The Emergence of a Sub-Nation: A History of Babukusu to 1990

This paper examines the history of the Bukusu of Bungoma district, western Kenya, and the evolutionary process which led to their emergence as one of the 18 Luyia subnations. Where did the Bukusu come from? When did they identify themselves as a distinct cultural and political entity? The author argues that this distinction began to coalesce into an entity from the 14th century onward when the Bukusu began to split off from the Bagisu of eastern Uganda. However, according to oral traditions, the cradle land of the Bukusu is Mbayi Silikwa. The same oral traditions claim that the ancestors of both Bukusu and Bagisu lived at Mbayi Silikwa. The paper then traces the movement of the ancestors of the Bukusu through various stages up to their settlement at Bukusu hill, where the split between Bukusu and Bagisu was consummated in the 17th and 18th century. Various Bukusu clans also split at Bukusu hill, with some moving south, but the bulk moving north to the immediate western foothills of Mt Masaaba (Mt Elgon) to a place called Kisakuli. From Bukusu hill, Kisakuli or southern parts of Tororo (Bwayi), the Bukusu migrated into their present homeland on what is today the Kenyan side of the Kenya-Uganda border. Bibliogr., notes.