Kamba (ethnic group)
The Kamba or Akamba are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group and live in the semi-arid areas of the eastern province of Kenya . Their settlement area extends from Nairobi to Tsavo . In the north their area extends to Embu , in the south to the Tanzanian border. This land is known as Ukamba , the land of the Kamba.
With eleven percent of the population, they are the fifth largest ethnic group in Kenya. The language of the Kamba is called Kikamba . Their religion until colonial times was monotheistic with a god named Ngai .
history
According to current knowledge, the Kamba migrated north from the Kilimanjaro area around 1500 . Around 1600 they had settled a core area in the area of today's Machakos . From here they spread to the east and northeast. Today's Ukamba has been inhabited by them since around 1750. Until then, the decentrally organized communities lived from agriculture, animal husbandry and as hunters. In addition, they traded with each other and with neighboring groups in food, metal tools, ivory jewelry , medicinal herbs , game meat and sacred objects such as certain stones or poisons.
The development to a trading people
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Towards the end of the 18th century, the Kamba began to use their geographical location to trade between the coastal traders and the peoples in the interior. More and more they specialized in the ivory trade. Hunting, which previously served primarily to supply game meat, developed into ivory production. Between 1800 and 1850, the Kamba were the main ivory suppliers for the cities of Malindi and Mombasa on the Swahili Coast . From there the ivory was sold on the Zanzibari market.
After the elephant populations in Ukamba decreased drastically, the Kamba organized large hunting expeditions to Mount Kenya in order to provide further supplies. They also encouraged elephant hunting inside by buying ivory from the peoples of central Kenya such as the Kikuyu , Meru and Okiek . The ivory was transported to the coast in caravans of several hundred people. But there were also smaller family businesses that equipped small caravans.
Since the regions further south were ruled by the Maasai , the Kamba held a key position in the ivory trade . Caravans from the coast did not dare to cross the area dominated by the Maasai and therefore had to take the goods from the Kamba.
Large families of merchants developed among the Kamba, who organized caravans to the coast and into the hunting areas. The German missionary Johann Ludwig Krapf was acquainted with one of the most famous and influential Kamba ivory traders named Kiwoi , who was killed by robbers on their trip to Mount Kenya.
The loss of the monopoly in the ivory trade
After the Maasai influence declined in the mid-19th century, Swahili caravans increasingly traveled inside and bought the ivory themselves. That was one reason the Kamba’s influence in the ivory trade quickly waned. Another was the fact that the elephants in Ukamba became increasingly rare due to the enormous hunting activities.
Nevertheless, the Kamba remained active in the trade. They continued to work as porters and military protection for the coastal traders and had an important position in supplying the passing caravans with food.
Early colonial times
After the Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEA) took over the administration of the British Protectorate of East Africa, the Kamba belonged to the first group to be affected by the consequences. The Machakos station, which was responsible for supplying the IBEA caravans passing through, was built in its core area. The food was partly bought by the surrounding population, and a large part was confiscated in so-called punitive expeditions.
Many Kamba entered the service of the IBEA as military support, they were considered combat-trained, courageous and bellicose. A relatively high proportion of Kamba also served in the King's African Rifles infantry regiment set up by the colonial administration in 1902 .
In the times of colonialism , the Kamba mostly offered only peaceful resistance.
Kamba carving
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Even in pre-colonial times, carved objects made of wood and ivory were among the goods that were manufactured in the Kamba area and were brought into trade through them. These included spoons, chairs, snuff boxes, ax and knife handles and sacred sticks for ceremonies.
After the First World War, Mutisya Munge , a young Kamba, developed a new form of figure carving . He processed his war experiences as a member of the Carrier Corps in Tanganyika . Most of his figures represented African soldiers, porters or askaris , in the German and British armies. These figures were very popular with European visitors as souvenirs. Carving quickly developed into a family business and became a branch of art and industry for many Kamba after the Second World War.
Today they are found as Kamba carvings in many arts and crafts and souvenir shops in Kenya. In the meantime they no longer represent war participants, but rather Maasai warriors, bare-breasted women or members of other popular ethnic groups.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Rifts in the Rift, The Economist, January 23, 2016
- ↑ John J. Lampphear: The Kamba and the Northern Mrima Coast. In: Richard Gray, David Birmingham (Eds.): Pre-colonial African Trade. Essays on trade in Central and Eastern Africa before 1900. Oxford University Press, London et al. 1970, pp. 75-102.
- ↑ Isariah Kimambo: The Economic History of the Kamba. In: Hadith 2, 1970, ZDB -ID 952309-1 , pp. 79-103.
- ^ Walter Elkan: The East African Trade in Woodcarvings. In: Africa. Vol. 28, No. 4, 1958, ISSN 0001-9720 , pp. 314-323.
See also: Indigenous peoples of Africa