Kisii people

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Kisii (also known as Gusii or Kosova) is a Bantu tribe which inhabits Kisii District in Nyanza, western Kenya.

Kisii town is located in the Nyanza Provine in Western Kenya. It is home to the Gusii people of Kenya who are a Bantu tribe. According to the 1979 census, Kisii District had a population of 588,000.

[edit] Origin Of Kisii

The Kisii People along with other Bantu speaking groups are believed to have originated from Zaire (presently known as the Democratic Republic of Congo). The migration is believed to have been due to overpopulation, food scarcity,inter-tribal conflicts and exhausted soil for farming. As these Bantu People migrated from Zaire, they split up into different groups with the Kisii ending up in Nyanza Province near Lake Victoria.They ended up in a geographical location unique among other Bantu groups in the sense that they were surrounded on all sides by hostile nilotic communities comprising the Luo, Kipsigis, Nandi and Maasai.As a result, they were always under siege. This prompted them to develop a war-like culture that was primarily designed to ensure their survival. In essence all their wars were wars of survival against rampaging Luo, Maasai, Kipsigis and Nandi raiding bands searching for cattle.To this day, they have a reputation of being tough,resilient and very resourceful.This fact, coupled with rich soils have placed them among the more developed parts of East Africa with rolling tea estates, coffee and banana groves. Their lands are currently overpopulated despite their rolling fertile hills spurring immigration to other cities in Kenya and a substantial representation in the United States especially in major hub cities like Houston, Atlanta, Jersey City, Dallas and St. Paul-Mineapolis. The hard cash that flows from the diaspora has spawned economic prosperity that boggles the mind in its depth and magnitude in a locale lacking in politically motivated 'hand-me downs'. Names like Bogonko, Osebe, Bosire, Moseti, Moraa, Nyaboke, Mogaka and others are common family names just like Smith and Johnson in the Anglo-Saxon cultures. On the other hand, the Kikuyu, Kamba and other Bantu tribes in Kenya continued the hunt for richer soil for irrigation and moved on toward the west of Kenya. They later settled in the now called Central and Rift Valley Provinces of Kenya.

[edit] Language

They speak the language of Kisii or as commonly known as ekegusii among the native speakers. This language and other Bantu languages are very similar. Most of their phrases are similar or had been derived or acquired in the same manner. The only difference between these languages is that some words have been altered or differently pronounced and given new meanings. The Meru in Eastern province are closely related to the Kisii or Gusii people in language and culture.