History of the Kalenjin people

The Kalenjin people are an ethnolinguistic group mistaken to be a tribe in Kenya, though they are actually a collection of tribes indigenous to East Africa, with a presence, as dated by archaeology and linguistics, that goes back many centuries. Their history is therefore deeply interwoven with those of their neighboring communities and, most notably, with the Iraqw, who are known to them as Sirikwa (some factions, or even perhaps whole tribes, such as the Marakwet or the Sengwer, are thought to be adopted Iraqw), as well as with the histories of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, and Ethiopia.
Origins.
Genetic studies of Nilo-Saharan-speaking populations are in general agreement with archaeological evidence and linguistic studies that argue for a Nilo-Saharan homeland in eastern Sudan before 6000 BCE, with subsequent migration events northward to the eastern Sahara, westward to the Chad Basin, and southeastward into Kenya and Tanzania.
Linguist Roger Blench has suggested that the Nilo-Saharan languages and the Niger–Congo languages may be branches of the same macro–language family. Earlier proposals along this line were made by linguist Edgar Gregersen in 1972. These proposals have not reached a linguistic consensus, however, and this connection presupposes that all of the Nilo-Saharan languages are actually related in a single family, which has not been definitively established.
Linguist Christopher Ehret has made a case that a proto-Nilotic language was spoken by the third millennium B.C. He cites the eastern Middle Nile Basin south of the Abbai River as the supposed urheimat of the speakers of this language, that is to say south-east of present-day Khartoum.
Beginning in the second millennium B.C., particular Nilotic communities began to move southward into far South Sudan, where most settled. However, the societies today referred to as the Southern Nilotes pushed further on, reaching what is present-day north-eastern Uganda by 1000 B.C.
The earliest area in the Great Lakes region that is recognized as inhabited by the Southern Nilotic speakers lies in the present day Jie and Dodoth country in Uganda.
Early presence in East Africa.
Ehret postulates that between 1000 and 700 BC, the Southern Nilotic speaking communities, who kept domestic stock and possibly cultivated sorghum and finger millet, lived next to an Eastern Cushitic speaking community with whom they had significant cultural interaction. The general location of this point of cultural exchange was somewhere near the common border between Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, and Ethiopia.
This corresponds with a number of historical narratives from the various Kalenjin sub-tribes, which point to Tulwetab/Tuluop Kony (Mount Elgon) as their original point of settlement in Kenya.
There are also accounts from Kalenjin speaking communities, in particular, the Sebeii, living near Mt. Elgon, who point to Kong'asis (the East), and more specifically the Cherangani Hills, as their original homelands in Kenya.
The impact of the cultural exchange that occurred around the Mt. Elgon region was most notable in borrowed loan words, adoption of the practice of circumcision, and the cyclical system of age-set organisation.
Neolithic.
The arrival of the Southern Nilotes on the East African archaeological scene is correlated with the appearance of the prehistoric lithic industry and pottery tradition referred to as the Elmenteitan culture. The bearers of the Elmenteitan culture developed a distinct pattern of land use, hunting, and pastoralism on the western plains of Kenya during the East African Pastoral Neolithic. Its earliest recorded appearance dates to the ninth century BC (i.e. 900 to 801 BC).
It is thought that around the fifth and sixth centuries BC, the speakers of the Southern Nilotic languages split into two major divisions: the proto-Kalenjin and the proto-Datooga. The former took shape among those residing to the north of the Mau range, while the latter took shape among sections that moved into the Mara and Loita plains south of the western highlands.
While few large-scale excavations have been done on sites outside the Central Rift, regional surveys indicate that the population was far denser in the southern highlands during this time.
The Datooga were specialized pastoralists on considerable scale, spreading their settlements westward after 400BC across the Mara plains and as far as southeastern Lake Nyanza. Their presence on the Mara and Loita plains would continue through to the seventeenth century AD when they were driven south by the Maasai during the Il-Tatua wars.
Archaeological and linguistic evidence point to significant differences in ways of life between the Elmenteitan culture and the Savanna Pastoral Neolithic cultures that had preceded them in Kenya.
Lithic industry.
For both the Elmenteitan and SPN producing societies, obsidian was the dominant source of lithic raw material for tool production, though lower quality alternatives were used occasionally. The obsidian was sourced at two discrete points with the Elmenteitan culture sourcing their obsidian from an outcrop of green obsidian on the northeast slope of Mt. Eburu.
Social organisation.
The Southern Nilotes of this time, like some of their neighbors, practiced circumcision of both sexes though significant differences in practice are discerned through linguistics. Unlike the Southern Cushities and somewhat like the early Bantu, they initiated circumcised men into age-sets. The age-sets, however, were quite different from those of the Bantu of the time in that they formed a cycling system which in its early form comprised both age-sets as well as a generational component. It is thought that the eight age-sets in the system were grouped into two generations, each comprising four of the sets. Within the system, a man and his son would belong to age-sets that were of alternate generations.
Alongside the age-sets there was an age grade system which had been simplified to a two-tier system by the early stages of the Sirikwa era. By that time, a young man when initiated would join an age-set while simultaneously joining the first age-grade known as muren. At the same time, his father would join the senior age-grade known as payyan. It is speculated, though yet unproven, that the age-grade system of the Southern Nilotic period comprised four pairs of age-grades to match the four stages of each generation in the age-set system. The full complexity of this system would breakdown differently in the descendant communities with the Kalenjin retaining the age-sets and losing the age-grades while the Datooga dropped the age-sets and retained the age-grades as central to social cohesion.
Burials.
The Southern Nilotic speakers cremated their deceased in caves as at Njoro River cave, Keringet caves and possibly Egerton caves, much unlike the Southern Cushitic speakers who buried their dead in cairns. Both however had similar grave goods, which typically included stone bowls, pestle rubbers and palettes.
Pastoral iron age.
Early iron age.
Linguistic studies indicate separate and significant interaction between the Southern Nilotic speakers and Bantu speaking communities. Word evidence shows that in this interaction, there was highly gendered migration from the Bantu speaking communities into Southern Nilotic-speaking areas during the period, ca. 500-800 A.D., with Luhya women being the migrants.
The evidence for this lies in the words that passed from the Bantu language into the Southern Nilotic language during this period. In contrast to the wide variety of Kalenjin loanwords in Luhya today, all but one of the words that were adopted from Luhya relate to cultivation and cooking, which were traditionally women's duties in ancient Luhya society.
It has been suggested that the social institution of marriage led to the select migration. In that, whereas the Southern Nilotic speaking pastoralists contracted marriage through payment of cattle and other livestock by the groom's family to the prospective bride's family, the Bantu of 1500 to 2000 years ago likely contracted marriage through bride service, whereby the prospective groom would work in the potential bride's household for a period of time. This arrangement, therefore, served to make men the migrants in contrast to payment of bride price which made women the migrants.
The marrying of Luhya women to Kalenjin men would have conferred benefits to men of both societies at the time since for the Kalenjin, Luhya women would have contributed expanded agricultural variety and productivity to the homestead. On the other hand, a Luhya father, by marrying his daughter to a Kalenjin man could increase his own wealth and position within Luhya society. Over the long term such relations, by increasing men's wealth in cattle, undoubtedly helped bring into being new customary balance's between men and women's authority and status in Luhya society. These societies are today patrilineal unlike the ancient Luhya societies which appear to have been matrilineal.
Late iron age.
