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A part of Eastern Africa, the territory of what is now Kenya has seen human habitation since the beginning of the Lower Paleolithic. The Bantu expansion from a West African centre of dispersal reached the area by the 1st millennium AD. With the borders of the modern state at the crossroads of the Bantu, Nilo-Saharan and Afro-Asiatic ethno-linguistic areas of Africa, Kenya is a truly multi-ethnic state.
Swahili, also known by its native name Kiswahili, is a Bantu language and the native language of the Swahili people. It is a lingua franca of the African Great Lakes region and other parts of East and Southern Africa, including Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, some parts of Malawi, Somalia, Zambia, Mozambique, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Comorian, spoken in the Comoros Islands, is sometimes considered a dialect of Swahili, although other authorities consider it a distinct language. Sheng is a mixture of Swahili and English commonly spoken in Kenya and parts of Uganda. Swahili has a 16-20% Arabic loanwords in the language, including the word swahili, from Arabic sawāḥilī. The Arabic loanwords date from the contacts of Arabian traders with the Bantu inhabitants of the east coast of Africa over many centuries. Under Arab trade influence, Swahili emerged as a lingua franca used by Arab traders and Bantu peoples of the East African Coast.
Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country in Eastern Africa. At 580,367 square kilometres (224,081 sq mi), Kenya is the world's 48th largest country by total area. With a population of more than 47.6 million people in the 2019 census, Kenya is the 29th most populous country. Kenya's capital and largest city is Nairobi, while its oldest city and first capital is the coastal city of Mombasa. Kisumu City is the third largest city and also an inland port on Lake Victoria. Other important urban centres include Nakuru and Eldoret. As of 2020, Kenya is the third largest economy in sub-Saharan Africa after Nigeria and South Africa. Kenya is bordered by South Sudan to the northwest, Ethiopia to the north, Somalia to the east, Uganda to the west, Tanzania to the south, and the Indian Ocean to the southeast.
The Kabiye, also known as Kabye, Kabre, Cabrai', are a people living in the north central mountains and northern plains of Togo. They speak the Kabiye language. The Kabye are primarily known for farming and cultivation of harsh, dry, infertile lands of Togo. They grow cotton, millet and yams.
The Swahili people are a Bantu ethnic group inhabiting East Africa. Members of this ethnicity primarily reside on the Swahili coast, in an area encompassing the Zanzibar archipelago, littoral Kenya, the Tanzania seaboard, northern Mozambique, the Comoros Islands, and Northwest Madagascar. The name Swahili is derived from Arabic: سواحل, romanized: Sawāhil, lit. 'coasts'. Swahili people speak the language Kiswahili. Modern Standard Swahili, derived from the Kiunguja dialect of Zanzibar, has been greatly influenced by Arabic; there are an enormous number of Arabic loanwords in the language. Other, older dialects like Kimrima and Kitumbatu have far fewer Arabic loanwords, indicative of the language's fundamental Bantu nature. Kiswahili served as coastal East Africa's lingua franca and trade language from the ninth century onward. Zanzibari traders' intensive push into the African interior from the late eighteenth century induced the adoption of Swahili as a common language throughout much of East Africa. Thus, Kiswahili is the most spoken African language though it is used by far more than just the Waswahili themselves.
Kenya is a multilingual country. The Bantu Swahili language and English, the latter being inherited from colonial rule, are widely spoken as lingua franca. They serve as the two official working languages. Including second-language speakers, there are more speakers of Swahili than English in Kenya.
Diani Beach is a major beach on the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya. It is located 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of Mombasa, in Kwale County.
Wasini Island lies in southeast Kenya 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) off the coast of the Indian Ocean, 75 kilometres (47 mi) south of Mombasa, and 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) opposite the harbour of the village Shimoni. It is approximately 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) long and 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) across. the name "wasini mpunguti" came from the early inhabitants who originally were the Chinese they were short Chinese, hence the name wasini mpunguti which to the locals, means short Chinese. The island has only footpaths of sharp old coral or sand. There are no cars, carts or bicycles. Cargo is transported by foot or by a wheelbarrow with a solid tyre. Transport is over the paths, or via the beaches, mainly consisting of coral and only passable with low tide, or by boat over the sea. Before 1963, in the British colonial time, there was an airstrip in the lagoon situated longitudinal south on the island; only small parts of tarmac are reminders of this history.
The Chonyi, also referred to as Achonyi, are one of the smaller tribes of the Mijikenda on the coast of Kenya.
