Majority: African Traditional Religion, Christianity Minority: Islam
Related ethnic groups
Mijikenda, other Bantu peoples
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The Giriama (also called Giryama) are one of the nine ethnic groups that make up the Mijikenda (which literally translates to "nine towns").
The Mijikenda occupy the coastal strip extending from Lamu in the north to the Kenya/Tanzania border in the south, and approximately 30 km inland. The Giriama are among the largest of these ethnic groups. They inhabit the area bordered by the coastal cities of Mombasa and Malindi, and the inland towns of Mariakani and Kaloleni.
The Giriama is one of the largest groups of the Mijikenda people in the back-up area of the Northeast coast of Kenya. The Giriama are subdivided into clans which include Thoya, Mweni, Nyundo, Nyale and so on. The Giriama are a peaceful people who practiced active resistance against the British.[2]
In recent years, the Giriama have extended their living space down to the coast. They are now a big part of service employees in the growing tourism centres. Education programmes initiated by the state included building of central primary schools alongside the coast street. School attendance has become compulsory even for girls up to an age of 12 years. The continuous migration of Giriama to places such as Takaungu and Mtwapa has allowed them to get access to paid labour, hence they have become part of manpower resources, which were once dominated by the Chonyi.
The relationship of the Giriama to other Mijikenda groups such as the Ribe, Rabai, Digo and Duruma is rather loose. The Kamba and Jibana have mixed with the coastal population in recent decades. Only a very few villages could sustain them. The Kauma have also been assimilated. The area around the Kilifi Creek is inhabited by Giriama up to nearly 90 percent.[3]
^"2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census Volume IV: Distribution of Population by Socio-Economic Characteristics". Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
^Smith, Cynthia Brantley (1973). THE GIRIAMA RISING, 1914: FOCUS FOR POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE KENYA HINTERLAND 1850-1963 (Thesis thesis). UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI.
^Studies on Musical Diversity – Methodological Approaches, UPM Press, 2011
The Giriama (also called Giryama) are one of the nine ethnic groups that make up the Mijikenda (which literally translates to "nine towns"). The Mijikenda...
meaning "bush people." The nine Ethnic groups that make up the Mijikenda peoples are the Chonyi, Kambe, Duruma, Kauma, Ribe, Rabai, Jibana, Giriama, and Digo...
Mekatilili (1860s-1924) was a Kenyan independence activist who led the Giriamapeople against the colonial administration of Kenya between 1912 and 1915....
Century. Watamu is home to the Bajuni people; who trace their origins to intermarriage between the local GiriamaPeople and Arab traders. As of now, various...
Such encounters are typically facilitated by Giriama, refers to as "intermediary Swahili," or people who seek to become Swahili through the adoption...
secondary-school students, the language was not always associated with people who cannot do much for the society until when the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation...
women of actively colluding with spirits in order to be possessed. The Giriamapeople of coastal Kenya believe in spirit possession. Mayote In Mayotte, approximately...
seven years old. Her family in Kenya belongs to the ethnic group of the Giriama. Her father, Eric, is of British, Seychellois and Ugandan descent,[citation...
These migrants were closely related to Luo peoples found in Uganda, especially the Acholi and Padhola people. As they moved into Kenya and Tanzania, they...
in Kenya such as the Kikuyu people, the Kamba people, the Kalenjin people under Koitalel Arap Samoei, and the Giriamapeople under Mekatilili Wa Menza all...
Nuer languages. Except for some elders living in rural areas, most Maasai people speak the official languages of Kenya and Tanzania, Swahili and English...
Maasai people also due to intermarriage prior to colonization. The Gĩkũyũ people between Thika and Mbeere are closely related to the Kamba people who speak...
of Mount Kenya, thus the name Amiiru, meaning 'people of the forest'. [citation needed]The Ameru people comprise nine subgroups: the Igoji, Imenti, Tigania...
The Turkana are a Nilotic people native to the Turkana County in northwest Kenya, a semi-arid climate region bordering Lake Turkana in the east, Pokot...
Abagusii may have been assimilated from the Luhya and Olusuba speaking Suba people, which originated from west of Lake Victoria. The majority of Abagusii are...
areas which make up Mariakani today were shared by the Durumas, Chonyi, Giriamas and Kambas. The British colonists considered it more prudent to administer...
was formed, it was supposed to be performed during nyeresa mwezi (the Giriama), lusinga (the Chonyi), hangaifu (the Duruma) and matanga ya pili (the...
hot ash, crushed, ground and mixed with tobacco to use as snuff. The Giriamapeople use the wood for firewood and charcoal, and straight stems for poles...
(incl. Bukusu 1.2 million) Gusii 2.7 million Meru 2.0 million Mijikenda/Giriama ca. 1 million Nilotic Dholuo 5.0 million Kalenjin languages 4.6 million...
Njemps), are a Maa-speaking people living south and southeast of Lake Baringo, Kenya. They numbered approximately 32,949 people in 2019 and are closely related...
languages. The Kalenjin language, along with the languages of the Datooga people of Tanzania, the Maasai, Luo, Turkana, Nuer, Dinka among others are classified...
leader has been sworn in as the "people's president"". Quartz. Retrieved 11 May 2023. "Odinga 'sworn in' as Kenya's people's president". www.aljazeera.com...
primarily from the south. Where "kiti" means chair in Swahili, "Kihi" is Giriama and "Chihi" is Chonyi. Similar, but recognizably different languages. Like...
Mbeere and the Meru, and to some extent relate closely to the Kambe and the Giriama of the Kenyan coast. The Kambas are concentrated in the lowlands of southeast...
The Iteso (or people of Teso) are a Nilotic ethnic group in eastern Uganda and western Kenya. Teso refers to the traditional homeland of the Iteso, and...
The Samburu are a Nilotic people of north-central Kenya. Samburu are semi-nomadic pastoralists who herd mainly cattle but also keep sheep, goats and camels...
lexical similarity between UP and LP as much the same as that between Giriama and Digo. UP and LP refer to each other jocularly as "two-week" languages;...
The Pokot people (also spelled Pökoot) live in West Pokot County and Baringo County in Kenya and in the Pokot District of the eastern Karamoja region in...
"Athi". Many Ogiek speakers have shifted to the languages of surrounding peoples: the Akiek in northern Tanzania now speak Maasai and the Akiek of Kinare...
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