A Traditional History of the Abakuria C. A.D. 1400-1914

208 Pages·1980·38.845 MB·English

by  Paul Asaka Abuso

A Traditional History of the
ABAKURIA
C. A.D. 1400-1914
Paul Asaka Abuso
MOI UNIVERSITY
IIU H1 111 H II
20035503
KENYA LITERATURE BUREAU
NAIROBI
Kl N' A 111 LI{!\ I lJRb BUJU J\U
P.O. Box 30022, Nairobi
© PAUL ASAKA ABUSO
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First published /980 t .. .:)
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Co11tents
Page
A ck ·ledge, t s
11011 11e11
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Abbreviations . ,
IX
Chapter
l. Introduction
2. The Environn1ent and .the Neighbours of the
Abakuria
23
3. Early Settlers of Bukuria to c. 1600
A.D. 53
4. The People of Bukuria: Phase I c. 1400-
A.D.
1750
69
5. The Peopling of Bukuria: Phase II c. A.D. 1750-
1886
100
Social and Political Organisations of the
Abakuria, c. A.D. 1400- 1914 135
7. The Colonial Period, c. A.D. 1400-1914
166
Bibliography
186
Jvfaps
1. Place- Na1ne ~1lap of Bukuria and Its
Neighbours pp. 22 ,
2. The Peopling of Bukuria. c. 1400 1914
between pp. 68
3. Bukuria Locations
between pp. 134
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whole reiea..... pe
Bethwel: .A! n 0
:he l!~ve. . ~:. o: -
aot only sugge te a~ :
rr.e but also a~~iste m~ a::
Secondly, I wou'
the His:ory Department in :he l-;,:, e. . ,:~: ·"' ....
assistance and adYi e. es-.;:>c: :· :n. :.te · ·~. _ .-
~~:
1:'.., • ~
various stages of this :udy. In :.....:- c ec-:~ n I , ·
especially Dr. \Villiam Robc:-t O"' :e.:g' O.t' nd ~. n1y
1
visor. He helped me a great de ... : : e, ::. . ;e
~ ~ 1~1-- · u : •
An expert in Gu ii his:ory, hi- . 1 c e··:1 • :
"'I: - 1'" .. .11 -1
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his!ory was invaluab_e.
Thirdly, I wou!d like to thank J 1ny inf rn1.1;:: - in hr
field for the very warm we:con1e nd , ::: -::111"'"' 1 r "'ei, t I
from them whene\'er I vi i:ed t;1en1. Ti1cy \e me tlk ir
.=-•
ideas in a free and friendly m nner. In thi- c nn ·: n I
~
-_>
would like to thank espc1..ia]y m_ · .. ~ nt in 1e fi .. , . ~ lr.
Lukas Rioba of \'am·:ro in B~kuri.1. In the CLt': ' ,f
.1 ...
months that we workeu together I came t k.n w him ~L .1
real friend.
I would al o like to thank e ~~1..i. lly fr. P er J um
viii A Trad,ttonal llisto,y of the Ahakuria
Onguko, a teacher at Taranganya Secondary School in
Bukuria. He kindly lodged me for the whole period of my
research jn Bukuria. His hospitality to me was deep and very
affectionate.
My sincere thanks also go to my wife Alice, whose fellow
ship has been a real source of strength to me during this
period of my work.
Finally, I would like to thank Miss Grace Owuor, of the
Department of Philosophy and Religious Studjes at the
University of :Nairobi, who for many long hours patiently
'typed the thesis in j' s final stage. Heir work is greatly apprc
ci a ted.
Abbreviations
D.C
District Commissioner
E.A.
East Africa
E.A.I.S.R.
East African Institute of Social Re-
search
E.A.L.1B.
East African Literature Bureau
E.A.P.H.
East African Publishing House
H.D., U. of N.
History Department, University of
Nairobi
I.A.S.
Institute of African Studies
J.A.H.
Journal of African History
K.N.A.
Kenya National Archives
M.E.A.L.A.
Member of the East African Legislative
Assembly
M.I.S.R.C.
Makerere Institute of Social Research
Conference
O.U.P.
Oxford University Press
UCN/HD.
University College Nairobi/I-Iistory
Department
( llAPTER 0NH
I11trodt1ction
During the past ten years or so big strides have been made
in the study of pre-colonial history of East Africa. It was
in 1963 that Oliver and Mathew edited History of East
Africa, Volzane One as "an experi1nent", to use ,their own
language. As a book dealing with the pre-colonial history
of East Africa it was the first volume of its kind ever written
with an attempt to put the African people, and not their
European colonisers, in the foreground. Five chapters out of
twelve in the book dealt almost wholly with the history of
the people in the interior of East Africa. This, as the editors
of the volume explained in their introduction, was a great leap
forward. Previously, as the editors themselves admit, such a
history "would have been almost solely a record of European
initiative in policy and administra,tion, economic develop
ment, technical and social services, education, and religious
proselytism." And previously where history of the Africans
was touched on, such history would deal almos,t wholly with
the coastal people of Mombasa, Malindi, Zanzibar, Pemba,
Kilwa and other numerous coastal settlements; moreover,
these would only be studied in connection with Arab traoers
and religious proselyters there.
Times had changed tremendously when Oliver and Mathew
were compiling their volume. With all the four East African
states becoming politically independent it was necessary for
historians, too, to change and to "become more realistic",
according to the editors. The volume seems, therefore, to
hlve been prepared to meet the needs of the rising East
A I'rndilional llt.\lory of the A /,a~
1uu1
African historians and the general Af ric.:an public at la, gc
who would b living in independent states and would wlrnt
to r ad about their own history instead of those of f orci ,
11
countries.
The volume was also very important because for the firq
time the his,tory of East Africa was extended far back in
time to the Stone Age period. Previously, it wa5 a common
conviction among historians interested in African history
that before the advent of colonisation in Africa the Africans
had no history. Africa, those historians believed, was a conti
nent without historical change except for the few parts of it
settled either by Arabs or by Europeans. Professor Trcvor
Ro.per, perhaps one of the most out.spoken of this school of
thought, stated his mind very clearly on this topic when
he said that nowadays undergraduates
"demand that they should b.e taught African history. Per
haps in the future there will be some African history to
teach. But at present there is none: there is only the history
of the Europeans in Africa. The rest is darkness ... and
darkness is not a subject of history. Please do not 1~1isundcr
stand me," Trevor-Roper said. "I do not deny that life
existed even in dark countries and dark centuries. nor that
they had political life and culture. interesting to socioloP,i\ts
and anthropofo,gists, but history, I do believe, is essentially a
form of movement. and purposive movement too. It is nc1t
a mere phantasmagoria of changing shapes ~nd coc;times. of
battles and conquests, dynasties and usurpation. social f <.)rms
and social disintegration".1
So that according to that line of thinking, African societic~
were described by historians, anthropologists, and sociologists
alike as static, primitive, jndigenous, nati e, or traditional,
to use some of the common terms applied by such schoJars
in their studies of African societies.
But a · Prufe ·sor B. A. Ogot h:.i•.; rightly point d <,ut, such
an argum\.!nt is 'mt.!aningless verbiage". Today it is
1:0m-