The Luhya are a Bantu people and the second largest ethnic group in Kenya. The Luhya belong to the larger linguistic stock known as the Bantu. The Luhya are located in western Kenya and Uganda. They are divided into 20 culturally and linguistically united clans. Once known as the Kavirondo, multiple small tribes in North Nyanza came together under the new name Baluhya between 1950 and 1960. The Bukusu are the largest Luhya subtribe and account for almost 50% of the entire Luhya population, dominating other Luhya subtribes. They live in both Bungoma and Trans-Nzoia counties.
Western Province was one of Kenya's seven administrative provinces outside Nairobi. It is inhabited mainly by the Luhya people. Quakerism is widely practised here. Kenya's second highest mountain, Mount Elgon is located in Bungoma District. The Kakamega Forest rainforest is part of the area. The province capital was Kakamega. After the 2013 general election, and the coming into effect of the new constitution, provinces became defunct and the country is currently divided into 47 counties. Each county has its own government and therefore there is no central regional capital. Western Province became the Western region, comprising four counties: Kakamega, Bungoma, Vihiga, and Busia.
Bukusu is a dialect of the Masaba language spoken by the Bukusu tribe of the Luhya people of western Kenya. It is one of several ethnically Luhya dialects; however, it is more closely related to the Gisu dialect of Masaaba in eastern Uganda than it is to other languages spoken by the Luhya.
There are about 300,800 members of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, in Africa. African Friends make up around 62% of Friends internationally, the largest proportion on any one continent. Kenya has the largest number of Quakers in a single nation – about 146,300 in the year 2012.
Vihiga is a town in Kenya located on the eastern side of the Kakamega Forest.
Busia is a county in the former Western Province of Kenya. It borders Kakamega County to the east, Bungoma County to the north, Lake Victoria and Siaya County to the south and Uganda's Busia District to the west. The county population was 893,861, as of 2019. It spans about 1,700 square kilometers, making it one of the smallest counties in Kenya. Busia is inhabited by the Luhya tribe and the Teso of Kenya, and small groups of the Luo. The Luhya communities include the Abakhayo, Marachi, Samia and Abanyala communities.
Kenya is a multilingual country.
Vihiga County is an administrative region in the former Western Province of Kenya whose headquarters are in Mbale, the largest town in the county. The county has a population of 554,622 and an area of 563 km2. Formerly a district, Vihiga was split from Kakamega District in 1990. In 2019's census, Vihiga was found to have a population of 590,013, an increase of 35,391 from 2009's count.
Nyole is a Bantu language spoken by the Banyole in Butaleja District, Uganda. There is 61% lexical similarity with a related but different Nyole language in Kenya.
The Maragoli, or Logoli (Ava-Logooli), are now the second-largest ethnic group of the 6 million-strong Luhya nation in Kenya, numbering around 2.1 million, or 15% of the Luhya people according to the last Kenyan census. Their language is called Logoli, Lulogooli, Ululogooli, or Maragoli. The name Maragoli probably emerged later on after interaction of the people with missionaries of the Quaker Church.
Mbale is a town in Kenya and is the capital and largest town of Vihiga County. It is also called Maragoli, after the indigenous inhabitants of the area.
Held in Mbale town every 26 December, the Maragoli Cultural Festival was for a long time, in decades gone by, the biggest event of the year in the region - coming a day after Christmas: probably the biggest holiday in Kenya; and frequently attended by the former president Daniel Arap Moi.
The Great Lakes Bantu languages, also known as Lacustrine Bantu and Bantu zone J, are a group of Bantu languages of East Africa. They were recognized as a group by the Tervuren team, who posited them as an additional zone to Guthrie's largely geographic classification of Bantu.
Bunyore is a locality in the Vihiga County in the western province of Kenya. It is largely inhabited by Luhya, who speak the OLunyole dialect of the Luhya language. In the local language, the place is known as Ebunyore and its people as the Abanyore. It is divided into eight locations namely Central Bunyore, West Bunyore, South Bunyore, South-West Bunyore, East Bunyore, North Bunyore, North East Bunyore, and Wekhomo. Prior to 1990, Bunyore was under Kakamega District, divided into East and West Bunyore locations. As population increased, the former West Bunyore was split into Central, West, South and South West locations while the former East Bunyore was split into North, North East, Wekhomo and East Bunyore locations in order to better serve the people.
Tiriki is one of sixteen clans and dialects of the Abaluyia people of Western Kenya. The word Tiriki is also used to refer to their Geographical Location in Hamisi Division, Vihiga County, in the Western province of Kenya. Hamisi Constituency now Hamisi Sub County is one of the longest in Kenya stretching from kiboswa(Ny'angori) to Shiru which borders Kapsabet and Musunji which borders Kakamega Forest. Some also moved to nandi county and occupied aldai and other parts of nandi county.
The Kisa, also known as Abakisa or Abashisa, are one of the sixteen tribes of the Luhya nation of Kenya. They occupy the Kisa area within the Khwisero division of Butere-Mumias district. The Kisa are sandwiched between the Marama of Butere, the Idakho of Kakamega and the Nyore of Vihiga district.
Nyole is a Bantu language spoken by the Luhya people in Vihiga District, Kenya. There is 61% lexical similarity with a related but different Nyole dialect in Uganda.
Idakho, Isukha, and Tiriki are mutually intelligible Kenyan languages within the Luhya ethnic group. They are a set of languages closely related to some other Luhya ethnic groups like Maragoli, but less so in comparison to others, like Bukusu,Tachoni or Samia,
Logooli is a Bantu language with several hundred thousand speakers in Kenya and a few hundred speakers in Mara Region, Tanzania. It is spoken by the Maragoli, the second-largest Luhya tribe, but is not particularly close to other languages spoken by the Luhya.
Esabalu is a village located on the border of Vihiga and Kisumu counties in western Kenya.