In many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, the use of music is not limited to entertainment: it serves a purpose to the local community and helps in the conduct of daily routines. Traditional African music supplies appropriate music and dance for work and for religious ceremonies of birth, naming, rites of passage, marriage and funerals. The beats and sounds of the drum are used in communication as well as in cultural expression.
The Segeju are an ethnic and linguistic group from Mkinga District, Tanga Region, Tanzania, between the city of Tanga and the Kenyan border. The people are historically related to the Dhaiso. In 2003 the Segeju population was estimated to number fewer than 15,000, with fewer than 7,000 speaking the (ki)Segeju language.. The Segeju have kinship relations with the Digo people, who are part of the nine tribes of the Mijikenda. The Segeju live in two areas namely the coastal and the highlands of the Usambaras. Those that live in the Usambara call their language Dahisu and call themselves Segeju.
The Sultanate of Zanzibar, also known as the Zanzibar Sultanate, was an Islamic state controlled by the Sultan of Zanzibar, in place between 1856 and 1964. The Sultanate's territories varied over time, and at their greatest extent spanned all of present-day Kenya and the Zanzibar Archipelago of the Swahili Coast. After a decline, the state controlled only Zanzibar and a 16-kilometre-wide (10 mi) strip along the Kenyan coast, with the interior of Kenya controlled by the British Kenya Colony.
Tumbatu Island is the third-largest island making up the Zanzibar Archipelago, part of Tanzania in East Africa. The island is located off the north-west coast of Zanzibar's main island, also known as Unguja.
The Shirazi people, also known as Mbwera, are an ethnic group inhabiting the Swahili coast and the nearby Indian ocean islands. They are particularly concentrated on the islands of Zanzibar, Pemba and Comoros. A number of Shirazi legends proliferated along the East African coast, most involving a named or unnamed Persian prince marrying a Swahili princess. Modern academics reject the authenticity of the primarily Persian origin claim. They point to the relative rarity of Persian customs and speech, lack of documentary evidence of Shia Islam in the Muslim literature on the Swahili Coast, and instead a historic abundance of Sunni Arab-related evidence. The documentary evidence, like the archaeological, "for early Persian settlement is likewise completely lacking.". The Shirazi are notable for helping spread Islam on the Swahili Coast, their role in the establishment of the southern Swahili sultanates like Mozambique and Angoche, their influence in the development of the Swahili language, and their opulent wealth. The East African coastal area and the nearby islands served as their commercial base.
Bajuni (Kibajuni), also known as Tikulu (Tikuu), is a variety of Swahili spoken by the Bajuni people who inhabit the tiny Bajuni Islands and coastal Kenya, in addition to parts of southern Somalia, where they constitute a minority ethnic group. Maho (2009) considers it a distinct dialect. Nurse & Hinnebusch (1993) classify it as a Northern Dialect of Swahili.
Bantu peoples are the speakers of Bantu languages, comprising several hundred indigenous ethnic groups in sub-Saharan Africa, spread over a vast area from Central Africa across the African Great Lakes to Southern Africa.
Kaya is a sacred forest of the Mijikenda people in the former Coast Province of Kenya. The kaya forest is considered to be an intrinsic source of ritual power and the origin of cultural identity; it is also a place of prayer for members of the particular ethnic group. The settlement, ritual centre, and fortified enclosure associated with the forest are also part of the kaya. In the present day, the kaya is also referred to as a traditional organizational unit of the Mijikenda. Eleven of the approximately 30 separate kaya have been grouped together and inscribed as the Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Shungwaya is an origin myth of the Mijikenda peoples. Traditions known collectively as the "Shungwaya myth" describe a series of migrations of Bantu peoples dating to the 12th-17th centuries from a region to the north of the Tana River. These Bantu migrants were held to have been speakers of Sabaki Bantu languages. Other Bantu ethnic groups, smaller in number, are also suggested to have been part of the migration. From Shungwaya, the Mount Kenya Bantu are then proposed to have broke away and migrated from there some time before the Oromo onslaught. Shungwaya appears to have had its heyday as a Bantu settlement area between perhaps the 12th and the 15th centuries, after which it was subjected to a full-scale invasion of Cushitic-speaking Oromo peoples from the Horn of Africa. From the whole corpus of these traditions, it has been argued that Shungwaya comprised a large, multi-ethnic community.
Jambo is a Swahili greeting or salutation. It is similar in meaning to the English word Hello.
References
- ↑ Trillo, Richard (2002). Rough Guide to Kenya. Rough Guides. p. 513. ISBN 1-85828-859-2.
- ↑ Allen, James De Vere (1993). Swahili Origins: Swahili Culture & the Shungwaya Phenomenon. James Currey Publishers. p. 171. ISBN 0-85255-075-8.
