The Kamba people

The Kamba are a tribe of the Bantu language sub-group, their ancestral territory being the Ukambani area of Eastern province of Kenya. Ukambani has four main districts; Machakos, Makueni, Kitui and Mwingi. Or following the more recent demarcations, Ukambani has 3 counties; Kitui, Machakos and Makueni (im looking to insert map of this territory; help). From their ancestral territory, the Kamba have spread.

Outside Ukambani, a significant kamba population resides in the Rift Valley and Coast Provinces of Kenya; in Kitengela, Loitoktok, Taita taveta and Shimba Hills. Significant numbers of Kamba people reside/work in all major towns of Kenya.

Reportedly, a small population of Kambas lives in Tanzania; across the border from the Kenyan town of Lungalunga. In a visit to Daresalaam, I met a few Kambas living there and one talked about a small population there.There are probably other pockets of Kamba population in a few more African countries, like Zambia, Ethiopia, Uganda and DRC. Outside Africa, it is reported there are Kambas in Paraguay; called Kamba Cua; whose origins can be traced to the Kambas through slave trade induced migration and wars of past centuries.

Older folks tell me the Kamba migrated into Kenya from Tanzania (the Mt Kilimanjaro area) and passed through Kyulu hills to first settle in Mbooni hills and Kilungu hills before later dispersing to all the other areas of Ukambani.The probable origins will likely be DRC through northern Tanzania into their ancestral lands in Kenya. It is difficult to establish when they became a distinct tribe with a separate language and culture; whether in DRC or during their migration or upon settling in Kenya because they (and most African tribes) handed down their history orally and used events to mark time as opposed to a calender. But by the 1840's, when the first missionaries traversed their ancestral lands, they report finding an homogenous and distinct tribe. I would speculate, based on genealogy I received, that by the 1500's the Kamba were an homogenous and separate tribe of people already settled in their ancestral lands.

In 2019, there are nearly 5 million Kambas in Kenya; based on the 2019 Kenya National Census figure (4.7M).