The Kipsigis or Kipsigiis are a sub-tribe under the Kalenjins who are a Nilotic tribe in Kenya. They are contingent of the Kalenjin ethnic group and speak Kipsigis language, a tonal language which is closely related to a group of languages collectively known as Kalenjin language. It is observed that the Kipsigis and an aboriginal people native to Kenya known as Ogiek have a merged identity. The Kipsigis are the most numerous of the Kalenjin. The latest census population in Kenya put the Kipsigis at 1.972 Million speakers, accounting for 45% of all Kalenjin speaking people. They occupy the highlands of Kericho stretching from Timboroa to Mara River in the south, the west of Mau Escarpment in the east to Kebeneti in the west. They also occupy parts of Laikipia, Kitale, Nakuru, Narok, Trans Mara District, Eldoret and Nandi Hills.
The Kalenjin are a group of tribes designated as Highland Nilotes and are descended from Maliri people (thus related to Daasanach of Ethiopia.) The Kalenjin are cousins with Datooga people of Tanzania. In contrast, their designation groups them with other Nilotes including Maasai, Luo, Turkana and Nuer, Dinka among others. They are indigenous to East Africa, residing mainly in what was formerly the Rift Valley Province in Kenya and Eastern slopes of Mount Elgon in Uganda. Upon their arrival in the forest region of Mau, the Kalenjin assimilated the aboriginal hunter-gatherer people known as Okiek. They number 6,358,113 individuals per the Kenyan 2019 census and an estimated 300,000 in Uganda mainly in Kapchorwa, Kween and Bukwo districts. They have been divided into 11 culturally and linguistically related tribes: Kipsigis, Nandi (937,000), Sebei Keiyo, Marakwet, Sabaot (296,000), Pokots, Tugen, Terik, Sengwer, and Ogiek. The Kalenjin speak the Nandi–Markweta languages but can also be inclusive of Akie language in Tanzania and Pokot language spoken in Kenya; all being classified collectively as Kalenjin Language; while in combination with Datooga languages of Tanzania, this cluster is called Southern Nilotic languages.
The Abagusii are a highly diverse East African ethnic group and nation indigenous to Kisii and Nyamira counties of former Nyanza, as well as parts of Kericho and Bomet counties of the former Rift Valley province of Kenya. The Abagusii are unrelated to the Kisi people of Malawi and the Kisii people of West Africa and khosa of South Africa, other than the three communities having similar sounding names. They are a Bantu ethnic group.
The Nandi are part of the Kalenjin, a Nilotic tribe living in East Africa. The Nandi ethnic group live with close association and relation with the Kipsigis tribe. They traditionally have lived and still form the majority in the highland areas of the former Rift Valley Province of Kenya, in what is today Nandi County. They speak the Nandi dialect of the Kalenjin language.
Kericho is the biggest town in Kericho County located in the highlands west of the Kenyan Rift Valley. Standing on the edge of the Mau Forest, Kericho has a warm and temperate climate making it an ideal location for agriculture and in particular, the large scale cultivation of tea.
The Orkoiyot occupied a sacred and special role within the Nandi and Kipsigis people of Kenya. He held the dual roles of chief spiritual and military leader, and had the authority to make decisions regarding security particularly the waging of war. Notable Orkoiik include Kimnyole Arap Turukat, Koitalel Arap Samoei and Barsirian Arap Manyei.
Kimnyole Arap Turkat was the Nandi Orkoiyot who predicted the arrival of Europeans and the railways ; two events that were to forever alter the history of the Nandi.
Litein is a town located in the Kericho County, Kenya. It was previously the capital of the former Buret District. Litein has an urban population of 4,000. The town is along the Kericho-Sotik road. It also has a road link to Bomet.
Bomet is the capital and largest town of Bomet County, Kenya. Bomet town has a total population of 110,963. It is located along the B3 Mai Mahiu-Narok-Kisii road. Bomet city is one of the eight sister cities to Milwaukee.
Nandi County is a county in Kenya in the North Rift, occupying an area of 2,884.4 square kilometres. Its capital, Kapsabet, is the largest town in the county while other towns include Mosoriot, Tinderet, Kobujoi, Kaiboi, Kabiyet and Nandi Hills. According to a 2019 census, the county had a population of 885,711, made up of a number of Kenyan communities, the majority of whom belong to the native tribe called Nandi.
Kipkalya Kiprono Kones was a Kenyan politician who served as a minister during the 1990s and was briefly Minister of Roads in 2008. He was a member of the National Assembly of Kenya from 1988 to 2008.
Joyce Cherono Abonyo was a Kenyan politician who served as the second governor of Bomet County from 2017 until her death on 29 July 2019. She was a Member of Parliament representing Sotik constituency, before she was elected to the gubernatorial seat.
Koitaleel Arap Samoei was an Orkoiyot who led the Nandi people from 1890 until his assassination in 1905. The Orkoiyot occupied a sacred and special role within the Nandi and Kipsigis people of Kenya. He held the dual roles of chief spiritual and military leader, and had the authority to make decisions regarding security matters particularly the waging of war and negotiating for peace. Arap Samoei was the supreme chief of the Nandi people of Kenya. He led the Nandi resistance against British colonial rule.
Dr. Elisha Kipyegon Taaitta Arap Toweett, also known as Taaitta Arap Toweett, was a scholar, writer, linguist and a Kenyan politician.
Bomet Central is a constituency in Kenya inhabited by the Kipsigis community. It is one of five constituencies in Bomet County. It has a population of 126, 950 as of 2019 and an area of approximately 261.5 km2 (101.0 sq mi).
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 Lumbwa Treaty event took place on 13th October 1889, in Lumbwa in Kericho between the Kipsigis led by Menya Araap Kisiara and the British East Africa administration. It was based on a cultural practice of oath taking in Kipsigis called Mummek or Mummiat or Mumma. Mumma means "to do something impossibly disgusting". It involves two parties taking an oath and invoking a preemptive curse if the oath is to be broken by any party taking the oath. There usually would also be a performance of black magic; and on this particular event a coyote was savored in two halves with each party burying its part and making the oath never to harm each other in any way.
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.
Sotik town is an urban centre situated in Sotik Sub-county within Bomet County in the Western region of Kenya and managed by Sotik Town Council. Initially, it was the home of Mugenik Barngetuny Araap Sitonik, a prominent Kipsigis prophet of the late 19th century. Sotik is a metropolitan town with a majority of the residents from the Kipsigis ethnicity and a minority being from other ethnicities from Kenya including notably, Somalis and Indians. The town is home to Kalenjin music artist Philip Yegon, Kenyan athletes: Paul Kipsiele Koech and Mercy Cherono; and Kenyan politicians: Lorna Laboso and the late Joyce Cherono Laboso.
Raphael Kipchambai arap Tapotuk, better known by the stage name Kipchamba, was a Kalenjin singer-songwriter and musician who rose to popularity in the late 1970s. He specialized in rhumba sung in the Kipsigis dialect of the Kalenjin language. While performing as a singer, Kipchamba preferred wearing a suit and presenting himself in a formal slant.
