The Kore of Lamu are a small people living on Lamu Island

Lamu Island

Lamu Island is a part of the Lamu Archipelago of Kenya.Lamu Old Town, the principal inhabited part of the island, is one of the oldest and best-preserved Swahili settlements in East Africa. Built in coral stone and mangrove timber, the town is characterized by the simplicity of structural forms...

 on the northern Kenya coast. In 1985 they numbered between 200 and 250 (Curtin 1985). Their history before 1870 lies with the other Maa peoples in central Kenya. After being defeated by the Purko Maasai in the 1870s, the Kore fled to north-eastern Kenya where they were taken captive by Somali

Somali people

Somalis are an ethnic group located in the Horn of Africa, also known as the Somali Peninsula. The overwhelming majority of Somalis speak the Somali language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family...

 people. After functioning for years as clients or slaves in Somali households, they were set free by British imperial forces around the end of the 19th century. Loss of cattle brought them to Lamu island in the second half of the 20th century. They have lost their own language, a Maa

Maa languages

The Maa languages are a group of closely related Eastern Nilotic languages spoken in parts of Kenya and Tanzania by more than a million speakers altogether. They are subdivided into North and South Maa...

 variety, and speak Somali

Somali language

The Somali language is a member of the East Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Its nearest relatives are Afar and Oromo. Somali is the best documented of the Cushitic languages, with academic studies beginning before 1900....

nowadays. They have adopted many Somali customs.