Marama tribe

Last updated

The Marama, also known as Abamarama, are a Luhya tribe occupying Marama Location in Kakamega District of the western province of Kenya. The town of Butere is located in west Marama and is a significant trading centre in Kakamega. They are said to have assimilated the Abashikunga sub tribe.

Contents

History and culture

Tindi Mwale. Tindi Mwale.jpg
Tindi Mwale.

They are a calm people, welcoming and quite organized. Main activities include crop farming and small scale business. The current member of parliament (2018) for the area is Tindi Mwale, a Marama. The first Governor of Kakamega, His Excellency Opararanya, also hails from the community.

Migrations

Marama people are said to have come to Kenya through Uganda. After the collapse of the Chwezi Empire of Uganda, a man named Wamoyi migrated to Tiriki with his three sons (Wanga, Khabiakala and Eshifumbi). Wanga migrated to Emanga, Eshifumbi migrated to Emahondo (he is the ancestor of the Abamuyira and Abakakoya clans). Angulu (Wanga's nephew) migrated to Butere. His offspring founded the Abakhuli, Abashiambitsi, Abakhongo and Abaseta. Martin Shikuku was from Abarecheya. With over 40% of the population, Abamukhula is the dominant clan with several subclans and they are the “real” Abamarama. Other big clans are the Abashirotsa, Abatere, Abashieni, Abamanyulia, Abalukhoba.


See also

Sources

Related Research Articles

Kakamega is a town in western Kenya lying about 30 km north of the Equator. It is the headquarters of Kakamega County that has a population of 1,867,579. The town has an urban population of 107,227.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luhya people</span> Number of ethnic groups in Kenya

The Luhya are a Bantu people and the second largest ethnic group in Kenya. The Luhya belong to the larger linguistic stock known as the Bantu. The Luhya are located in western Kenya and Uganda. They are divided into 20 culturally and linguistically united clans. Once known as the Kavirondo, multiple small tribes in North Nyanza came together under the new name Baluhya between 1950 and 1960. The Bukusu are the largest Luhya subtribe and account for almost 30% of the entire Luhya population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bukusu</span> Tribe living in Kenya

The Bukusu people are one of the 17 Kenyan tribes of the Luhya Bantu people of East Africa residing mainly in the counties of Bungoma and Trans Nzoia. They are the largest tribe of the Luhya nation, with 1,188,963 identifying as Bukusu in the 2019 Kenyan census. They speak the Bukusu dialect.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suba people (Kenya)</span> Bantu group of people in Kenya

The Suba (Abasuba) are a heterogeneous Bantu group of people in Kenya with an amalgamation of clans drawn from their main tribes Ganda people, Luhya people, and Soga who speak the Suba language that is closely similar to the Ganda language spare some lexical items borrowed from Luo. Their population is estimated at 157,787, with substantial fluent speakers. They migrated to Kenya from Uganda and settled on the two Lake Victoria islands of Rusinga and Mfangano, others also settled on the mainland areas including Gembe, Gwassi, Kaksingri of Suba South and Migori and are believed to be the last tribe to have settled in Kenya. The immigrants to present-day Subaland trace their ancestry among Ganda people, Luhya people, Soga people, and the Luo people. The evidence supporting this is the fact that some Suba groups speak languages similar to Luganda, Lusoga and the Luhya. The Suba groups tracing ancestry among the Kenyan tribes preceded those groups from Uganda in present-day Subaland and are the numerous and influential ones. Those groups from Uganda are mostly concentrated in Rusinga and Mfangano islands with small pockets of them being found in mainland Kenya. Linguistically, the Suba are highly influenced by the neighbouring Luo, to the point of a language shift having taken place among large portions of the mainland Suba. As a result, their own language has been classified as endangered. Despite this language shift, the Suba have kept a distinct ethnic identity. The Rusinga Festival is held in December of every year as a cultural festival to celebrate and preserve Suba culture and language.

Bukusu is a dialect of the Masaba language spoken by the Bukusu tribe of the Luhya people of western Kenya. It is one of several ethnically Luhya dialects; however, it is more closely related to the Gisu dialect of Masaaba in eastern Uganda than it is to other languages spoken by the Luhya.

Luhya is a Bantu language of western Kenya.

Matungu is a small town in the Western Province of Kenya. It is located in the Kakamega County.

Mumias is a town in Kakamega County of Kenya. The town has an urban population of 116,358 and is the second largest town in Kakamega County. Mumias was the centre of the Mumias District. The town is linked by road to Kakamega, Busia (west), Bungoma (north), Butere, Luanda, Maseno and Kisumu (south). Two major rivers, River Nzoia and River Lusumu pass close to the town.