From the archaeological record, it is postulated that the emergence and early development of the Sirikwa culture occurred in the central Rift Valley i.e. Rongai/Hyrax Hill, not later than the 12th century A.D. Between this period and about the 17th century i.e prior to the Loikop expansion -the Sirikwa pioneered an advanced form of pastoral management. They were not the first culture to herd cattle, goats and sheep in the high grasslands; this having happened at least two thousand years previously. The achievement of the Sirikwa culture, sometime after 1000AD, was the introduction of a more efficient exploitation of the lush pastures through less emphasis on beef and more on dairy production. For this purpose they perfected a small breed of Zebu cattle - what is essentially now known the Maasai breed - whose milk yield though modest in volume is rich in quality. With herds of sufficient size and mobility, combined with sheep and goat for a regular meat supply, the bearers of the Sirikwa culture pioneered an efficient way of exploting unenclosed tracts of high grassland. This innovation likely allowed for the expansion, as attested archaeologically, from the central Rift Valley into the western highlands, the Mt. Elgon region and possibly into Uganda.
For several centuries, the bearers of the Sirikwa culture would be the dominant population of the western highlands of Kenya. At their greatest extent, their territories covered the highlands from the Chepalungu and Mau forests northwards as far as the Cherangany Hills and Mount Elgon. There was also a south-eastern projection, at least in the early period, into the elevated Rift grasslands of Nakuru which was taken over permanently by the Maasai, probably no later than the seventeenth century. Here Kalenjin place names seem to have been superseded in the main by Maasai names notably Mount Suswa (Kalenjin - place of grass) which was in the process of acquiring its Maasai name, Ol-doinyo Nanyokie, the red mountain during the period of European exploration.
Archaeological evidence indicates a highly sedentary way of life and a cultural commitment to a closed defensive system for both the community and their livestock during the Sirikwa period. Family homesteads featured small individual family stock pens, elaborate gate-works and sentry points and houses facing into the homestead; defensive methods primarily designed to proof against individual thieves or small groups of rustlers hoping to succeed by stealth. Links with external trade networks are indicated by caravan routes from the Swahili coast that led to, or cut through the territories of the bearers of the Sirikwa culture.
Pre-19th century.
A body of oral traditions from various East African communities points to the presence of at least four significant Kalenjin-speaking population groups present prior to the 19th century. Meru oral history describes the arrival of their ancestors at Mount Kenya where they interacted with a community referred to as Lumbwa. The Lumbwa occupied the lower reaches of Mount Kenya though the extent of their territory is presently unclear. North-east of this community, across the Rift Valley, a community known as the Chok (later Suk) occupied the Elgeyo escarpment. Pokot oral history describes their way of life, as that of the Siger (or Sengwer), a community that appears to have lived in association with the Chok. The name Siger was used by the Karamojong and arose from a distinctive cowrie shell adornment favored by this community. The area occupied by the Sekker stretched between Mount Elgon and present-day Uasin Gishu as well as into a number of surrounding counties. Far west, a community known as the Maliri occupied present day Jie and Dodoth country in Uganda. The Karamojong would eject them from this region over the course of the century and their traditions describe these encounters with the Maliri. The arrival in the district of the latter community is thought by some to be in the region of six to eight centuries ago.
Bordering these communities were two distinct communities whose interactions and those with the Kalenjin-speaking communities would lead to notable cultural change. The Maliri in Uganda were neighbored by the Karamojong, an Iron Age community that practiced a pastoral way of life. To the north of the Sekker and Chok were the Oropom (Orupoi), a late neolithic society whose expansive territory is said to have stretched across Turkana and the surrounding region as well as into Uganda and Sudan. Wilson (1970) who collected traditions relating to the Oropom observed that the corpus of oral literature suggested that, at its tail end, the society "had become effete, after enjoying for a long period the fruits of a highly developed culture".
Towards the end of 18th century and through the 19th century, a series of droughts, plagues of locusts, epidemics, and in the final decades of the 19th century, a rapid succession of sub-continental epizootics affected these communities. There is an early record of the great Laparanat drought c.1785 that affected the Karamajong. However, for communities then resident in what is present-day Kenya many disaster narratives relate the start with the Aoyate, an acute meteorological drought that affected much of East and Southern Africa in the early nineteenth century.
19th century.
Nile records indicate that the three decades starting about 1800 were marked by low rainfall levels in regions south of the Sahara. East African oral narratives and the few written records indicate peak aridity during the 1830s resulting in recorded instances of famine in 1829 and 1835 in Ethiopia and 1836 in Kenya. Among Kenyan Rift Valley communities this arid period, and the consequent series of events, have been referred to as Mutai.
A feature of the Mutai was increased conflict between neighboring communities, most noted of these has been the Iloikop wars. Earlier conflicts preceding the Iloikop wars appear to have brought about the pressures that resulted in this period of conflict. Von Höhnel (1894) and Lamphear (1988) recorded narratives concerning conflict between the Turkana and Burkineji or at least the section recalled as Sampur that appear to have been caused by even earlier demographic pressures.
Turkana - Burkineji conflict.
Turkana narratives recorded by Lamphear (1988) provide a broad perspective of the prelude to the conflict between the Turkana and a community he refers to as Kor, a name by which the Turkana still call the Samburu in the present day.
Lamphear notes that Tukana traditions aver that a dreamer among them saw strange animals living with the people up in the hills. Turkana warriors were thus sent forward to capture one of these strange beasts,which the dreamer said looked 'like giraffes, but with humps on their backs'. The young men therefore went and captured one of these beasts - the first camels the Turkana had seen. The owners of the strange beasts appear to have struck the Turkana as strange as well. The Turkana saw them as 'red' people, partly because of their lighter skin and partly because they daubed their hair and bodies with reddish clay. They thus gave them the name 'Kor'. Lamphear states that Turkana traditions agree that the Kor were very numerous and lived in close pastoral association with two other communities known as 'Rantalle' and 'Poran', the names given to the Cushitic speaking Rendille and Boran communities.
According to Von Höhnel (1894) "a few decades" prior, the Burkineji occupied districts on the west of the lake and that they were later driven eastwards into present day Samburu. He later states that "some fifty years ago the Turkana owned part of the land on the west now occupied by the Karamoyo, whilst the southern portion of their land belonged to the Burkineji. The Karamoyo drove the Turkana further east, and the Turkana, in their turn, pushed the Burkineji towards Samburuland".
Collapse of Siger community.
Lamphear states that Turkana narratives indicate that at the time of interaction with the 'Kor', the Turkana were in even closer proximity to a community referred to as Siger. This was the Karamoja name for the community and derived from an adornment that this community favored. The Siger like the Kor, were seen as a 'red' people, they are also remembered as a 'heterogeneous, multi-lingual confederation, including Southern and Eastern Nilotic-speakers, and those who spoke Cushitic dilects'. According to Turkana traditions the Siger once held most of the surrounding country 'until the Kor and their allies came up from the south and took it from them. In the process, the Kor and Siger had blended to some extent'.
According to Lamphears account, Turkana traiditons directly relate the collapse of the 'Siger' to the Aoyate. He notes that;
The collapse of the Siger/Sengwer community is generally believed to have seen the rise of a prophet-diviner class among many pastoral communities and a period marked by reformation.
Cultural changes, particularly the innovation of heavier and deadlier spears amongst the Loikop led to significant changes in methods and scale of raiding. The change in methods introduced by the Loikop also consisted of fundamental differences of strategy, in fighting and defense, and also in organization of settlements and of political life.
The cultural changes played a part in significant southward expansion of Loikop territory from a base east of Lake Turkana. This expansion led to the development of three groupings within Loikop society. The Sambur who occupied the 'original' country east of Lake Turkana as well as the Laikipia plateau. The Uasin Gishu occupied the grass plateaus now known as the Uasin Gishu and Mau while the Maasai territory extended from Naivasha to Kilimanjaro. This expansion was subsequently followed by the Iloikop wars.
