Enganglima people

Last updated

The Enganglima were a community that occupied and were said to dominate the southern and northern plains of present-day Kenya and Tanzania respectively. They were pushed out of their territory in the early 19th century by the Maasai. [1] [2]

Contents

Sources

Ludwig Krapf recorded accounts of the Engánglima from Lemāsěgnǒt whose father was "Engobore, an Mkuafi of the tribe Engánglima" who had "married a woman in the Interior near Oldoinio eibŏr (white mountain)" by whom he got his son, Lemāsěgnǒt. Krapf notes that Engobore resolved to reside at a place called Muasuni which was situated on the upper course of the Pangani river in the vicinity of the kingdom of Usambara when he returned from the interior. Krapf states that "the reason which had induced Engobore to join the nomadic settlement of the Wakuafi tribe Barrabuyu...was because his own tribe Engánglima had during his stay in the interior been nearly annihilated by the wild Masai".

Territory

Krapf noted that the Enganglima territory;

...occupied the vast territory situated between Usambara, Teita and Ukambani...

Ludwig Krapf, 1854 [1]

Thompson wrote of the 'Wa-kwafi' and their territory which by his description is roughly contiguous with Engánglima territory as mentioned by Krapf. Thompson states that;

The original home of the (Wa-kwafi) was the large district lying between Kilimanjaro, Ugono and Parè on the west, and Teita and U-sambara on the east. This large region is known to the Masai as Mbaravui.

Thompson, 1883 [2]

Furthermore, Maasai sources identify the Enganglima as speakers of a Maa language. [3]

Peoples

Krapf's account of his informant alludes to a corporate identity that he refers to as 'Wakuafi' which had within it at least two sections, that he refers to as Engánglima and Barrabuyu. [1]

Conflict

Krapf wrote about conflicts that affected the 'Engánglima' tribe. He notes that they;

...first received a mortal blow from their brethren the Masai, and afterwards from the united forces of the Wakamba, Wanika, Wasuahili and Wateita (and) in consequence of this disastrous catastrophe either disappeared, or retreated to the territory of other Wakuafi in order to escape utter destruction...

Ludwig Krapf, 1854 [1]

According to Thompson's account, a 'series of misfortunes' fell upon the Kwavi about 1830 leading to the eventual collapse of the community. He states that;

In a great war-raid against the Wa-gogo to the south they suffered a severe repulse, and great numbers were slaughtered. The same disaster fell upon them shortly after, in a raid against their brethren of Kisongo...While the Wa-kwafi were in this unhappy plight, the Masai of the plains to the west fell upon them and smote them hip and thigh, and thus broke up and revenged themselves upon the most powerful division of the tribe...

Thompson, 1883 [2]

Diaspora

According to Thompson's narrative, the Kwavi were not entirely annihilated 'for a large division of the clan kept together, and contrived to cut their way through Kikuyu and to reach Lyikipia where they settled. Another section crossed the meridional trough and reached the opposite half of the plateau in Guas' Ngishu'. [2]

In both districts, they found superb grazing-grounds and plenty of elbow-room, and there for a time they remained quietly, and increased rapidly in numbers.

Joseph Thompson [2]

According to his account these conflicts formed part of the Iloikop wars.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johann Ludwig Krapf</span>

Johann Ludwig Krapf was a German missionary in East Africa, as well as an explorer, linguist, and traveler. Krapf played an important role in exploring East Africa with Johannes Rebmann. They were the first Europeans to see Mount Kenya with the help of Akamba who dwelled at its slopes and Kilimanjaro. Ludwig Krapf visited Ukambani, the homeland of the Kamba people, in 1849 and again in 1850. He successfully translated the new testament to the Kamba language. Krapf also played a key role in exploring the East African coastline, especially in Mombasa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Thomson (explorer)</span> British geologist and explorer

Joseph Thomson was a British geologist and explorer who played an important part in the Scramble for Africa. Thomson's gazelle and Thomson's Falls, Nyahururu are named after him. Excelling as an explorer rather than an exact scientist, he avoided confrontations among his porters or with indigenous peoples, neither killing any native nor losing any of his men to violence. His motto is often quoted to be "He who goes gently, goes safely; he who goes safely, goes far."

The Kwavi people were a community commonly spoken of in the folklore of a number of Kenyan and Tanzanian communities that inhabited regions of south-central Kenya and north-central Tanzania at various points in history. The conflicts between the Uasin Gishu/Masai and Kwavi form much of the literature of what are now known as the Iloikop wars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arusha people</span> Tanzanian ethnic group

The Arusha people are a Bantu ethnic and indigenous group based in the western slopes of mount Meru in Arusha District of Arusha Region in Tanzania. The Maasai regard the Arusha people as related as they were once a part of the immigrant Maasai society that arrived in Arusha in the 18th century from Kenya. The Arusha people are not to be confused by Arusha residents who are Tanzanian people of different ethnic backgrounds that are born and reside within the borders of the Arusha Region.

Dagoretti is an area in the western part of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. It straddles the Nairobi and Kiambu County boundary with the Dagoretti Road Reserve marking the psychological border point heading Northerly and North-Easterly. Administratively it is one of eight divisions of Nairobi. The Dagoretti division is divided into six Locations. The former electoral Dagoretti Constituency had the same boundaries as the now defuct Dagoretti division.