Butere is a town in Kakamega County, which was formerly part of the Western Province of Kenya. According to 2009 Kenya National Census, it has an urban population of 4,725. Until 2010, Butere served as the capital of the former Butere/Mumias District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maragoli</span> Kenyan people

The Maragoli, or Logoli (Ava-Logooli), are now the second-largest ethnic group of the 6 million Luhya nation in Kenya, numbering around 2.1 million, or 15% of the Luhya people according to the last Kenyan census. Their language is called Logoli, Lulogooli, Ululogooli, or Maragoli. The name Maragoli probably emerged later on or after interaction of the people with missionaries of the Quaker Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Idakho</span>

The Idakho(Abitakho, Idakho, Abidakho) are a Luhya sub-group that reside primarily in the fertile Kakamega District, Western Kenya. Idakho is administratively known as Ikolomani, Ikolomani being the only Constituency in the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tachoni</span> Ethnic group of western Kenya

The Tachoni is one of the tribes that occupy Kakamega County in the western part of Kenya, known for its gallant defense of the Chetambe in 1895 when resisting British rule. Tachoni people were masters at building forts such as Chetambe, Lumboka, and Kiliboti. It was their defiance of colonialism that led to the colonial government to put the entire region occupied by the Tachoni under administration of paramount chiefs drawn from Bunyala and Wanga communities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tiriki</span> Clan in Western Kenya

Tiriki Clan

The Kabras, or Kabarasi, are a subtribe of the Luhya people of Kenya. They reside in Malava in the Kabras Division of Kakamega District, which is neighboured by the Isukha, Banyala, Tsotso, and the Tachoni. The exact origin of the Luhya people is currently disputed, but there are historians who believe that the group came from Bethlehem and migrated to their present-day location by way of the so-called Great Bantu Migration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khayo</span> Ethnic group

The Khayo is a sub tribe of the Luhya people of Kenya. They reside in Busia County, by the Kenya-Uganda border. Their Luhya neighbors are the Samia, Marachi, Wanga and Bukusu. The Bakhayo border the Bukusu on the East, the Republic of Uganda and Samias on the West, the Marachi on the South and the Wanga on the South East. On their north, they are bordered by the Iteso, a non-Luhya Nilotic people of Kenya.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kisa tribe</span> Tribe in Kenya

The Kisa, also known as Abakisa or Abashisa, are one of the sixteen tribes of the Luhya nation of Kenya. They occupy the Kisa area within the Khwisero division of Butere-Mumias district. The Kisa are sandwiched between the Marama of Butere, the Idakho of Kakamega and the Nyore of Vihiga district.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nabongo Mumia</span> Leader of Wanga kingdom and official in colonial kenya

Nabongo Mumia Shiundu was a prince who became 17th King of the Wanga Kingdom, a pre-colonial kingdom in Kenya and Uganda prominent for being a centralised, highly organised kingdom and the most advanced form of government in terms of politics, economy and military in pre-colonial Kenya. He later became paramount chief of an expansive region of Kenya and Uganda at the beginning of British imposition of colonial rule in East Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wanga Kingdom</span> Kingdom of Luhya people in Kenya

The Wanga kingdom is a Bantu kingdom within Kenya, consisting of the Wanga (Abawanga) tribe of the Luhya people (Abaluyia). At its peak the kingdom covered an expansive area from Jinja in west to Naivasha in the East African Rift. The Wanga kingdom was a significant African empire and the most organized structure of government in pre-colonial Kenya politically, economically, and militarily.

Mwale Medical and Technology City is a community-owned sustainable metropolis located in Butere Sub-county, Kakamega, Kenya. It is centered around a large medical complex with a 5,000-patient capacity Hamptons Hospital, with a research and innovation park in the Plaza district. It also has a large industrial district anchored by a solar power plant. Three other districts have residential homes with a 36-hole golf course, a commercial shopping center with mall, supermarkets, and hotels, and an airport district for evacuating patients to the hospital via a planned cable car. The city costs US$2 billion. It is "a golden standard for new green Cities' development worldwide." MMTC serves as a successful template for other new cities due to the way it has integrated and uplifted the local community and catalyzed economic growth in the region.

Nabongo Wanga was the founding father of the today's Wanga subtribe of the Luhya tribe of Kenya. He was born around 1050 A.D. His reign was between 1100 A.D. to his death around 1140 A.D.

References

[1]

  1. "Updates" (PDF). Releifweb.int. Retrieved 23 August 2017.