A Precolonial History Of The Chuka Of Mount Kenya C.1400-L908

ABSTRACT

The major theme of this thesis is the growth and development of

the ethnic group and the ethnic awareness of the Chuka people of ~1t.

Kenya region. The thesis begins with the earliest recorded traditions

which have been dated c. 1400. It traces the origins and migrations of

the three cultural. and linguistic groups - Cushites, Paranilotes and

Bantu - which interacted and went into the Chuka amalgam. It demonstrates

that Chuka ethnicity which developed in the eighteenth and nineteenth

centuries was not tribal or an expansion of kinship loyalties.

Despite the "youth ful ness " of Central Kenyan historiography or

perhaps because of it, a number of half-truths and historical myths have

become a part of the literature of the area. The thesis seeks to demolish

or clarify a number of these including the pure tribe theory, the ancient

Bantu myth, assumptions of eastern origins, the Thagicu hypothesis and

the primitive aboriginal Chuka image.

Ethnicity arose out of interaction between the Chuka and the ring

of hostile peoples which surrounded them. Their neighbours were driven

to covet their well~watered land, their abundant almost self-sufficient

economy. The Chuka withdrew into a mountain fortress, perfected a military

barracks system which embraced the entire adult male population and

focussed their unity on the Mugwe spiritual authority. This occurred

over a remarkab ly short peri od in the ni neteenth century. The Chuka

came under colonialism as a proud, unique and peculiar people, something

of a mystery to their neighbours, the colonial authorities and modern

writers.

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