Nyanza 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...

, is one of Kenya's eight administrative provinces. It is located in the southwest part of Kenya around Lake Victoria

Lake Victoria

Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. The lake was named for Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, by John Hanning Speke, the first European to discover this lake....

. Nyanza

Nyanza

Nyanza may refer to:*Nyanza, Rwanda**Nyanza District, the district surrounding Nyanza, Rwanda*Nyanza Province, Kenya*Nyanza Lac, Burundi*Nyanza, the Bantu word for lake, in particular:**Lake Albert **Lake Edward...

 includes part of the eastern edge of Lake Victoria and is inhabited predominantly by the Luo

Luo (Kenya and Tanzania)

The Luo are an ethnic group in Kenya, eastern Uganda, and northern Tanzania. They are part of a larger group of ethnolinguistically related Luo peoples who inhabit an area including southern Sudan, northern and eastern Uganda, western Kenya, and northern Tanzania.The Luo are the third largest...

. There are also Bantu-speaking

Bantu languages

The Bantu languages constitute a traditional sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages. There are about 250 Bantu languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility, though the distinction between language and dialect is often unclear, and Ethnologue counts 535 languages...

 tribes such as the Gusii, the Kuria

Kuria (ethnic group)

thumb|Kenyan Kuria men singing and dancing.The Kuria are an ethnic and linguistic group resident in the Tarime and Serengeti districts of the Mara region in Northern Tanzania, and the west and east districts of Nyanza Province in southwest Kenya...

 and a few traces of the Luhya living in the province. The province derives its name from Nyanza, a Bantu word which means a large mass of water.

The provincial capital is Kisumu

Kisumu

Kisumu is a port city in western Kenya at , with a population of 355,024 . It is the third largest city in Kenya, the principal city of western Kenya, the immediate former capital of Nyanza Province and the headquarters of Kisumu County. It has a municipal charter but no city charter...

, the third largest city in Kenya. The province has a population of 4,392,196 (as of 1999) within an area of 16,162 km².

The climate is tropical humid.

Districts

Initially, Nyanza had four administrative districts. Since the 1990s, the province has been further divided into the following districts:

District :

Bondo

Bondo District

Bondo District is an administrative district in the Nyanza Province of Kenya. Its capital town is Bondo. The Bondo District has a population of 238,780 . The district is relatively new; it was created in 1998 from southern parts of the Siaya District...

 
Gucha

Gucha District

Gucha District is a district in Nyanza Province, western Kenya. It is also known by the name: South Kisii District or Ogembo District. Its population is approximately 461,000...

 
Homa Bay

Homa Bay District

Homa Bay District is an administrative district in the Nyanza Province of Kenya. Its capital town is Homa Bay. The district has a population of 288,540 and an area of 1,160 km² .The district has two constituencies:*Ndhiwa Constituency...

 
Kisii

Kisii District

Kisii District is a district in the Nyanza Province in southwestern Kenya. Its capital town is Kisii. The district is inhabited mostly by the Gusii people.- Subdivisions :The County has 4 electoral Constituencies:*Bonchari Constituency...

 
Kisumu

Kisumu District

Kisumu District is an administrative district of Nyanza Province in western Kenya. Its headquarters is Kisumu City. It has a population of 504,359 and a land area of 919 km² . The main industries are subsistence agriculture and fishery on Lake Victoria. Kisumu Town is the main commercial...

 
Kuria

Kuria District

Kuria District is an administrative district in the Nyanza Province of Kenya. Its capital town is Kehancha . The district has a population of 256,086 and an area of 581 km²...

 
Migori

Migori District

Migori District is an administrative district in the Nyanza Province of Kenya. It is located in southwestern Kenya. Its capital town is Migori. The district has a population of 514,897 and an area of 2,005 km² ....

 
Nyamira 
Nyando

Nyando District

Nyando district is a fairly new district in Kenya which broke away from Kisumu District in Nyanza Province in 1998. Nyando district borders the Rift Valley Province. The district is named after the Nyando River....

 
Rachuonyo

Rachuonyo District

Rachuonyo District is an administrative district in the Nyanza Province of Kenya. Its capital town is Kosele, formerly it was located in Oyugis. The district has a population of 307,126 and an area of 945 km² . The district has two constituencies: Kasipul Kabondo and Karachuonyo.- External links :*...

 
Siaya

Siaya District

Siaya District is one of the twelve districts that make up Nyanza Province in the southwest part of Kenya. It is bordered by Busia District to the North, Vihiga and Butere/Mumias Districts to the North-East, Bondo District to the South, and Kisumu District to the South-East. The total area of the...

