The People of East Africa
Primary 6 · Social and Religious Studies
The People of East Africa
Lesson 1 of 4
25 min
Let's begin
Byiringiro plays in a schools' football tournament with teams from Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.
A boy from Kampala points at the crowd and says "abantu bangi", many people. Byiringiro laughs. In Kinyarwanda, people are abantu too!
Why do languages from different countries share words? Today you will find out how the peoples of East Africa are grouped by the languages they speak.
East Africa includes countries such as Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. Hundreds of different peoples live here. Each has its own customs, songs, foods and stories.
To understand how these peoples are related, experts look at the languages they speak. Languages that grew from the same very old language belong to one language group. They share many words and sounds, just like brothers and sisters share a family likeness.
East Africa has three big language groups: Bantu, Nilotic and Cushitic.
Most people in East Africa speak a Bantu language. The word Bantu itself means "people" in many of these languages.
| Language | "a person" | "people" |
|---|---|---|
| Kinyarwanda | umuntu | abantu |
| Luganda (Uganda) | omuntu | abantu |
| Kiswahili | mtu | watu |
Bantu-speaking peoples include the Banyarwanda of Rwanda, the Barundi of Burundi, the Baganda of Uganda, the Kikuyu and Luhya of Kenya, and the Chagga and Sukuma of Tanzania. Most of them grow crops and also keep animals.
All Rwandans share one Bantu language, Kinyarwanda, together with one culture and one country.
Nilotic languages first grew up in the Nile valley, in what is now South Sudan. Nilotic-speaking peoples include the Luo and Kalenjin of Kenya, the Acholi, Alur and Karamojong of Uganda, the Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania, and the Dinka and Nuer of South Sudan.
Many Nilotic peoples are known as cattle keepers. For them, cattle are wealth, gifts and a sign of respect. Some, like the Luo near Lake Victoria, also farm and fish.
Cushitic languages are spoken mainly in the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Somalia and nearby lands), with smaller groups in Kenya and Tanzania. Cushitic-speaking peoples include the Somali, the Oromo (among them the Borana of northern Kenya), the Rendille of Kenya and the Iraqw of Tanzania.
Many live in the drier north of Kenya, where they herd camels, cattle and goats.
Worked example
Which group does Kiswahili belong to?
Step 1 Find its word for "a person": mtu.
Step 2 Compare it with Kinyarwanda umuntu: both have the -ntu / -tu sound.
Step 3 So Kiswahili is a Bantu language.
Important
Why we group peoples by language
Long ago, some European writers sorted Africans into "races" by how they looked. They invented stories claiming that some peoples were better than others, or that some Rwandans were foreigners. These ideas were false.
Colonial rulers used them to divide Rwandans, who share one language, one culture and one country. That division later fed hatred. Today we group peoples only by the languages they speak, and we respect every culture equally.
Tip
Listen for the word for "person"
If it sounds like -ntu or -tu (umuntu, omuntu, mtu), the language is Bantu.
Nilotic languages started by the Nile, and the names even sound alike. Cushitic languages come from the Horn of Africa.
Answer each one, then tap Show answer to check.
Name the three big language groups of East Africa.
Answer: Bantu, Nilotic and Cushitic.
Which language group does Kinyarwanda belong to?
Answer: Bantu.
Which group do the Maasai belong to: Bantu, Nilotic or Cushitic?
Answer: Nilotic.
The Somali people live in the Horn of Africa and in north-eastern Kenya. Which group are they?
Answer: Cushitic.
Why is it wrong to rank some peoples as better than others?
Answer: every people has equal dignity. Such rankings were false ideas used to divide people and spread hatred.
What you learned today
Sources and credits
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Quick check
Match each people to its language group.
Tap one on the left, then its partner on the right.
