Kenyan ethnicity indicates genetic origins in Kenya. Located at the crossroads of the Horn of Africa to its north, the Swahili Coast to its south, the Great Lakes region to its west, and the Indian Ocean to its east, the Republic of Kenya’s rich history of cultural encounters is only fitting for a country that houses a plethora of ethnicities and cultures in its borders. The 42 ethnic groups which make up the population of Kenya represent almost every major ethnic group found in greater Africa. Various sub-groups of Bantu peoples comprise over 70% of the population, notably the Kikuyu, Luhya, and Kamba tribes. Kenya’s broad Rift Valley region houses subgroups of Nilotic origin, such as the Maasai, Turkana, Samburu, Luo, and Kalenjin tribes, while nomadic pastoralist Cushitic people live in the arid eastern parts of the country. People with Kenyan heritage are also found in the islands near Kenya in the Indian Ocean, including Madagascar, Seychelles, Comoros, and Réunion. Major waves of migrations over the past few decades have resulted in large concentrations of Kenyan people in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia.
Kenyan history
Modern humans have inhabited the region which includes modern Kenya for over 320,000 years. Sometime during the millennia preceding the Common Era, the hunter-gatherer ancestors of Cushitic Kenyans migrated from the Horn of Africa. Nilotic pastoralists arrived around 500 B.C.E., followed shortly by Bantu peoples from West Africa. The Bantu brought along with them technological advancements in agriculture and ironworking, setting the stage for complex society to emerge in Kenya. By the turn of the Common Era, major hubs such as Mombasa, Malindi, and Zanzibar began establishing trade with merchants from the nearby Arabian coast and Persian Gulf, introducing Islam to the region, as well as Arab and Persian elements which influenced Swahili language and culture.
In the tenth century C.E., a Persian prince established the Kilwa Sultanate. At its peak, the sultanate stretched over the entire length of the Swahili coast down to the Mozambique Channel. The Kilwa Sultanate was the major commercial hub of the region, conducting extensive trade with Arabia, Persia, the Indian Ocean islands, and India. By the fifteenth century, the Kilwa Sultanate slipped into decline due to political unrest, allowing the Portuguese India Armadas under Vasco da Gama to assert themselves along the Swahili coast and ultimately depose the Kilwa sultan. In 1689, Saif bin Sultan, the Imam of Oman, defeated the Portuguese in Mombasa, extending his sovereignty over large parts of the Swahili Coast and establishing the Sultanate of Zanzibar.
Under the guise of protecting the large community of Indian merchants in Zanzibar, the British became increasingly involved in the affairs of the island. Following a series of devastating droughts which had wreaked havoc on the island’s economy, and as part of the European “Scramble for Africa,” the British established the East Africa Protectorate in 1895, comprising modern Kenya and Tanzania. In 1920, the East Africa Protectorate was turned into a crown colony under direct British rule, and renamed “Kenya” after the region’s highest peak. Indigenous tribes were increasingly marginalized by European settlers, and Africans were prohibited from direct political participation until the 1940s.
In 1942, members of the Kikuyu, Embu, Meru, and Kamba tribes banded together to fight against British rule, establishing the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA) — known as the Mau Mau. In 1953, the leader of the Mau Mau, Jomo Kenyatta, was arrested and sentenced to 7 years imprisonment. Concurrent to the Mau Mau uprising, the British ceded increasing political rights to Africans: by 1954, the Kenya Legislative Council included European, Asian, and African representatives. In 1957, African council members spearheaded a popular agitation for Jomo Kenyatta’s release from British incarceration. In 1962 Kenyatta was released, becoming the nation’s first prime minister when Kenya gained independence a year later in 1963. In 1964, Kenya became a republic, with Kenyatta serving as its first president.
Under Kenyatta’s presidency, Kenya effectively became a one-party state. This de facto condition was ratified in the constitution by the National Assembly in 1982 during the tenure of Kenyatta’s successor, Daniel Arap Moi. In 1991, the Kenyan parliament annulled the one-party provision of the constitution, and a plethora of new political actors and parties came onto the scene. Moi retained the presidency until 2002, when he was succeeded by Mwai Kibaki. A dispute about the results of the 2007 general election deteriorated into a 7-week long nationwide swirl of violence in which 1,500 people were killed and 600,000 were displaced. A resolution to the conflict was brokered by leaders of neighboring African countries, culminating in an agreement to fundamentally restructure the Kenyan government. Today, Kenya is a presidential representative democratic republic with a multi-party system, and is a member of the East African Community trade bloc.
Kenyan culture
The ethnic, social, and cultural diversity of the many groups which make up the Kenyan population is reflected in the country’s national cuisine. While Kenyan food is highly regional, corn, maize, potatoes, and beans are common to all regions, as are certain dishes, such as ugali (a type of maize flour porridge), sukuma wiki (a dish of collard greens cooked with tomatoes, onions, and mchuzi mix — a Kenyan flavoring salt), and nyama choma (roasted meat, most commonly goat or beef, but sometimes chicken or fish).
Many Kenyan tribes retain their distinct traditions of dress and arts, making the nation a veritable cultural mosaic. The Maasai, Samburu, and Turkana are nomadic pastoral tribes that dress in traditional bright-red regalia, adorned with eye-catching ornaments made of beads, feathers and copper. Kenya’s Kamba people are renowned for their exceptional wood carving skills. The Kikuyu, Kenya’s largest ethnic group, have been particularly influential in Kenyan politics — the most notable example being Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, the country’s first president. Kenya has produced a disproportionately high number of elite distance runners, most of whom are members of the Kalenjin tribe, including former world-record holder Paul Tergat, 2-time Olympic gold medalist Kipchoge Keino, and world-record holder and global spokeswoman for peace Tegla Loroupe.
Kenyan languages
While Kenyan tribes usually speak Bantu, Nilotic, or Cushite languages and dialects within their respective communities, the national languages of Kenya are Swahili and English. Swahili, a Bantu language with strong Arabic, Persian, and other Middle-Eastern and South Asian loanwords, evolved as a lingua franca spoken among the Africans, Arabs, and Asians who frequented the Swahili coast. The official use of English is a vestige of British colonial rule in Kenya.
Explore more about ethnicity estimates
- MyHeritage DNA at MyHeritage
- Ethnicities around the world at MyHeritage
- What Is My Ethnicity? How MyHeritage Estimates Ethnicities at MyHeritage Knowledge Base
- Where's My Ethnicity?!: Why An Ethnicity Might Not Show Up In Your DNA (and How To Find Evidence Of It Anyway) at MyHeritage Knowledge Base