Marakwet
Encyclopedia
- Marakwet is also a district in Kenya, see Marakwet DistrictMarakwet DistrictMarakwet District is an administrative district in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya. Its capital town is Kapsowar. The district has a population of 140.629 . Local people are predominantly of the Marakwet tribe....
Marakwet is a corruption of Markweta. It is a tribe of the Kalenjin people, with an estimated population of 200 000. It is made of the clans Almoo, Cherangany (Sengwer or Kimaala), Endoow, Markweta (the dialect giving rise to the common name), Sombirir (Borokot) and Kiptaani who presently predominantly live in Marakwet District
Marakwet District
Marakwet District is an administrative district in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya. Its capital town is Kapsowar. The district has a population of 140.629 . Local people are predominantly of the Marakwet tribe....
in the North Rift Valley
Rift Valley Province, Kenya
Rift Valley Province of Kenya, bordering Uganda, is one of Kenya's seven administrative provinces outside Nairobi.Rift Valley Province is the largest and one of the most economically important provinces in Kenya. It is dominated by the Great Rift Valley which passes through it and gives the...
Province of Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
. Some now live in Trans Nzoia East and Uasin Gishu North districts and indeed in other towns in Kenya. A few more have moved to live in as far away places as Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Southern Africa
Southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. Within the region are numerous territories, including the Republic of South Africa ; nowadays, the simpler term South Africa is generally reserved for the country in English.-UN...
, and even Tennessee/Washington / New York in the USA. Some of the greatest long distance and especially steeplechase runners in the world have come from amongst these people.
They lead a simple rural life characterised by mixed small scale farming and keeping of dairy cows, sheep, and chicken. They grow mostly maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
, potatoes, beans and vegetables in the highlands. Those who live along the escarpment and the Kerio Valley
Kerio Valley
Kerio Valley lies between the Tugen Hills and the Elgeyo escarpment at an elevation of 1,000 m. in the Great Rift Valley in Kenya. The valley lies in a narrow, long strip approximately 80 km by 10 km wide at its widest, through which the Kerio River flows....
keep mostly goats and beef zebu
Zebu
Zebu , sometimes known as humped cattle, indicus cattle, Cebu or Brahmin cattle are a type of domestic cattle originating in South Asia, particularly the Indian subcontinent. They are characterised by a fatty hump on their shoulders, drooping ears and a large dewlap...
cows and grow millet
Millet
The millets are a group of small-seeded species of cereal crops or grains, widely grown around the world for food and fodder. They do not form a taxonomic group, but rather a functional or agronomic one. Their essential similarities are that they are small-seeded grasses grown in difficult...
, sorghum
Sorghum
Sorghum is a genus of numerous species of grasses, one of which is raised for grain and many of which are used as fodder plants either cultivated or as part of pasture. The plants are cultivated in warmer climates worldwide. Species are native to tropical and subtropical regions of all continents...
, cassava
Cassava
Cassava , also called yuca or manioc, a woody shrub of the Euphorbiaceae native to South America, is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates...
, vegetables and fruits mostly mangoes and oranges. There is a sophisticated pre-historic irrigation furrow system that supports this crop cultivation along the Kerio Valley that is thought to be over 500 years old.
The Marakwet were formed in groups/sections/clans characterised by their recognition of no authority higher than the asiswo (the assembly of all adult males of the section). They forged a form of association through their common residence along the Kerio Valley and the slopes of the Cherangani Hills
Cherangani Hills
Cherangani Hills, gently rolling slopes in the western highlands of Kenya, are one of Kenya's five main forests. The highlands, the large central plateau, is divided by the Mau Escarpment rising from the border with Tanzania up to the Cherangani Hills, fencing the plateau that rises to the slopes...
.
The traditional Marakwet religion consisted of multiple deities with hierarchical ranking. The most important deity was Assis (the sun), sometimes fondly referred to as Chebetip chemataw. He is mostly associated with blessings and good will. Another deity is Ilat (god of thunder). He is associated with rain and in dry seasons sacrifices were made to appease him. He is also associated with fury and vengeance whereby he causes droughts or strikes people with lightning if he is angered.
The territory occupied by the Marakwet is one of the most beautiful and picturesque parts of Kenya, bounded to the east by the Kerio River
Kerio River
Kerio is a river in Rift Valley province, Kenya. It flows northward into Lake Turkana. It is one of the longest rivers in Kenya, originating near the equator. In south it flows through the Kerio Valley between Tugen Hills and Elgeyo escarpment. The river also partly bounds the South Turkana...
at 1000 m above sea level, which runs through a small branch of the Great Rift Valley
Great Rift Valley
The Great Rift Valley is a name given in the late 19th century by British explorer John Walter Gregory to the continuous geographic trench, approximately in length, that runs from northern Syria in Southwest Asia to central Mozambique in South East Africa...
. To the west it includes almost the entire Cherang’any hills which rise to 3 300 m above sea level west of the Marakwet escarpment.
The Marakwet district headquarters is at the hilly town of Kapsowar
Kapsowar
Kapsowar is a small town in the Rift Valley Province, Kenya. In 1994 Kapsowar became the headquarters of the Marakwet District. Prior to this, the Marakwet and Keiyo tribes were collectively grouped into the Elgeiyo-Markwet District...
. Other rural centres/towns are Chebiemit
Chebiemit
Chebiemit is a settlement in Kenya's Rift Valley Province....
, Kapcherop
Kapcherop
Kapcherop is a town and administrative division of the Marakwet District, Rift Valley Province, Kenya.The administrative division had a population of 39,328 in 1999.The town is the birthplace of Kenyan runner Ismael Kirui....
, Cheptongei, Arroor, Chesongoch, Chesoi
Chesoi
Chesoi is a settlement in Kenya's Rift Valley Province....
, Kapyego, Tot, Sangach, Kapchebau, Kakimiti, Meuno, Kamogo, Tirap
Tirap
Tirap can refer to:* Tirap district, district in Arunachal Pradesh* Tirap River, river that flows in Tirap district* Tirap, Kenya* TIRAP, toll-interleukin 1 receptor domain containing adaptor protein...
and Embobut Mosop.
Marakwet people speak the Markweta language
Markweta language
Markweta is a Kalenjin language of Kenya. The regional terms Endo and Sambirir have been used for northern and southern Markweta, but they are not distinct dialects....
.
War with neighboring tribe Pokot
The Marakwet and PokotPokot
The Pokot people live in the West Pokot and Baringo Districts of Kenya and in eastern Karamoja in Uganda. They speak Pökoot, language of the Southern Nilotic language family...
tribes are both sub-groups of the larger Kalenjin. The war started as a result of Livestock
Livestock
Livestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...
theft
Theft
In common usage, theft is the illegal taking of another person's property without that person's permission or consent. The word is also used as an informal shorthand term for some crimes against property, such as burglary, embezzlement, larceny, looting, robbery, shoplifting and fraud...
, and has since then gone through war and peace.war has been raging between some marakwet clans e.g kapkau and karel from the valley because of land dispute and this has resulted to loss of lifes(11 people were killed in kapkau). there was demonstration by people of sambirir location over alleged killing pf people and they requested the government to carry operation in the lower part to remove all guns but nothing has been done. the DC promised to act in order to make marakwet a peaceful place.