The expansion of Turkana and Loikop societies led to significant change within the Sirikwa society. Some communities were annihilated by the combined effects of the Mutai of the 19th century while others adapted to the new era.
Iloikop wars.
Members of collapsing communities were usually assimilated into ascending identities.
Significant cultural change also occurred. Guarding cattle on the plateaus depended less on elaborate defenses and more on mobility and cooperation. Both of these requiring new grazing and herd-management strategies. The practice of the later Kalenjin – that is, after they had abandoned the Sirikwa pattern and had ceased in effect to be Sirikwa – illustrates this change vividly. On their reduced pastures, notably on the borders of the Uasin Gishu plateau, when bodies of raiders approached they would relay the alarm from ridge to ridge, so that the herds could be combined and rushed to the cover of the forests. There, the approaches to the glades would be defended by concealed archers, and the advantage would be turned against the spears of the plains warriors.
More than any of the other sections, the Nandi and Kipsigis, in response to Maasai expansion, borrowed from the Maasai some of the traits that would distinguish them from other Kalenjin: large-scale economic dependence on herding, military organization and aggressive cattle raiding, as well as centralized religious-political leadership. The family that established the office of Orkoiyot (warlord/diviner) among both the Nandi and Kipsigis were migrants from northern Chemwal regions. By the mid-nineteenth century, both the Nandi and Kipsigis were expanding at the expense of the Maasai.
The Iloikop wars ended in the 1870s with the defeat and dispersal of the Laikipiak. However, the new territory acquired by the Maasai was vast and left them overextended thus unable to occupy it effectively. This left them open to encroachment by other communities. By the early 1880s, Kamba, Kikuyu and acculturating Sirikwa/Kalenjin raiders were making inroads into Maasai territory, and the Maasai were struggling to control their resources of cattle and grazing land.
The latter decades of the nineteenth century, saw the early European explorers start advancing into the interior of Kenya. Many present-day identities were by then recognized and begin to appear in the written record. In the introduction to Beech's account on the Suk, Eliot notes that they seemed "unanimous in tracing their origin to two tribes called Chôk(or Chũk) and Sekker (and that) at present they call themselves Pôkwut...', he also recognizes five dialects, "Nandi, Kamasia, Endo (and) Suk, the difference being the greatest between the first and the last. The Maragwet language, which is presumably akin, appears not to have been studied, and there are probably others in the same case".
About the time contacts were being made this time, two instances of epizootics broke out in the Rift Valley region. In 1883, bovine Pleuro-Pneumonia spread from the north and lingered for several years. The effect of this was to cause the Loikop to regroup and to go out raiding more aggressively to replenish their herds. This was followed by a far more serious outbreak of Rinderpest which occurred in 1891.
This period - characterized by disasters, including a rinderpest epidemic, other stock diseases, drought, mass starvation, and smallpox was referred to as a Mutai.
20th century.
Resistance to British rule.
By the latter decades of the nineteenth century, the Kalenjin - more so the Nandi, had acquired a fearsome reputation. Thompson was warned in 1883 to avoid the country of the Nandi, who were known for attacks on strangers and caravans that would attempt to scale the great massif of the Mau.
Nonetheless, trade relations were established between the Kalenjin and incoming British. This was tempered on the Kalenjin side by the prophesies of various seers. Among the Nandi, Kimnyole had warned that contact with the Europeans would have a significant impact on the Nandi while Mongo was said to have warned against fighting the Europeans.
Matson, in his account of the resistance, shows 'how the irresponsible actions of two British traders, Dick and West, quickly upset the precarious modus vivendi between the Nandi and incoming British'. Conflict, led on the Nandi side by Koitalel Arap Samoei - Nandi Orkoiyot at the time, was triggered by West's killing in 1895.
The East Africa Protectorate, Foreign Office, and missionary societies administrations reacted to West's death by organizing invasions of Nandi in 1895 and 1897. Invading forces were able to inflict sporadic losses upon Nandi warriors, steal hundreds of livestock, and burn villages, but were not able to end Nandi resistance.
1897 also saw the colonial government set up base in Eldama Ravine under the leadership of certain Messrs. Ternan and Grant, an intrusion that was not taken to kindly by the Lembus community. This triggered conflict between the Lembus and British forces which included Maasai and Nubian soldiers and porters.
The British eventually overcame the Lembus following which Grant and Lembus elder's negotiated a peace agreement. During the negotiations, the Lembus were prevailed upon by Grant to state what they would not harm nor kill, to which the response was women. As such, they exchanged a girl from the Kimeito clan while Grant offered a white bull as a gesture of peace and friendship. This agreement was known as the Kerkwony Agreement. The negotiations were held where Kerkwony Stadium stands today.
On October 19, 1905, on the grounds of what is now Nandi Bears Club, Arap Samoei was asked to meet Col Richard Meinertzhagen for a truce. A grand-nephew of one of Arap Samoei's bodyguards later noted that “There were about 22 of them who went for a meeting with the (European) that day. Koitalel Arap Samoei had been advised not to shake hands because if he did, that would give him away as the leader. But he extended his hand and was shot immediately". Koitalel's death led to the end of the Nandi resistance.
Kalenjin identity.
Until the mid-20th century, the Kalenjin did not have a common name and were usually referred to as the 'Nandi-speaking tribes' by scholars and colonial administration officials.
Starting in the 1940s, individuals from the various 'Nandi-speaking tribes' who had been drafted to fight in World War II (1939–1945) began using the term Kale or Kore (a term that denoted scarification of a warrior who had killed an enemy in battle) to refer to themselves. At about the same time, a popular local radio broadcaster by the name of John Chemallan would introduce his wartime broadcasts show with the phrase Kalenjok meaning "I tell You" (when said to many people). This would influence a group of fourteen young 'Nandi-speaking' men attending Alliance School and who were trying to find a name for their peer group. They would call it Kalenjin meaning "I tell you" (when said to one person). The word Kalenjin was gaining currency as a term to denote all the 'Nandi-speaking' tribes. This identity would be consolidated with the founding of the Kalenjin Union in Eldoret in 1948 and the publication of a monthly magazine called Kalenjin in the 1950s.
In 1955 when Mzee Tameno, a Maasai and member of the Legislative Assembly (LEGCO) for Rift Valley, tendered his resignation, the Kalenjin presented one candidate to replace him; Daniel Toroitich arap Moi.
By 1960, concerned with the dominance of the Luo and Kikuyu, Arap Moi and Ronald Ngala formed KADU to defend the interests of the countries smaller tribes. They campaigned on a platform of majimboism (devolution) during the 1963 elections but lost to KANU. Shortly after independence in December 1963, Kenyatta convinced Moi to dissolve KADU. This was done in 1964 when KADU dissolved and joined KANU.
21st century.
The Kalenjin have been called by some "the running tribe." Since the mid-1960s, Kenyan men have earned the largest share of major honours in international athletics 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 honours available to men in international athletics at these distances (Olympic medals, World Championships medals, and World Cross Country Championships honours) have been earned by Kalenjin.
In 2008, Pamela Jelimo became the first Kenyan woman to win a gold medal at the Olympics; she also became the first Kenyan to win the Golden League jackpot in the same year. Since then, Kenyan women have become a major presence in international athletics at the distances; most of these women are Kalenjin. Amby Burfoot of "Runner's World" stated that the odds of Kenya achieving the success they did at the 1988 Olympics were below 1:160 billion. Kenya had an even more successful Olympics in 2008.
A number of theories explaining the unusual athletic prowess among people from the tribe have been proposed. These include many explanations that apply equally well to other Kenyans or people living elsewhere who are not disproportionately successful athletes, such as that they run to school every day, that they live at relatively high altitude, and that the prize money from races is large compared to typical yearly earnings. One theory is that the Kalenjin has relatively thin legs and therefore does not have to lift so much leg weight when running long distances.


