Origins of The Abagusii
The Abagusii, like the Abaluyia (Luhya), claim to have come from areas further north. As these Bantu speakers migrated from the Congo, they split up into different groups with the Kisii ending up in Nyanza Province near Lake Victoria. (The Kikuyu, Kamba, and other groups in Kenya continued the hunt for richer soil for farming and moved on eastwards across the Rift valley to their current locations. They later settled in the now-called Central and Rift Valley Provinces of Kenya.)
The Kisii ended up in a geographical location unique among Bantu speaking groups in that they were surrounded on all sides by initially, and later sporadically hostile Nilotic communities of the Luo, Kipsigis, Nandi, and Maasai. Constant sieges resulted in the development of a war-like culture, unlike most Bantu communities, to defend against cattle-raiding neighboring communities. To this day, they have a reputation of being tough, emotionally labile, resilient, and very industrious.
There's strong evidence, however, that periods of peace with neighbouring communities must have led to intermarriages and consequent consanguinity. This is evident in the greatly varied complexion and physique between AbaGusii from different subregions of Gusii. Some clans of the Suba (AbaSoba in EkeGusii) are said to have been completely absorbed by the AbaGUsii. The Bantu community with a great many similarities with the AbaGusii is the Meru (Ameru) from the windward slopes of Mount Kenya, although the Kuria (AbaKuria) share a great deal in common with the AbaGusii in language and culture as well, and a history of intermarriage has led to prohibition of marriage alliances for specific clans of the AbaGusii with some Kuria clans. The KIpsigis, the highland nilotes bordering the AbaGusii on the northern and northeastern frontier affectianately refer to the AbaGusii as kamama (an appellation connoting extensive marriage alliances between the two very dissimilar neighbours).Indeed many Kipsigis can easily point to someone in their lineage (especially a matriarch) from Gusii.
Read more about this topic: Kisii People
Famous quotes containing the words origins of and/or origins:
“Grown onto every inch of plate, except
Where the hinges let it move, were living things,
Barnacles, mussels, water weeds—and one
Blue bit of polished glass, glued there by time:
The origins of art.”
—Howard Moss (b. 1922)
“Lucretius
Sings his great theory of natural origins and of wise conduct; Plato
smiling carves dreams, bright cells
Of incorruptible wax to hive the Greek honey.”
—Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962)