Mijikenda peoples
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| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 1,960,574 (Kenya) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Kenya  Tanzania
|
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| Languages | |
| Swahili dialects | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Pokomo, Chonyi, Digo, Giriama, Jibana, Swahili, other Bantu peoples |
The Mijikenda ("the Nine Tribes") are a group of nine related Bantu ethnic groups inhabiting the coast of Kenya, between the Sabaki and the Umba rivers, in an area stretching from the border with Tanzania in the south to the border near Somalia in the north. Archaeologist Chapuruka Kusimba contends that the Mijikenda formerly resided in coastal cities, but later settled in Kenya's hinterlands to avoid submission to dominant Portuguese forces that were then in control. Historically, these Mijikenda ethnic groups have been called the Nyika or Nika by outsiders. It is a derogatory term meaning "bush people."
The nine Ethnic groups that make up the Mijikenda peoples are the Chonyi, Kambe, Duruma, Kauma, Ribe, Rabai, Jibana, and Giriama. They are the northern Mijikenda while the Digo are southern Mijikenda. the Digo are also found in Tanzania due to their proximity to the common border.
Each of the Mijikenda groups has a sacred forest, a kaya, which is a place of prayer. Eleven of the approximately 30 kaya forests have been inscribed together as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests. Mijikenda people are also known for creating wooden kigango funerary statues for which there is an illegal international market. These artifacts were at one time legally sold by reputable art galleries and curio shops during the early 1970s to the 1990s however other kigango statues were found to have been stolen from cultural sites and illegally sold.
Each Mijikenda ethnic group has its own unique customs and dialects of the Mijikenda language, although the dialects are similar to each other and to Swahili.
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Wikipedia