Musa Mwariama

Field Marshal Musa Mwariama, EBS (1928–1989) was a Kenyan revolutionary leader of the Mau Mau in Meru and the highest-ranking Mau Mau leader who survived the war without being killed or captured. Together with Field Marshal Dedan Kimathi, they comprised the core Mau Mau leadership. Mwariama was the highest ranking leader among the Meru side of the uprising.
By the time he left his bases in Mount Kenya and Nyambene Hills on the equator, he had about 2,000 fighters who had survived Operation Anvil in Kenya. He was decorated with the national Order of Elder of the Burning Spear (EBS) after independence. The most famous photograph of him is with President Jomo Kenyatta on attainment of Uhuru (independence) in 1963, and most of the postwar Mau Mau video clips show him inspecting a Mau Mau guard of honour or with President Jomo Kenyatta.
Early life.
M'Kiribua M'Muchiri, or Mbaringu, or Muthigari Mugathe, or Nkumbuku, or Field Marshall Mwariama was born in 1928 at Muthara in Tigania division of Meru District. According to Ameru tradition, his parents who had migrated from Nkuene in South Imenti, gave him the name Baringo. He had an older brother called Romano Ntabathia though from a different mother. Their father, M'Muchiri was a soothsayer and strict traditionalist.
Death.
Musa Mwariama died in 1989 at Ukambani after he sucked the leg of a friend who had been bitten by a poisonous snake. He was buried at his 15-acre (6 ha) farm in Kiambogo Village, in Timau, North Buuri Constituency, Meru County.


Juuko of Buganda

Juuko Mulwaana was Kabaka of the Kingdom of Buganda, between 1680 and 1690. He was the sixteenth (16th) Kabaka of Buganda.
Claim to the throne.
He was the second son of Kabaka Kateregga Kamegere, Kabaka of Buganda between 1644 and 1674. His mother was Namutebi of the Mamba clan, the eighth (8th) wife of his father. He ascended the throne upon the demise of his elder brother around 1680. He established his capital at Ngalamye.
Married life.
He married six (6) wives:
Issue.
He fathered many children including:
The final years.
He died around 1690. No information is available as to the place or cause of his death. He is buried at Bujuuko, Busiro.


Nnabagereka of Buganda

The Nnabagereka is the official title of the Queen consort of the Kingdom of Buganda, a traditional kingdom in modern-day Uganda. The current Nnabagereka is Sylvia Nagginda, who married "Kabaka" Muwenda Mutebi II of Buganda on 27 August 1999.
History.
This title is a relatively recent one, created in the 20th century. Previously, Buganda tradition had only the King's mother (the "Nnamasole", "Queen mother") and one of his sisters (the "Lubuga", or "Queen sister") as nationally preeminent and powerful. The Nnamasole and the Lubuga each had their respective compounds in the Royal Palace, and the degree of political dominance and influence each held varied from reign to reign. The King's principal wife was meanwhile referred to as the "Kaddulubaale", a title that was also held by the principal wife in any household in the kingdom.
King Chwa II (reigned 1899-1939) was the first king whose wife, Lady Irene Nnamaganda, was considered to be foremost among Buganda women. The title "Nnabagereka"—originally a girl's name from the Mushroom Clan—was chosen as the title of the most pre-eminent woman in the Kingdom.
Currently.
The current Nnabagereka is a champion of human rights, women's rights and the rights of children, especially the girl child. She is an admired role model in Buganda, where she is referred to as "Maama wa Buganda", meaning "Mother of the Buganda Nation". Recently she has been a vocal supporter of better working conditions for government teachers ad health workers.
She is the first Nnabagereka in the history of the kingdom to set up a fully fledged office. In 2000, she established the Nnabagereka Development Foundation (NDF). The Foundation is a charitable non-government organization, whose mission is to restore the vitality of Buganda and Uganda at large by "marshaling community and household human resources for social and economic development".


Ashimi of Borno

Ashimi or Hashim bin Umar al-Kanemi (1840s-1893) was "Shehu" of Borno from ca.1885 to 1893.
Reign of Ashimi.
Ashimi became "Shehu" of Borno in 1885 at the death of his brother Ibrahim Kura. As it had already been the case for his two predecessors, his reign was marked by an intense political and economical crisis in Kukawa. A French army officer who met Ashimi in 1892 believed that he had little direct involvement with the running of the kingdom; he also reported that the "Shehu" seemed pious, rather scholarly, and was someone who hated the thought of war.
In 1893, Ashimi lost two battles against Rabih az-Zubayr who was trying to invade Borno. His nephew Kyari, who was chosen to become the new "Shehu", assassinated him in N'galagati near Geidam.


John Victor

John Victor (15 April 1892 – 22 September 1935) was a South African middle-distance runner. He competed in the men's 800 metres at the 1912 Summer Olympics.


Bassey Eyo Ephraim Adam III

Bassey Adam III (Abasi Eyo Efiom Ededem Edak Edem Etim Efiom Okoho Efiom Ekpo Efiom Ekpo; 25 December 1904  – 14 December 1986) was the Obong of Calabar and the Edidem of the Efik kingdom from 27 November 1982 until his death on 14 December 1986.
Bassey was born in Calabar, during the reign of his Uncle Obong Adam Ephraim Adam as the Obong of Old Calabar and its dependencies. His father was Etubom Eyo Ephraim Adam (Eyo Efiom Ededem), the second son of Ephraim Adam (Alias Tete) of Etim Efiom royal house of Old Calabar. His mother was Princess Eyoanwan Eyo Edem of Duke royal house of Old Calabar.
Early life.
He was born on 25 December 1904 and named Bassey Eyo Ephraim Adam. His father Eyo Ephraim Adam was from Etim Efiom royal house of Old Calabar and was also a one-time head of the House from 1906 to 1911. His mother Eyoanwan Eyo Edem was the Granddaughter of Edem Ekpo, the patriarch of the Duke royal house. Eyoanwan Eyo Edem was maternally of Efut Nobility. Her mother Enima was from Ekpenyong Ekpenyong Ebuka royal house in Efut Abua, Calabar. Bassey's paternal Grandfather was Ephraim Adam, the founder of the Tete household. Edidem Bassey Adam III was paternally and maternally of noble birth.
Some of his siblings included Eyo Eyo Ephraim Adam, Umo Eyo Ephraim Adam, Utong Ekong (Nee Eyo Ephraim Adam) and several others.
Education.
Bassey attended the Church of Scotland Mission School, Ikot Efio Enang at Akpabuyo and later transferred to the Duke Town school. At the Duke Town primary school, he undertook and successfully passed the Preliminary Cambridge examination in 1922. In 1923, he proceeded to the Normal College at Hope Waddell Training Institution and from 1924 to 1925, he attended King's College, Lagos, where he completed his secondary education and later sat for and passed the London University Matriculation Examination. Between 1926 and 1930, Bassey received his professional education in the following institutions i.e., Grammar School, Freetown, Sierra Leone; Engineering School, Public Works Department, Lagos; Electrical School, Public Works Department, Lagos and Bournemouth School of Engineering, United Kingdom. This long period of training resulted in his obtaining the Diploma of the institute of Service Engineers in Kent as an Associate member.
Calabar Ogoja Rivers (COR) State Movement.
The History of the Agitation of the Calabar-Ogoja-Rivers state in the Eastern region of Nigeria would be incomplete without the mention of Bassey who was living at Jos, Plateau State at the time. Bassey's residence at Jos was a meeting ground mostly for people from the Old Calabar Province, although he was not discriminatory towards other ethnicities. When Bassey was informed of his people's desire for the creation of the COR state, he readily embraced the idea which he propagated across Northern Nigeria. Bassey's advantage over many during the period of the agitation was his familiarity with many important personalities across Northern Nigeria. Bassey who was a reputable Electrical Engineer had executed several electrical and building contracts across Northern Nigeria which endeared him to many notable figures in the North. He readily planted branches of the movement in various towns in the North and together with men such as Chief Usoro of Ibiono, caused financial contributions to be made into the coffers of the movement in the state.
Enthronement as a Traditional Ruler.
The personal attributes of Bassey led to his selection as the best choice for the office of the Etubom of Etim Efiom House. Bassey succeeded Etubom Umo Eyo Ephraim Adam as the Etubom of Etim Efiom house in 1979 and was inducted into the Etubom's Traditional Council by Edidem Esien Ekpe Oku V. On 14 January 1981, Edidem Esien Ekpe Oku had passed on. This led to the search for a worthy candidate for the stool of the Obong of Calabar. The contenders of the throne were Etubom Cobham Eneyo Boco who was Etubom Bassey's maternal first cousin. After a tightly contested battle, Etubom Bassey was the selected on the 8 November 1981 and proclaimed Obong-Elect on 9 November 1981. He was crowned at the Duke Town Presbyterian Church on 27 November 1982.
State Tours.
The military takeover of Nigeria's administration in 1984 saw the birth of the War Against Indiscipline (WAI). It was brought home to everyone that indiscipline had many faces and when Colonel Daniel Archibong assumed the office of Governor of Cross River State and directed that all Paramount Rulers should educate their subjects on WAI "gospel" which was 'Cleanliness and performance of such Civic duties as payment of taxes and rates'.
Again when Colonel Archibong observed on assumption of office that there was great need for unity among all the ethnic components of the Cross River State, he also added another campaign to WAI. This time, it was "War Against Disunity". A statewide tour of all the seventeen Local Government Areas was organised and all the paramount rulers together visited each of the LGA's. At that time, Edidem Adam had trouble with his vision and could not accompany them. After his recovery, another man would not perhaps have bothered to resume the tours but he immediately started his own round of tours to Ikom, Obubra and Obudu. Ogoja was left out because the Paramount Ruler for that are was ill and in the hospital at the time.
Edidem Adam also undertook official trips outside Cross River State. He went to Enugu to witness the inaugural ceremony of the Anambra State Council of Chiefs and to Owerri to witness the inauguration of the Imo State Council of Chiefs. His second visit to Owerri was as a guest of the Imo State University of Science and Technology on the occasion of the launching of the University's Development Fund. On that occasion, he made an endowment of ₦500.00 to the best student in Electrical Engineering in the University. Two other trips to the eastern part of Nigeria took him to Nsukka to witness the 1986 convocation ceremony and silver jubilee celebration of the University of Nigeria and to Onitsha to visit his lifelong friend, Mr. Justice U. Agbakoba.


