Kalenjin is an ethnic group of Nilotic origin living in the Great Rift Valley in western Kenya. The Kalenjin population is estimated at roughly 3 million. There are several smaller tribal groupings within the Kalenjin: Elgeyo, Keiyo, Kipsigis, Marakwet, Nandi, Pokot, Sabaot, Terik, and Tugen. They are pastoralists and are believed to have migrated to their present location from Sudan 2,000 years ago. Nilotic refers to a number of indigenous East African peoples originating in northeast Africa in the region of the Nile River. ... Northern section of the Great Rift Valley. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... The Kipsigis is a pastoralist ethnic group in Kenya, speaking the Kipsigis language. ... Marakwet is a corruption of Markweta. ... The Nandi is a Kenyan ethnic group or tribe living in the highland areas of the Nandi Hills in Rift Valley Province; they form a sub-group of the Kalenjin. ... The Pokot people (commonly spelled Pökoot, in older literature Suk) live in the West Pokot and Baringo districts of Kenya and in the eastern borderland of Uganda, east of the Karimojong area. ... The Terik people are a Kalenjin tribe inhabiting parts of the Kakamega and Nandi Districts of western Kenya, numbering about 120 000 people. ... The Tugen are a branch of the Kalenjin community and they occupy the districts of Baringo and Koibatek in Rift Valley, Kenya. ... Pastoralists are people whose main source of livelihood is livestock with which they move seasonally in search of fresh pasture and water. ...

Until the early 1950s the Kenyan peoples now known as the Kalenjin did not have a common name; they were usually referred to as the 'Nandi-speaking tribes' by scholars and administration officials, a practice that did not immediately come to a halt after the adoption of the common name 'Kalenjin' (cf. Evans-Pritchard 1965). In the late 1940s and the early 1950s, several Nandi-speaking peoples united to assume the common name 'Kalenjin', a Nandi expression meaning I say (to you). Due to this effort, the peoples were transformed into a major ethnic group in Kenya. The Kalenjin make up about 12% of Kenya's population nowadays. The adoption of the name Kalenjin also involved a standardization of the different dialects of Nandi.

The languages of the Kenyan Kalenjin peoples are classified under the linguistic family of Kalenjin languages, which also encompasses languages spoken in Tanzania (e.g. Akie) and Uganda (e.g. Kupsabiny). Due to this even broader use of the term 'Kalenjin', it is common practice in linguistic literature to refer to the languages of the Kenyan Kalenjin peoples as the 'Nandi languages'. The Kalenjin languages are a group of twelve related Southern Nilotic languages spoken in Kenya, eastern Uganda and northern Tanzania. ... The Akie (sometimes called Mosiro, which is an Akie clan name) are an ethnic and linguistic group based in Tanzania. ...

The Kalenjin have been called by some "the running tribe." Since the mid-1960s, Kenyan men have earned the largest share of major honors 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 honors available to men in international athletics at these distances (Olympic medals, World Championships medals, and World Cross Country Championships honors) have been earned by Kalenjin. In recent years, Kenyan women have become a major presence in international athletics at the distances; most of these women are also Kalenjin. It was speculated that the Kalenjin may possess some unique genetic predispositions for running; however, all available genetic research doesn't prove the existence of any mysterious "running genes" in the Kalenjin tribe. It rather seems that their running success results from the combination of their slender physique (see Nilotic type) and the influence of altitude. A womens 400 metre hurdles race on a typical outdoor red rubber track. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... Olympics redirects here. ... The World Championships in Athletics is an event organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations. ...

References

• Evans-Pritchard, E.E. (1965) 'The political structure of the Nandi-speaking peoples of Kenya', in The position of women in primitve societies and other essays in social anthropology, pp. 59–75.
• Omosule, Monone (1989) 'Kalenjin: the emergence of a corporate name for the 'Nandi-speaking tribes' of East Africa', Genève-Afrique, 27, 1, pp. 73–88.
• Sutton, J.E.G. (1978) 'The Kalenjin', in Ogot, B.A. (ed.) Kenya before 1900, pp. 21–52.

See also

• Kalenjin languages
• Elgeyo
• Daniel arap Moi

The Kalenjin languages are a group of twelve related Southern Nilotic languages spoken in Kenya, eastern Uganda and northern Tanzania. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

External links

• Kalenjin Online