Konza plains. This attracted the interest of colonial government who created Cooperative Society and the later the establishment of Konza, Potha and Malili Ranches where the proposed Konza Technology City sits. Kamba people outside of Kenya Apart from Kenya, Kamba people can also be found in Uganda, Tanzania and in Paraguay. The population of Akamba in Uganda is about 8,280, 110,000 in Tanzania and about 10,000 in Paraguay. The Kamba people in the South American country of Paraguay form two groups: Kamba Cuá and Kamba Kokue with the former being the most famous. They arrived in Paraguay as members of a regiment of 250 spearmen ('lanceros de Artigas'), men and women, who accompanied General Jose Gervasio Artigas, in his exile in Paraguay in 1820. The Kamba Cuá are famous for their African traditional ballet that is described as the "central cultural identity of the Afro-Paraguayan community". Language The Kamba speak the Kamba language (also known as Kikamba) as a mother tongue. It belongs to the Bantu branch of the Niger-Congo language family. Kikamba has no letters c, f, j, r, x, q and p in its alphabet. The Swahili language reveals closer ties to the Akamba mother tongue, this being due to the various interactions of the Akamba people with Arab traders for centuries. Economy Like many Bantus the Akamba were originally hunters and gatherers, they later became long distance traders because of their knowledge of the expansive area they inhabited and good relations with neighbouring communities as well as excellent communication skills. They would go on to later adopt subsistence farming and pastoralism due to the availability of the new lands that they came to occupy. Today, the Akamba are often found engaged in different professions: some are agriculturalists, others are traders, while others have taken up formal jobs. Barter trade with the Kikuyu, Maasai, Meru and Embu people in the interior and the Mijikenda and Arab people of the coast was also practised by the Akamba who straddled the eastern plains of Kenya. Over time, the Akamba extended their commercial activity and wielded economic control across the central part of the land that was later to be known as Kenya (from the Kikamba, 'Ki'nyaa', meaning 'the Ostrich Country' derived from the reference they made to Mount Kenya and its snow cap similar to the male Ostrich), from the Indian Ocean in the east to Lake Victoria in the