Kagara, Niger State

Kagara is a community in Niger State, Nigeria, the headquarters of the Rafi Local Government Area.
Kagara is part of the Niger South Senatorial district, and is the seat of the Kagara Emirate.
The other two major emirates in the state are the Minna Emirate and the Suleja Emirate, each of which expect political representation in the state if not at the national level.
Early in 2010 the state government sacked the chairman of the local government area and set up a commission of inquiry to probe the council's financial undertakings during his term in office. In December 2010, a Minna High Court ordered his reinstatement.
The town has a talc processing plant.
Construction of a dam was initiated in 1979 for a sum of N5 billion.
The Federal University of Technology Minna carried out the Environmental Impact assessment for the Upper Niger River Basin and Rural Development Authority (UNRBDA).
About N3 billion had been paid by February 2002, when the Minister of Water Resources, Muktar Shagari, gave the contractor a deadline to complete the dam by December that year.
In February 2004 the Minister of State for Water Resources, Mr. Bashr Ishola Awotorebo visited the dam site, and as a result called the contractor to account for delays in the project.
In August 2004, while presenting 500 hand pumps from the Federal Government to the Niger State Governor, Abdulkadir Kure, Mukhtar Shagari said the dam project could be doomed due to non-approval of the budgetary allocation.
In August 2007, Bala Kuta of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, a National House of Assembly representative, pledged to help with the dam project.
One student is killed and 27 students, three teachers, twelve family members) were kidnapped by bandits on 17 February 2021.
Remains of the Iron Age Nok culture have been found at Kagara, which lies at the far northwest end of the zone of Nok culture.


Voltaic Progressive Front

The Voltaic Progressive Front (, FPV) was a political party in Upper Volta.
History.
The party was established in 1977 as the Voltaic Progressive Union ("Union Progressiste Voltaïque", UPV) by dissidents from several parties. The UPV received 16% of the vote in the April 1978 parliamentary elections, winning nine seats. It nominated Joseph Ki-Zerbo as its candidate in the presidential elections in May. Ki-Zerbo finished fourth in the four-man field with 16% of the vote.
In 1979 the party was renamed the Voltaic Progressive Front. It was banned in November 1980.


Bailundo (kingdom)

Bailundo (also known as Bailundu) was the largest and the most powerful of the traditional Ovimbundu kingdoms in Angola.


Lake Wamala

Lake Wamala is a freshwater lake in Uganda. Its wetlands contain endangered species of birds and animals including the sitatunga ("enjobe" in Luganda). The lake is of traditional and cultural significance to the people of Buganda in Central Uganda.
Location.
The lake is shared by the districts of Mubende, Mityana, and Gomba in the Buganda Region of Uganda. The road distance between downtown Mityana and Kalyankoko, Kimuli, Mityana District, on the eastern shores of Lake Wamala is approximately . The coordinates of Lake Wamala are 0°20'44.0"N, 31°53'16.0"E (Latitude:0.345545; Longitude:31.887778).
Overview.
Lake Wamala covers an area of approximately . It is dotted by many islands, including Lwanju Island, Mabo Island, and Bagwe Island, Kiraza, Kazinga, among others. Several rivers flow into the lake, including the River Nyanzi, the River Kitenga, the River Kaabasuma, the River Mpamujugu, and the River Bbimbye. The lake is drained by the Kibimba River into the Katonga River, which in turn drains into Lake Victoria. The Kibimba River, however, is highly seasonal and for much of the time its course remains essentially dry. Lake Wamala is of significant economic and cultural interest locally and is jointly administered by the districts of Mubende, Mityana, and Mpigi, each of which share a part of the lake along common borders.
History.
More than 4,000 years ago Lake Wamala was part of Lake Victoria, but has since receded into its current state. One apocryphal myth supposes that Lake Wamala derives its name from a King Wamala, the last monarch of the Bachwezi dynasty and that King Wamala disappeared into the lake at a site near Lubajja fishing village called Nakyegalika and his spirit resides in the lake.
Flora and fauna.
The vegetation surrounding Lake Wamala is dominated by papyrus, other floaters, and water-based vegetation. There are also trees such as Raphia and other palms. A variety of animal species such as sitatunga, wild pigs, hippopotamus, bushbuck, waterbuck, vervet monkey, baboon, guinea fowl, and turaco live near the lake. Existing fish species include tilapia, catfish, and lungfish.
Fishing patterns.
During the 1960s and the early 1970s, Lake Wamala was an important source of both fresh and smoked fish sold locally and in the big towns in Buganda. Due to mismanagement and uncontrolled, unregulated commercial fishing on the lake, the fish were depleted in the mid-1970s. Climate change has also worsened the lake conditions, to the detriment of the local fishermen and their families.


Military Governors in Nigeria during the Muhammadu Buhari regime

General Muhammadu Buhari became head of state after a "coup d'état" on 31 December 1983 which ended the Nigerian Second Republic. He was replaced by General Ibrahim Babangida in a "coup d'état" on 27 August 1985.


