Kĩkũyũ

The kĩkũyũ (also spelled gĩkũyũ) are the largest ethnic group in Kenya, comprising a population of more than 5 million people, 20% of the total Kenya. They live in the interior lands, between the Mount Kenya area and the Great Rift Valley in the west. Their ethnic language is Gĩkũyũ.

Some notable kĩkũyũ include the current president of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, as well as the first post-independence president Jomo Kenyatta. Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Muta Maathai and writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o are also from the Kĩkũyũ people.

Origins

The Kĩkũyũ are believed to have arrived in Kenya from the north at the beginning of the 16th century. They were originally hunter-gatherers, but also practiced nomadic herding. Their social organization is based on clans and patrilineal lineage. Social cohesion is maintained thanks to age classes.

History

Although the Kĩkũyũ had traditionally maintained good relations with their neighbors the Maasai, with whom they maintained close commercial ties, colonialism disrupted this order. Starting in the 1880s, the United Kingdom settled on the coast and began the construction of a railway from the coast to Lake Victoria, crossing the Kĩkũyũ lands. Many lands were expropriated for the construction of the railway. This fact was one of the causes of deep Kĩkũyũ dissatisfaction with the British colonial government.

The kĩkũyũ in colonial times

The Kĩkũyũ were the most active ethnic group in the struggle for Kenya's independence. In the 1920s, the Kikuyu Central Association was formed, a political organization that sought the independence of Kenya in which the later first president Jomo Kenyatta was active.

Most of the Mau Mau rebels were also Kĩkũyũ, including their leader Dedan Kǐmathi.

The kĩkũyũ after independence

Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of Kenya, was kĩkũyũ. Kenya's third president, Mwai Kǐbakǐ, winner of the 2002 elections, is also Kĩkũyũ.

The famous Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o is also Kĩkũyũ, and currently writes exclusively in the Kĩkũyũ language and Swahili.

Language

The Kĩkũyũ speak a language of the same name, which belongs to the northeastern group of Bantu languages.

Religion

In the traditional monotheistic Kĩkũyũ religion, there is a single god, called Ngai (also worshiped by the Maasai and the Kamba), who lives on top of Mount Kenya, called Kǐrǐnyaga by the Kĩkũyũ.

• Wikimedia Commons hosts a multimedia category K Kkparey.
• Mûgî nî mûtaare
• Kikuyu Language: A Simple Analysis
• Kikuyu Names