 
Suba

Suba District

Suba District is an administrative district in the Nyanza Province of Kenya. Its capital town is Mbita Point. The district has a population of 155,666 and an area of 1,055 km² . Suba district is named after the Suba people, who inhabit local Rusinga and Mfangano Islands.The district has two...

 

Districts after 2007

Several new districts were created in 2007 in Kenya, also in Nyanza Province:

District	Capital
Bondo Bondo District Bondo District is an administrative district in the Nyanza Province of Kenya. Its capital town is Bondo. The Bondo District has a population of 238,780 . The district is relatively new; it was created in 1998 from southern parts of the Siaya District...	Bondo Bondo, Kenya Bondo is a town in Nyanza Province of Kenya. It the capital of Bondo District. Bondo is located 50 kilometres west of Kisumu, the provincial capital. Bondo forms a town council with a population of 29,165, of whom 7,797 are classified urban ....
Borabu	Nyansiongo
Gucha Gucha District Gucha District is a district in Nyanza Province, western Kenya. It is also known by the name: South Kisii District or Ogembo District. Its population is approximately 461,000...	Ogembo Ogembo Ogembo is a town, capital of the Gucha District of Nyanza Province, Kenya....
Homa Bay Homa Bay District Homa Bay District is an administrative district in the Nyanza Province of Kenya. Its capital town is Homa Bay. The district has a population of 288,540 and an area of 1,160 km² .The district has two constituencies:*Ndhiwa Constituency...	Homa Bay Homa Bay Homa Bay is a bay and town on the south shore of Winam Gulf of Lake Victoria, in western Kenya. It lies near Mount Homa and Ruma National Park, the latter noted for Jackson's hartebeests and roan antelope .Homa Bay was once the District...
Kisii	Kisii Kisii, Kenya Kisii town, located south-western Kenya, is the main urban and commercial centre in Gusii Highlands. A vibrant town, the Kisii municipality has a population of about 83,000, according to 2008 estimates. However, it has a large dependent metropolitan population of over 100,000 residents, as per the...
Kisumu East	Kisumu town
Kisumu West	Holo Holo Holo may refer to:* Holo-, a root of Greek origin meaning "whole", "all" or "total" in English* Hoklo people , a Han ethnic group found throughout Asia whose traditional homeland are in Fujian, China...
Kuria West District	Kehancha
Kuria East District	Kegonga
Manga
Masaba	Keroka Keroka Keroka is a small town in Kenya's Nyanza Province. It is about 15km from the much larger town of Kisii, which is locally known as Bosongo. Keroka is mainly inhabited by the Abagusii people and lies in the middle of Kisii-Sotik highway. The town is usually overcrowded on Thursdays and Sundays such...
Migori Migori District Migori District is an administrative district in the Nyanza Province of Kenya. It is located in southwestern Kenya. Its capital town is Migori. The district has a population of 514,897 and an area of 2,005 km² ....	Migori Migori Migori is a town in Nyanza Province of Kenya. Migori is capital of the Migori District. The town is located 63 km south of Kisii and 22 km north of the Tanzanian border. The town has an urban population of 31,644 and total population of 46,576 ....
Nyamira	Nyamira Nyamira Nyamira District is an administrative district in the Nyanza Province of Kenya. It was formerly part of the Kisii District and is sometimes called as North Kisii District. The district has a population of 492,102...
Nyando Nyando District Nyando district is a fairly new district in Kenya which broke away from Kisumu District in Nyanza Province in 1998. Nyando district borders the Rift Valley Province. The district is named after the Nyando River....	Awasi
Rachuonyo Rachuonyo District Rachuonyo District is an administrative district in the Nyanza Province of Kenya. Its capital town is Kosele, formerly it was located in Oyugis. The district has a population of 307,126 and an area of 945 km² . The district has two constituencies: Kasipul Kabondo and Karachuonyo.- External links :*...	Kosele
Rarieda	Madiany
Rongo	Rongo Rongo In Māori mythology, Rongo is a major god, the god of cultivated food, especially the kūmara, a vital food crop. Other food crops cultivated by Māori in traditional times include taro, yams , cordyline , and gourds . Because of their tropical origin, most of these crops were difficult to grow except...
Siaya Siaya District Siaya District is one of the twelve districts that make up Nyanza Province in the southwest part of Kenya. It is bordered by Busia District to the North, Vihiga and Butere/Mumias Districts to the North-East, Bondo District to the South, and Kisumu District to the South-East. The total area of the...	Siaya Siaya Siaya is a town in Nyanza Province of Kenya. It is the capital of Siaya District. It is located 50 kilometres Northwest of Kisumu, the provincial capital. Siaya forms munipical council with population of 41,174, of whom 13,787 are classified urban ....
Suba Suba District Suba District is an administrative district in the Nyanza Province of Kenya. Its capital town is Mbita Point. The district has a population of 155,666 and an area of 1,055 km² . Suba district is named after the Suba people, who inhabit local Rusinga and Mfangano Islands.The district has two...	Sindo Sindo Sindo may refer to:* Sindo , a county in North Pyongan province.* Sindo , a martial art from Indonesia* Sindo , an island off Incheon, South Korea.* Sindo, Kenya, a town in Suba District in Kenya....