National anthem of the Orange Free State

The national anthem of the Orange Free State (Afrikaans: "Vrystaatse Volkslied", Dutch: "Volkslied van de Oranje Vrijstaat") was used from 1854 until 1902 as the national anthem of the Orange Free State.
Lyrics.
Dutch original
English translation
"Translation by Hermann Jacobson"


Manyikeni

Manyikeni is a Mozambican archaeological site, around 52 km west of the coastal city of Vilanculos. The archaeological site dates from the twelfth to seventeenth century. It is believed to be part of the Great Zimbabwe tradition of architecture, distinguished by mortarless stone walls, and part of the famous Mwenu Mutapa’s Kingdom. The central stone enclosure complex is built in this tradition, and the find of a Zimbabwe-style iron gong at the site also suggests cultural ties.
The site today is covered by the "Cenchrus ciliaris" grass, commonly found in Zimbabwe but seldom reported in Mozambique. Berger suggests that this may indicate the grass was introduced along with cattle from Zimbabwe. However this grass species is found in all countries along the East coast of Africa (GBIF) and so the low number of records in Mozambique may merely reflect a lack of prior collecting. The site is located 350 km from Great Zimbabwe, the capital of a large, pre-colonial empire active from at least the 11th through the 14th centuries. Barker (1978) has suggested that only the ruling elite at Manyikeni consumed beef, as cattle bones have been found only in the central part of the site. The lower classes who lived at the periphery of the site ate meat from sheep and goats. The presence of a large number of glass beads and seashells at the site have led to speculation that the settlement traded extensively with the ancient coastal settlement of Chibuene.
Manyikeni can be reached from Vilanculos by driving to the EN1 and then travelling south for 30 km. At the small town of Mapinhane, turn right and drive west for 29 km. A small sign shows the entrance to a small track that leads for 3 km before reaching the ruins.
Overview of the site.
The site is located on the eastern coastal plains of the Indian Ocean and one of the only Zimbabwean tradition stone enclosures relatively near the coast, emphasizing the site’s role as a coastal trade location. Most importantly, the site appears to have had an important trade relationship with the site located 50 km away, Chibuene, an important Indian Ocean trade network site in the late first millennium AD to the 1700s AD. Occupation of the site begins at about 1200 AD and lasting until 1700 AD. This occupation period is typically broken up into three periods: 1200 AD in which the stone enclosure was being built; 1200-1450 AD in which consists of the height of occupation; and to 1700 AD in which the site was abandoned. The stone enclosure was excavated for the first time in 1975 and 1976, shortly after Mozambique independence by the Eduardo Mondlande University Centre for African Studies and the British Institute in Eastern Africa to 1978. The research in this period determined that the site was a later Iron Age farming community of the Great Zimbabwean tradition, potentially used as a trade outpost with Chibuene.
Stone enclosure.
The most distinguishing feature of the site is the stone enclosure reflecting that of the Great Zimbabwe tradition. This enclosure measures 20 meters in diameter with a height of 50 cm, making it much smaller in size than the enclosure of Great Zimbabwe. The stone enclosure was constructed without mortar in a similar fashion to Great Zimbabwe, further emphasizing its association with this tradition. Construction was undertaken with the use of limestone, differing from other Great Zimbabwe associated sites that used granite. This was due to the higher availability of limestone in the surrounding region which follows the pattern of other periphery sites of the Great Zimbabwe tradition that utilized resources from the surrounding region, rather than importation of granite for the construction of the stone enclosures. Great Zimbabwe stone enclosure construction was affected by the given location of the site with the availability of stone determining the size of the stone enclosure of the particular site. Granite was the most malleable construction material used by the Great Zimbabwe tradition, but as for limestone at Manyikeni, this material was much more difficult to shape into building blocks. As a result, the use of limestone was partly responsible for the much smaller size of the stone enclosure at the site.
World Heritage status.
This site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on September 15, 1997 in the cultural category.


Nana Afia Dokuaa

Nana Afia Dokuaa was the first and only woman to hold the office of ruler, or Okyenhene, in the history of Akyem Abuakwa in present-day Ghana. She ascended the Ofori stool in 1817 after her uncle Kofi Asante, and ruled until 1835.
She was a noted warrior, leading her people against the Ashanti 99 times.


Saad Buh

Sheikh Saad Buh () was a Moorish, Qadiriyya, Fadiliyya Sufi from Mauritania. Buh, who settled in Trarza in the 1870s, developed a following in St. Louis, and began a pattern of visits to the peanut basin and river valley. During the last two decades, he gave invaluable service to the administration, service that Dudu Seck, as a functionary, could hardly perform. (Marty 1915–1916). It was in the late 1860s that Buh established ties with the French administration who were busy in their venture to conquer the Senegalo-Mauritanian zone. At this point he was less than 20 years old. He became a dominant figure in a configuration of teachers, schools and zawiyas (lodges) that stretched across the Sahel and Sahara. He had a huge network of disciples and relations which made him very popular with the French administration for he enjoyed prestige and respect across the frontiers of language, social status and even religious identity. Al Hajj Umar Tal had sought support from Buh's father, however the latter a traditional Qadiriyya and Fadiliyya rejected the hostility and violence that jihad entailed and refused to support Tal's cause.
Sheikh Saad Buh was to perform many services for the French including at numerous times saving French explorers from the hands of local bands. He rescued Paul Soleillet, Blanchet and Fabert. Soleillet was rescued from a local band who pillaged his possessions. Buh advised the traveller not to attempt to journey any further into the dangerous Sahelian zone.
Buh had ties with the French for more than 50 years. He would go on diplomatic missions for them- such as trying to convince Lat-Dior to let the French build their railway, or to dissuade Ma Ba from warring with the French- he would counsel them as best how to advance in their conquest and he would become an intermediary between the French colonial government and his disciples (talibes). Whenever the French had difficulty in establishing their authority they would call upon him.
In return for his aid to the French Buh would seek services from them such as free travel, gifts and aid for his camps in Mauritania. He gained permission from the French to tour Senegal (which was comparatively richer than Mauritania) in order to collect gifts, alms which he re-distributed to his disciples in Mauritania.
In 1910 he wrote a letter of counsel to Ma El Inin urging him not to wage war on the French and pointing out that French stability had allowed Islam to spread and acquire stability in the region. This letter would later become famous. He very cleverly used sources from the Koran to demonstrate that Islam should be a pacifist religion and his example would set a precedent to all those marabouts to follow him, who would indulge in similar tactics to prove their allegiance to the French.
As a person it is said that he was extremely fat, at times disgruntled but very smart indeed.


Kaliro District

Kaliro District is a district in the Eastern Region of Uganda. It was created out of the eastern part of Kamuli District in 2006. Kaliro is the site of the district headquarters.
Location.
Kaliro District borders Serere District to the north, across Lake Nakuwa, one, of the lakes that comprise the Lake Kyoga water complex. Pallisa District lies to the northeast, Namutumba District to the southeast, Iganga District to the south, Luuka District to the southwest, and Buyende District to the northwest. The town of Kaliro is approximately , by road, north of Iganga, the nearest large town.
Population.
In 1991, the national population census estimated the population of the district at 105,100. The 2002 Uganda national census put the population at approximately 154,700, of whom 49.5 percent were males and 50.5 percent were females. The annual population growth rate was calculated at 3.5%. In 2012, the population of Kaliro District was estimated at 216,500.