The Lumbwa were a pastoral community which inhabited southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. The term Lumbwa has variously referred to a Kalenjin-speaking community, portions of the Maa-speaking Loikop communities since the mid-19th century, and to the Kalenjin-speaking Kipsigis community for much of the late 19th to mid-20th centuries.

The Loikop people, also known as Wakuafi, Kor, Mu-Oko, Muoko/Ma-Uoko and Mwoko, were a tribal confederacy who inhabited present-day Kenya in the regions north and west of Mount Kenya and east and south of Lake Turkana. The area is roughly conterminous with Samburu and Laikipia Counties and portions of Baringo, Turkana and (possibly) Meru Counties. The group spoke a common tongue related to the Maasai language, and typically herded cattle. The Loikop occasionally interacted with the Cushitic, Bantu, and Chok peoples. The confederacy had dispersed by the 21st century.

The Settlement of Nandi was the historical process by which the various communities that today make up the Nandi people of Kenya settled in Nandi County. It is captured in the folklore of the Nandi as a distinct process composed of a series of inward migrations by members from various Kalenjin ortinwek.

The Chok were a society that lived on the Elgeyo Escarpment in Kenya.

Mutai is a term used by the Maa-speaking communities of Kenya to describe a period of wars, usually triggered by disease and/or drought affecting widespread areas of the Rift Valley region of Kenya. According to Samburu and Maasai tradition, two periods of Mutai occurred during the nineteenth century. The second Mutai lasted from the 1870s to the 1890s.

The Parakuyo people, are a community of about thirty thousand pastoralists who live scattered across Tanzania today. They are the principal speakers of the Kwavi language.

The Iloikop wars were a series of wars between the Maasai and a community referred to as Kwavi and later between Maasai and alliance of reformed Kwavi communities. These were pastoral communities that occupied large tracts of East Africa's savanna's during the late 18th and 19th centuries. These wars occurred between c.1830 and 1880.

The Chemwal people were a Kalenjin-speaking society that inhabited regions of western and north-western Kenya as well as the regions around Mount Elgon at various times through to the late 19th century. The Nandi word Sekker was used by Pokot elders to describe one section of a community that occupied the Elgeyo escarpment and whose territory stretched across the Uasin Gishu plateau. This section of the community appears to have neighbored the Karamojong who referred to them as Siger, a name that derived from the Karimojong word esigirait. The most notable element of Sekker/Chemwal culture appears to have been a dangling adornment of a single cowrie shell attached to the forelock of Sekker women, at least as of the late 1700s and early 1800s.

The Uasin Gishu people were a community that inhabited a plateau located in western Kenya that today bears their name. They are said to have arisen from the scattering of the Kwavi by the Maasai in the 1830s. They were one of two significant sections of that community that stayed together. The other being the Laikipiak with whom they would later ally against the Maasai.

The Siger people were a community commonly spoken of in the folklore of a number of Kenyan communities that inhabited regions of northwestern Kenya at various points in history.

The Laikipiak people were a community that inhabited the plateau located on the eastern escarpment of the Rift Valley in Kenya that today bears their name. They are said to have arisen from the scattering of the Kwavi by the Maasai in the 1830s.They were one of two significant sections of that community that stayed together. The other being the Uasin Gishu with whom they would later ally against the Maasai. Many Maa-speakers in Laikipia County today claim Laikipiak ancestry, namely those among the Ilng'wesi, Ildigirri and Ilmumonyot sub-sections of the Laikipia Maasai.

Neiterkob is a figure from the mythology of the Maa-speaking communities, most notably the Maasai in the present day. He is perceived as having a superior intelligence and as having the ability to intercede with Engai or Enkai on behalf of man.

Mbatian was a Maasai laibon known for prophesies that he made and consequent victories by Maasai warriors that were attributed to him.

In June 1905, between 900 and 1850 ethnic Kipsigis men, women and children were killed in a punitive expedition dubbed Sotik expedition by the colonial British government forces led by Major Pope Hennessy. This was as a result of a raid by the Kipsigis on the Maasai which saw the Kipsigis part with Maasai cows, women and children to which the government demanded redress and return of the spoils of the raid but to which the Kipsigis returned in insults and turned down the warning. In effect, this led to alienation of tribal land to what would become part of Kenyan White Highlands.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Krapf, Johann Ludwig (1854). Vocabulary of the Engutuk Eloikob Or of the Language of the Wakuafi-nation in the Interior of Equatorial Africa. Austria: Fues. pp. 4–5.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Thompson, Joseph (1887). Through Masai land: a journey of exploration among the snowclad volcanic mountains and strange tribes of eastern equatorial Africa. Being the narrative of the Royal Geographical Society's Expedition to mount Kenia and lake Victoria Nyanza, 1883-1884. London: S. Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington. p.  241.
  3. Bernsten, John T. (1980). "The Enemy Is Us: Eponymy in the Historiography of the Maasai". History in Africa. 7: 1–21. doi:10.2307/3171654 via Cambridge.org.