Languages

The predominant language in Nyanza is Dholuo

Dholuo language

The Luo language, Dholuo or Luo proper, is the eponymous language of the Luo group of Nilotic languages, spoken by about 4.4 million Luo people of Kenya and Tanzania, who occupy parts of the eastern shore of Lake Victoria and areas to the south...

, a Nilotic language

Nilotic languages

The Nilotic languages are a group of Eastern Sudanic languages spoken across a wide area between southern Sudan and Tanzania by the Nilotic peoples, particularly associated with cattle-herding...

 whose origins are from Southern Sudan, spoken by the Luo

Luo (Kenya and Tanzania)

The Luo are an ethnic group in Kenya, eastern Uganda, and northern Tanzania. They are part of a larger group of ethnolinguistically related Luo peoples who inhabit an area including southern Sudan, northern and eastern Uganda, western Kenya, and northern Tanzania.The Luo are the third largest...

.

Other languages include Gusii

Gusii language

The Gusii language is a Bantu language spoken in the Kisii district in western Kenya,whose head-quarters is Kisii town, . It is spoken by the Gusii people, numbering about 1.5 million...

, Luhya

Luhya languages

Luhya is a Bantu dialect cluster spoken in the western part of Kenya by the Luhya people. Minor populations of Luhya speakers are also found in Uganda, especially in Busia. Although the Luhya principally occupy the Western province of Kenya, substantial populations have settled in the Kitale area...

, Kuria

Kuria language

Kuria is spoken by the Kuria peoples of Northern Tanzania, with some speakers also residing in Kenya....

, Suba

Suba language

The Suba language is the language of Kenya's Suba people. As the Suba number very few to begin with , and the majority have begun speaking Dholuo as their main language, Suba is on the verge of extinction. The remaining speakers are mostly elderly residents on the island of Mfangano...

 and the national languages English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 and Swahili

Swahili language

Swahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia...

. Other languages from the many Kenyan communities are also spoken in small pockets by migrants from these communities.

Notable residents

Barack Obama, Sr.

Barack Obama, Sr.

Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. was a Kenyan senior governmental economist and the father of U.S. President Barack Obama. He is a central subject in his son's memoir, Dreams from My Father.-Early life:...

, was born in the Nyanza Province. He is the father of the President of the United States

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 Barack Obama, Jr. Others include the independence fighters and socialist politicians Achieng Oneko

Achieng Oneko

Ramogi Achieng Oneko was a Kenyan freedom fighter and a politician. In Kenya, he is considered as a national hero.He was born in Tieng'a village in Uyoma sub-location in Bondo District in 1920 and educated at Maseno School.- Detention :...

 and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga

Jaramogi Oginga Odinga

Jaramogi Ajuma Oginga Odinga was a Luo Chief, who became a prominent figure in Kenya's struggle for independence. He later served as Kenya's first Vice-President, and thereafter as opposition leader...

, the latter's son Prime Minister Raila Odinga

Raila Odinga

Raila Amollo Odinga , also popularly known to Kenyans as Agwambo, is a Kenyan politician, currently serving as the Prime Minister of Kenya in a coalition government. He has served as a Member of Parliament for Langata since 1992, was Minister of Energy from 2001 to 2002, and was Minister of Roads,...

, former ministers Robert Ouko and Tom Mboya

Tom Mboya

Thomas Joseph Odhiambo Mboya was a prominent Kenyan politician during Jomo Kenyatta's government. He was founder of the Nairobi People's Congress Party, a key figure in the formation of the Kenya African National Union , and the Minister of Economic Planning and Development at the time of his death...

, and the historian Bethwell Allan Ogot

Bethwell Allan Ogot

Dr Bethwell Allan Ogot — known as B.A. Ogot — is a noted Kenyan and Luo historian. He is currently the Chancellor of Moi University...

.

External links

Languages

• http://www.yale.edu/swahili Swahili- English translation
• Kisii Language - Kisii English- Ekegusii translation