Edmund Charles Smith Richards

Sir Edmund Charles Smith Richards (1889-1955) was a British colonial administrator who was Resident Commissioner of Basutoland from 1935 to 1942 and Governor of Nyasaland from 1942 to 1947.
Career outline.
Edmund Charles Smith Richards was born on 6 October 1889. After joining the colonial service, he rose steadily through the ranks, becoming a district commissioner in 1923, assistant secretary for native affairs in 1927, deputy provincial commissioner in 1928, provincial commissioner in 1931, deputy chief secretary in 1934, acting chief secretary in 1934 and resident commissioner, Basutoland from 1935 to 1942. Richards became Governor of Nyasaland in August 1942, retiring in March 1947. He died in 1955.
Central African Council.
A Central African Council was created in 1945 to coordinate research activities, economic policies and the transport and communication systems of Nyasaland, Northern Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia.
Richards saw no particular value to Nyasaland in the council.
Sir Stewart Gore-Browne of Northern Rhodesia objected to the name since no Africans were represented. Talking of the first session, Gore-Browne described Richards as an "ill-mannered oaf".
The key topic discussed by the council was that of recruitment and treatment of Native labor. Nyasaland was the main supplier of non-indigenous African laborers to Southern Rhodesia. The main debate was between Richards and the prime minister of Southern Rhodesia, Godfrey Huggins. Although the council had no power to make a decision on the subject, the two men both freely aired their views.
Richards was initially hostile to the idea of establishing joint services to serve the three colonies, but later came round to the idea of extending services such as Civil Aviation and the Court of Appeal from Southern Rhodesia to also cover the northern territories.
Other Nyasaland issues.
One of the issues Richards had to deal with was that of education of the Africans.
In 1945, Richards received a memorandum from the newly formed Nyasaland African Congress (NAC) saying the members disliked sending their boys to the college at Makerere in Uganda "because the standard of education attained is lower than that attained in South African Schools...".
The age limit system was also an issue with primary education. Under this system, children could not enroll if they were too old, and without birth certifications they were subject to arbitrary estimates of whether they were young enough to attend school. Girls suffered in particular when they were unable to start education early for reasons that were out of their control. Richards did nothing to resolve the problem, but supported age limits.
On 15 February 1946, Richards sent proposals to the Colonial Office to change the method of selecting members of the legislative council. These included introducing elections for the European "unofficial" members (members other than civil servants), and giving the unofficial members the majority.
References.
Sources


Elections in the Comoros

Elections in the Comoros take place within the framework of a multi-party democracy and a presidential system. The President and the majority of the seats in the Assembly of the Union are directly elected.
Electoral history.
Following World War II, the Comoros began to elect representatives to the French National Assembly, with Saïd Mohamed Cheikh elected from the islands in 1945. The following year the islands elected a General Council for the first time.
 In 1952 the Council became the Territorial Assembly, and in 1962 became the Chamber of Deputies.
Following independence in the mid-1970s, presidential elections were held in October 1978, with Ahmed Abdallah as the sole candidate. In parliamentary elections in December that year all candidates ran as independents. Shortly before the 1982 parliamentary elections the Comorian Union for Progress (Uzdima) had been declared the sole legal party, and won 37 of the 38 seats, with the remaining one going to an independent. Abdallah was again the sole candidate in the 1984 presidential elections, whilst the 1987 parliamentary elections saw Uzima win all 42 seats.
Multi-party politics was reintroduced in 1990 and Said Mohamed Djohar of Udzima won the presidential elections that year, beating Mohamed Taki Abdoulkarim of the National Union for Democracy in the Comoros in the second round, having finished as runner-up in the first round. The 1992 parliamentary elections produced a fragmented legislature, with 14 parties winning seats and none holding more than seven. Early elections the following year produced a majority for the pro-presidential Rally for Democracy and Renewal, which won 28 of the 42 seats.
The 1996 presidential elections were won by Abdoulkarim, and the parliamentary elections later in the year saw the pro-Abdoulkarim National Rally for Development win 36 of the 43 seats amidst an opposition boycott. As a result of a coup, the next presidential elections were not held until 2002, with independent candidate Azali Assoumani elected unopposed in the second round after his opponents boycotted it. However, parliamentary elections in 2004 resulted in a victory for the opposition Camp of the Autonomous Islands. The 2006 presidential elections were won by Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi. The parliamentary elections in 2009 were won by the Baobab movement supportive of the President.
Presidential elections in 2010 saw Ikililou Dhoinine elected president. The delayed 2015 parliamentary elections produced another fragmented Assembly, with the Union for the Development of the Comoros emerging as the largest party with eight seats.
Electoral system.
President.
The President of the Comoros is elected for a five-year term the two-round system. Prior to a 2018 referendum that amended the electoral system, the presidency rotated between the Comoros' three main islands; Anjouan, Grande Comore and Mohéli; when it was an island's turn to hold the presidency, the first round was held on that island, with the top three candidates progressing to a nationwide second round.
Assembly of the Union.
The 33 seats in the Assembly of the Union are divided into 24 seats directly elected in single-member constituencies using the two-round system, and nine seats elected by the Island assemblies, each of which elect three members.
Referendums.
Several referendums have been held in the Comoros. In 1958 the islands voted in favour of the new French constitution, which resulted in them becoming part of the French Community (rejection would have led to independence). An independence referendum was held in 1974, which resulted in a large majority (95%) in favour of independence. However, one island, Mayotte, voted against referendum, and was subsequently separated from the rest of the Comoros to remain under French control.
Following independence, a referendum was held on the continued presidency of Ali Soilih in October 1977; despite a vote in favour, Soilih was overthrown the following May. Following his overthrow, a constitutional referendum was held, with 99% of voters voting in favour of the new constitution. Further constitutional referendums were held in 1989, 1992, 1996, 2001, 2009 and 2018.


Ajaka

Ajaka was an Oyo emperor who was twice on the throne. His father was Oranyan or Oranmiyan and his brother, according to the historian Samuel Johnson, was Shango.
Life.
Ajaka lived in a fierce and tumultuous age, but he was originally a man of a peaceful disposition which was perceived as weakness. The reason for this is not far-fetched: it seems the emperor was resolved to busy himself with palace affairs while simultaneously allowing his warriors more freedom than was traditional. This led to him being deposed and his brother being proclaimed emperor after a series of insubordinations from his local chiefs. He was later called on to ascend the throne after the death of Sango. In his later years, he changed from being mild mannered to a warlike emperor, and was similar to his brother. The Basorun or prime minister and commander-in-chief during his second reign was Salekoudi, and it was in this period that the Yoruban drum, Ogidigbo, was introduced to Oyo. The drum was and still is used in great festivals where the Alaafin and the Basorun are present.


Danie Joubert

Danie Joubert (8 February 1909 – 2 March 1997) was a South African sprinter. He competed in the men's 100 metres at the 1932 Summer Olympics.


Mambrui

Mambrui is a settlement in Kenya's Coast Province, located east of Marikebuni along the Malindi-Garissa Road, south of Gongoni and north of Malindi.
Mambrui is the site of a project by a team of Kenyan and Chinese archaeologists, who are looking for evidence of contact with the Chinese during the era of the Yongle Emperor. In October 2010, the team went public about the discovery of an early 15th-century Chinese Yongle Tongbao coin, the remains of an iron smelter accompanied by iron slag, and a jade-green shard of porcelain believed to come from Long Quan, a kiln that made porcelain exclusively for the royal family during the early Ming Dynasty. The discoveries may end up confirming that the date of the first international trade with East Africa is decades before the arrival of Vasco Da Gama, most likely during the expeditions of Zheng He.


Kemeria Abajobir Abajifar

Kemeria Abajobir Abajifar (born 19 June 1972) is an Ethiopian royal personality. She is the great-granddaughter of Abba Jifar II, and the niece of Ababiya Abajobir, a founding member of the Oromo Liberation Front. It was reported that Count Alexandre de Lesseps ended his marriage to reality TV personality LuAnn de Lesseps due to his relationship with her.


