Marriage (Ntheo)
The Kamba have deep-rooted traditions, which are practiced especially in their marriage customs. Under the Kamba customs, during a Kamba wedding, a man must show…
Clans
The Kamba were originally grouped into some 25 dispersed patrilineal clans (utui) of varying size, which were often mutually hostile. The Akamba have 14 major…
Age-Sets
Individuals were organized in age-sets, but unlike the Kikuyu, Embu, Mbeere and Chuka, these were not based on initiation.Men and women of the grade of…
Clothing and costumery
The Akamba of the modern times, like most people in Kenya, dress rather conventionally in western / European clothing. The men wear trousers and shirts.…
Family
In Akamba culture, the family (Musyi) plays a central role in the community. The Akamba extended family or clan is called Mbai. The man, who…
Kamba Society
Although a large part of Kamba culture has become westernized, and the large towns and villages have greatly increased in number (the Kamba population itself…
Economy
The Akamba were originally long distance traders s, but later adopted agriculture due to the arability of the new land that they came to occupy.…
History
The ancestors of the Kamba can be said with some certainty to have come from the North, from the region beyond the Nyambene Hills to…
Language
The Kamba people speak Kikamba language which is a Bantu language belonging to the larger Niger-Congo language phylum. It is currently spoken by over 6…
Mythology (Creation Story)
Like all other Bantu, communities, the Akamba have a story of origin that differs greatly from that of the Kikuyu. It goes like:"In the beginning,…
Distribution
Most of the Akamba people live in Kenya, and are concentrated in the lower eastern counties of Machakos, Kitui, and Makueni.According to Ethnologies, there are…
Origin
The Kamba are of Bantu origin; closely related in language and culture to the Kikuyu, the Embu, the Mbeere and the Meru, and to some…
Kamba People
The Kamba or Akamba people are a Bantu ethnic group - or tribe - who predominantly live in the area of Kenya stretching from Nairobi…