galla), who migrated into Kenya from the lowland areas south of the Ethiopian highlands. In any case, the harsh climate - which alternates between extremes of drought (with plenty of abrasive sand and dust) and floods - quickly destroys any material remains. The phylum was first designated as Cushitic in 1858. Undaunted, linguists have made several distinctions among Cushitic-speaking peoples based on perceived language roots, although as usual nothing has yet been proved beyond doubt. Cushites include Somali, Rendille, Borana and Oromo tribes. Relationship between Kenya and Ethiopia is superb. But the majority simply retreated northwards into the more marginal lands they occupy today. In 538 B.C. Cushitic people maintain very close ties with their kinsmen – the Cushites of the neighbouring countries of Somalia and Ethiopia. The most populous Cushitic language is Oromo with about 35 million speakers, followed by Somali with about 18 million speakers, and Sidamo in Ethiopia with about 2 million speakers. Cushites include the Somali, Rendile, Borana … Designed by Ibid Labs | Powered by Jieleze, The animal kingdom, the tree of life & where we come from, A history of the National Museums of Kenya. Kisii 4. The Cushitic peoples are divided into two groups: the Southern Cushites and the Eastern Cushites. However, this view has largely been abandoned, primarily due to the work of Harold C. Fleming (1974) and M. Lionel Bender (1975). The Cushitic people’s form a small ethnic minority of about 2%, mostly represented by Oromo and Somali speakers. Bantu is the largest division making up about 70% of Kenya’s population The Swahili tribe is rich in historical and cultural heritage. Kalenjin Cushiticspeaking people comprise a small minority of Kenya's population. Meru 3. Unfortunately, there's little or no material proof of this, nor much likelihood of finding any: the material culture of nomadic peoples is generally perishable, as items such as pots, ropes, sandals and so on are made of natural materials such as fibres, wood, gourds and animal products. 45,098 Somali, 27,244 Hawiyah, 100,400 Degodia, 139,597 Ogaden. That between Kenya and Somalia is fraternal, given a substantial size of Kenyan population is somali. and were the earliest group to settle in Kenya. Wata 10. Due to the huge Arabic culture influence, Islamic traditions rules apply in their food, clothing, and lifestyle. Answer: Cushites were people from the land of Cush/Kush (or “Cushan” in Habakkuk 3:7). Cushitic was traditionally seen as also including the Omotic languages, then called West Cushitic. Cushites, or Cushitic people, live in the arid and semi-arid eastern and North-Eastern parts of Kenya. They include the Somali, Rendille, Borana, Burji, Gabra, Orma, Das-senach, and the El Molo. Despite covering about 25% of Kenya land surface, Cushites presently account for only 3-4% of the total population. The Rift cushites were hunters and gatherers while North-East cushites were herders and pastoralists, dealing with agricultural livestock. 5.The main activity of the cushites was pastoralism. Long ago people speaking a south Cushitic language departed from the Ethiopian Highlands and occupied large parts of Kenya, including the highlands. The Somali represent the largest single group of eastern Cushites in Kenya. They live almost exclusively by herding camels, although cattle are sometimes also kept where climatic conditions allow. Identity: Various old Cushite groups in the Rift Valley of Kenya and Tanzania are called Dorobo. They are spoken primarily in the Horn of Africa (Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia), as well as the Nile Valley (Sudan and Egypt), and parts of the African Great Lakes region (Tanzania and Kenya). The Southern Cushitic language was the first of all the present day Kenyan languages to be spoken in this country. In the 1989 census the community numbered 420,000 in Kenya. They are named after the Biblical character Cush, who was identified as an ancestor of the speakers of these specific languages as early as AD 947 (in Masudi’s Arabic history Meadows of Gold). Of Kenya's three major migrant ethno-linguistic groups, the first to arrive were the Cushites, the earliest of which are believed to have entered north and northeastern Kenya from southern Ethiopia sometime between the second and first millennium BC. Note:- Cushites are the earliest groups to have settled in Kenya. For example, there was constant warfare between the Somali and the Oromo. The next group was the Nilotics, who emerged from Nile Valley. In any case, many more migrations occurred subsequent to the first arrivals, the latest in the mid-1900s (the Burji from Ethiopia), which makes tracing the exact ancestry of any of these peoples a confusing and probably pointless exercise. The Southern Cushites . Question: "Who were the Cushites?" Kamba tribe. The main Bantu groups of Kenya are the: 1. The Southern Cushites were the second-earliest inhabitants of Kenya after the indigenous hunter-gatherer groups, and the first of the Cushitic-speaking peoples to migrate from their homeland in the Horn of Africa about 2,000 years ago. Embu 5. Mijikenda Niloticethnic groups include the: 1. They came to be after intermarriages between the Cushites, Bantus, Arabs, Hindi, Portuguese, and Indonesian who gave rise to a new culture, people, and language. However, there's a lot of academic dispute about this, with some 'experts' claiming a Cushitic presence in northeastern Kenya as long ago as 7000 BC (ie. Orma 7. Burji Dassenich 5. Recent archaeological research conducted west of Lake Turkana, Kenya has shed new light on the prehistory of eastern Cushitic and Nilotic speakers in East Africa. The Eastern Cushites include the Oromo and the Somali, of which the Somali are the most recent arrivals to Kenya, having first come from Somalia only a few centuries ago. The Southern Cushites were the second earliest inhabitants of Kenya after the indigenous Bushman hunter-gatherer groups, and the first of the Cushitic-speaking people to migrate from their homeland in the Horn of Africa about 2000 years ago. Form a significant minority of about 2 %, mostly represented by Oromo and Somali speakers population. In Moyale and Marsabit districts who emerged from Nile Valley Province ( formerly known as Northern Frontier District ). 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