Kikuyu people

The Kikuyu are the largest ethnic group in Kenya. They speak the Bantu Kikuyu language as a mother tongue. The term Kikuyu is the Swahili form of the native pronunciation Gĩkũyũ. Group members refer to themselves as the Agĩkũyũ. Gĩkũyũ literally means a huge sycamore tree and Agĩkũyũ thus literally refers to the children of the huge sycamore.

According to the 2009 Kenya Population & Housing Census, there are an estimated 6,622,576 Gĩkũyũ people in Kenya, about 16.9% of the country's total population. According to the CIA World Factbook, as of 2014 there are approximately 9,902,212 Gĩkũyũ people in Kenya, comprising about 22% of the country's population.

History

Origin

Mythically, the nation of the Agĩkũyũ came from two original parents who were created by God, namely Gĩkũyũ and Mũmbi. The word Gĩkũyũ means 'a huge sycomore tree'. Ngai refers to the creator who happens to be a life companion to the sycomore, the sacred tree from which the nation originated. The Kikuyu are of Bantu origin. They constitute the single largest ethnic group in Kenya, and are concentrated in the vicinity of Mount Kenya. The exact place that the Kikuyu's ancestors migrated from after the initial Bantu expansion from West Africa is uncertain. Some authorities suggest that they arrived in their present Mount Kenya area of habitation from earlier settlements further to the north and east, while others argue that the Kikuyu, along with their closely related Eastern Bantu neighbors the Embu, Meru, Mbeere, and Kamba moved into Kenya from points further north.