Kalenjin
Encyclopedia
Nilotic
Nilotic people or Nilotes, in its contemporary usage, refers to some ethnic groups mainly in South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, and northern Tanzania, who speak Nilotic languages, a large sub-group of the Nilo-Saharan languages...
origin living in the Great Rift Valley
Great Rift Valley
The Great Rift Valley is a name given in the late 19th century by British explorer John Walter Gregory to the continuous geographic trench, approximately in length, that runs from northern Syria in Southwest Asia to central Mozambique in South East Africa...
in western Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
and eastern Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
. The Kalenjin population is estimated at roughly 4.4 million. There are several smaller tribal groupings within the Kalenjin: Elgeyo
Elgeyo
The Elgeyo are an ethnic group that is part the larger Kalenjin ethnic group of nilotic origin. They live near Eldoret, Kenya in the highlands of the Keiyo District...
, Endorois, Kipsigis, Marakwet
Marakwet
Marakwet is a corruption of Markweta. It is a tribe of the Kalenjin people, with an estimated population of 200 000. It is made of the clans Almoo, Cherangany , Endoow, Markweta , Sombirir and Kiptaani who presently predominantly live in Marakwet District in the North Rift Valley Province of Kenya...
, Nandi, Pokot
Pokot
The Pokot people live in the West Pokot and Baringo Districts of Kenya and in eastern Karamoja in Uganda. They speak Pökoot, language of the Southern Nilotic language family...
, Sabaot, Terik, Tugen
Tugen
Tugen may also refer to Tugen Hills in KenyaThe Tugen are a branch of the Kalenjin community and they occupy the districts of Baringo and Koibatek in Rift Valley, Kenya. Daniel arap Moi, the second president of Kenya was from the Tugen branch...
and Sebei
Sebei
Sebei is an ethnic group of Uganda and Sudan. They speak Sebei, a Nilotic language. Many members of this ethnic group live in Kapchorwa District of Uganda....
.
They are pastoralists and are believed to have migrated to their present location from Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
2,000 years ago.
Until the early 1950s the Kenyan peoples now known as the Kalenjin did not have a common name; they were usually referred to as the 'Nandi-speaking tribes' by scholars and administration officials, a practice that did not immediately come to a halt after the adoption of the common name 'Kalenjin' (cf. Evans-Pritchard 1965).
In the late 1940s and the early 1950s, several Nandi-speaking peoples united to assume the common name 'Kalenjin', a Nandi expression meaning I say (to you). Due to this effort, the peoples were transformed into a major ethnic group in Kenya. The Kalenjin make up about 12% of Kenya's population nowadays, i.e., 4.4 million out of a total population of Kenya of 37 million. The adoption of the name Kalenjin also involved a standardization of the different dialects of Nandi.
The languages of the Kenyan Kalenjin peoples are classified under the language family of Kalenjin languages
Kalenjin languages
The Kalenjin languages are a group of twelve related Southern Nilotic languages spoken in Kenya, eastern Uganda and northern Tanzania. The term Kalenjin comes from a Nandi expression meaning 'I say '...
, which also encompasses languages spoken in Tanzania (e.g. Akie
Akie
The Akie are an ethnic and linguistic group based in Tanzania. In 2000 the Akie population was counted to number 5,268 . The Akie, like other hunter-gatherer peoples in Kenya and Tanzania, are sometimes called Dorobo or Wandorobo...
) and Uganda (e.g. Kupsabiny). Due to this even broader use of the term 'Kalenjin', it is common practice in linguistic literature to refer to the languages of the Kenyan Kalenjin peoples as the 'Nandi languages'.
International Athletic Distinction
The Kalenjin have been called by some "the running tribe." Since the mid-1960s, Kenyan men have earned the largest share of major honors in international athleticsAthletics (track and field)
Athletics is an exclusive collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking...
at distances from 800 meters to the marathon; the vast majority of these Kenyan running stars have been Kalenjin. From 1980 on, about 40% of the top honors available to men in international athletics at these distances (Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
medals, World Championships
IAAF World Championships in Athletics
The World Championships in Athletics is an event organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations . Originally, it was organised every four years, but this changed in 1991, and it has since been organised biennially.-History:...
medals, and World Cross Country Championships honors) have been earned by Kalenjin. In recent years, Kenyan women have become a major presence in international athletics at the distances; most of these women are also Kalenjin. Amby Burfoot of Runner's World, stated that the odds of Kenya achieving the success they did at the 1988 Olympics was above 1: 160 billion. Kenya had an even more successful Olympics in 2008; documented in Toby Tanser's 'More Fire' book; How to run the Kenyan Way.