Oropom people

The Oropom (also known as Iworopom, Oworopom, Oyoropom or Oropoi) are the aboriginal inhabitants of much of Karamoja in Uganda and probably Turkana District in Kenya. Their descendants have largely been assimilated into the more recently arrived Iteso and Karamojong groups. They are or were found in scattered pockets between the Turkwel River, Chemorongit Mountains and Mt. Elgon. One report indicates that they formerly spoke the unclassified Oropom language.

According to Webster, the Oropom originally lived near Mt. Moroto, from which they moved west to the plain between Napak and Mount Elgon before being defeated and scattered by the Karamojong in 1830. People considering themselves Oropom were (as of 1970), according to Wilson, particularly concentrated within the Karamoja area in Matheniko and Jie counties, and to a lesser extent in Bokora; some were also found among the Tepes people of Mt. Moroto and Mt. Kadam. Others were found in Pian county, notably at Lorengedwat. They tend, according to Wilson, to have reddish brown skin, "peppercorn hair", slanted eyes, and prominent cheekbones; on this basis, he ascribed them to the Khoisan group.

The Oropom are described in Karamojong oral tradition as the original inhabitants of the area, whom some Karamojong clans defeated in a battle about 1830 around Kacheliba (in present-day Kenya), and then enslaved. Some then fled east or south; a few Oropom settlements are claimed to have remained between Kacheliba and Karta as late as 1927. Some areas were unaffected by this battle, and Oropom remained between Lolachat and Namalu in Pian county in Nakapiripirit District, and in the area between Mt. Elgon and Mt. Kadam. Traditions of the Didinga people of South Sudan apparently record displacing a "red" people, called the Argit, who were skilled in pottery-making.

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