Jonglei Canal

The Jonglei Canal was a canal project started, but never completed, to divert water from the vast Sudd wetlands of South Sudan so as to deliver more water downstream to Sudan and Egypt for use in agriculture.
Concept.
Due to the Sudd swamp, the water from the southwestern tributaries of the Nile, the Bahr el Ghazal system, for all practical purposes does not reach the main river and is lost through evaporation and transpiration.
Hydrogeologists in the 1930s proposed digging a canal east of the Sudd which would divert water from the Bahr al Jabal above the Sudd to a point farther down the White Nile, bypassing the swamps and carrying the White Nile's waters directly to the main channel of the river.
Planning and construction.
Sir William Garstin, Undersecretary of State of Public Works of Egypt, created the first detailed proposal for digging a canal east of the Sudd in 1907. By bypassing the swamps, it was calculated that evaporation of the Nile's water would vastly decrease, allowing an increase in the area of cultivatable land in Egypt by two million acres.
The Jonglei canal scheme was first studied by the government of Egypt in 1946 and plans were developed in 1954-59. Construction work on the canal began in 1978 but the outbreak of political instability in Sudan has held up work for many years. By 1984 when the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) brought the works to a halt, 240 km of the canal of a total of 360 km had been excavated.
The rusting remains of the giant German-built excavation machine – nicknamed "Sarah" - are visible in satellite images near the south end of the canal. It was damaged by a missile. As peace was restored in 2000, speculation grew about a restart of the project. However on February 2, 2008, the Sudanese Government said the revival of the project was not a priority. However, in 2008, Sudan and Egypt agreed to restart the project and finish the canal after 24 years.
The independence of South Sudan in 2011 effectively ended the role of the Sudanese Government in regard to the canal. The project has been discussed, but there is currently no agreement on resuming the project.
Potential impact.
It is estimated that the Jonglei canal project would divert 3.5-4.8 x 109 m³ of water per year (equal to a mean annual discharge of 110–152 m³/s (3,883-5,368 ft³/s),
an increase of around five to seven per cent of Egypt's current supply.
Little or no consideration had been given within Egypt to the ability of the Sudd swamplands to act as a sponge and regulator of floodwaters.
The canal's highly questionable benefits would be shared by Egypt and Sudan, with the expected damage falling on South Sudan. The complex and potentially catastrophic environmental and social issues involved, including the collapse of fisheries, drying of grazing lands, a drop of groundwater levels and a reduction of rainfall in the region, limits the practicality of the project.


Christiaan Steyn

Christiaan Steyn (born 2 September 1897, date of death unknown) was a South African sprinter. He competed in the men's 4 × 100 metres relay at the 1924 Summer Olympics.


Uwini

Uwini was Makalaka leader from Zimbabwe. He was considered a divinity. He was in the resistance against the British colonialism and was accused of participating in the murder of white settlers by the British South Africa Company. He was tried by court-martial and executed on the edge of the Somaboola (Somabhula) Forest about 80 miles from Bulawayo in 1896.


List of archives in South Sudan

This is list of archives in South Sudan.


Haffon

Haffon (1695–1727) was the last ruler of the Kingdom of Whydah before it was captured by the forces of Dahomey in 1727.
Born in 1695, Haffon became King of Whydah in 1708. He was not crowned in a formal ceremony at Savi until April 1725. His coronation party included 40 of his favorite wives. The 1725 date is that given by Chevalier des Marchais but some modern scholars argue it happened in 1717-1718.


Orkoiyot

The Orkoiyot occupied a sacred and special role within the Nandi and Kipsigis people of Kenya. He held the dual roles of chief spiritual and military leader, and had the authority to make decisions regarding security particularly the waging of war. Notable Orkoiik include Kimnyole Arap Turukat, Koitalel Arap Samoei and Barsirian Arap Manyei.
Etymology.
The origin of the word is unknown though Huntinford (1927) speculates that the word orkoiyot derives from koiyo (raided cattle).
The word predates the office it would represent among the Nandi as evinced by its presence in other Kalenjin communities e.g Kony (orkōan, orkōandet) and Suk (werkoiyon). It was originally applied to a class of wizards who were perceived to be of a benevolent nature and were thus tolerated and were distinct from ponik, a class of wizards who were perceived to only be evil. Huntingford (1972) notes that the men-folk of the Kamwaike oret were the traditional orkoiik in Nandi before the Masai family of Kapuso took the pre-eminence from them.
History.
Origins.
The office that the Orkoiyot held was referred to as the Orkoinotet and was established among the Nandi by Kipsegun, a Segelai Maasai. The abilities that distinguished an Orkoiyot were hereditary and thus the office passed on to his son Arap Kipsegun though their dynasty was short-lived and ended with the son.
The second dynasty was founded through a woman named Moki chebo Cheplabot, the wife of a Maasai Laibon who fled during a war with the Nandi while pregnant. She later bore two sons, Kopokoii and Barsapotwa, while hiding in caves near Keben in the Mogobich Valley. Moki and her sons, the former who would become the first Orkoiyot of the second and last dynasty, were captured and adopted into the Talai clan. The Talai are a widespread Kalenjin clan and among the Nandi are aligned with the Lion Totem.
Genealogical Table.
The Orkoinotet lasted for over fifty years and went through a period of a dual administration during the time of Arap Kipsegun and Kopokoii until the former was ousted.
Administrative structure of the Nandi.
The Orkoiik were recognized across Nandi as being at the head of the governance system. They did not however play a large role in the affairs of everyday life; which were handled by the Kiruogik, heads of the districts and direct representatives of the people.
Kiruogik.
The Kiruogindet (pl. Kiruogik) was spokesman or counselor chosen by the people in each district ("pororiet"). They were responsible to the Orkoiyot through the Maotiot for the good governance of their respective districts and the enrollment of troops in time of war.
Maotik.
The Orkoiyot appointed one Maotiot (pl. Maotik) in each district to represent the Orkoiyot at the district level.


Muhammadu Barkindo Aliyu Musdafa

Muhammadu Barkindo Aliyu Musdafa (born February 13, 1944) was turbaned on 18 March 2010 as the traditional ruler, title Lamido of Adamawa in Adamawa State Northeastern Nigeria.
The ceremony followed by the approval of the state governor Murtala Nyako.
Early career.
Barkindo was born in Yola in February 1944, eldest son of the Lamido Aliyu Musdafa.
He attended Barewa College, Zaria and then Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria where he obtained a Diploma in Law in 1969. Later he attended North London Polytechnic (1973–1975) and St Clements University in the Turks and Caicos Islands (2000–2002).
He worked with the Nigeria Customs Service, Nigerian Port Authority and the National Freight Company.
Joining the Gongola State civil service, he became a Commissioner for Works and later a Commissioner for Animal Health.
Barkindo was a director of the National Engineering and Technical Company (1991–1993), chairman of Stirling Civil Engineering Nigeria Limited (1991–2003) and chairman of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (2003–2005).
Adamawa Emirate.
In April 2009 the Adamawa Emirate which was founded in 1809 by the scholar and spiritual leader, Modibbo Adama celebrated its bicentennial celebration. Barkindo was deputy chairman of the organizing committee.
Barkindo's father Aliyu Musdafa died on 13 March 2010 at the age of 88 after reigning for 57 years. His funeral was attended by 20 state governors and other dignitaries.
Aliyu Musdafa had groomed Barkindo for the succession, appointing him Chiroma Adamawa in 1980, and placing him in the emirate council in 1987.
Barkindo's appointment five days after his father's death as the 12th Lamido of Adamawa was recommended by the emirate's kingmakers after considering six candidates, two from each of the three ruling houses of the emirate, Yelwa, Sanda and Toungo.
All eleven kingmakers cast their votes in favor of Lamido.
In May 2010 Barkindo said traditional titles were not for sale and would be given only to worthy candidates based on recommendations of the emirate's king makers.
In June 2010 he warned of the effects of climate change, advising farmers to plant hardy crops and saying the Adamawa emirate would support policies to improve agricultural productivity.
In September 2010, as Chairman of the Adamawa State Council of Chiefs and Emirs, Barkindo called on Muslims to ensure that they marked the Eid ul-Fitr celebration at the end of Ramadan on the same day throughout the state.