Meet the Kisii

Kisii is a community of Bantu speakers who inhabit the Kisii District in Nyanza Province, Western Kenya. Kisii town, known as Bosongo by the locals, is located in Nyanza Province to the southwest of Kenya and is home to the Kisii people.

The Abagusii along with other Bantu speaking groups are believed to have originated in the Congo. The migration is believed to have been due to overpopulation, food scarcity, inter-group conflicts and exhausted soil for farming. As these Bantu speakers migrated from the Congo, they split up into different groups with the Kisii ending up in Nyanza Province near Lake Victoria.

The Kisii ended up in a geographical location unique among Bantu speaking groups in that they were surrounded on all sides by hostile Nilotic communities of the Luo, Kipsigis, Nandi, and Maasai. Constant sieges resulted in the development of a war-like culture to defend against cattle-raiding neighboring communities. To this day, they have a reputation of being tough, emotionally labile, resilient, and very industrious.

The Kisii are regarded as one of the most economically active communities in Kenya, blessed with rolling tea estates, coffee, and banana groves. However, Kisii district has a very high population density. It is one of the most densely populated areas in Kenya (after the two cities of Nairobi and Mombasa), and the most densely populated rural area. It also has one of the highest fertility and population growth rates in Kenya. These factors have ensured the Kisii to be among the most geographically widespread communities in East Africa. The Kisii are some of the most heavily represented Kenyans in foreign (usually Indian and American) universities.