Luo
This article is about Luo people of Africa. For the Chinese surnames, see Luo (surname)For Luo people of Kenya, see Luo (Kenya)The
Luo (also spelled
Lwo) are a family of related ethnic groups (tribes) who live in an area that stretches from the south of
Sudan, through Northern
Uganda and Eastern
Congo (DRC), into Western
Kenya, and ending in the upper tip of
Tanzania. These people speak an
Eastern Sudanic (
Nilotic) language of the
Chari-Nile branch of the
Nilo-Saharan language family. According to various classification schemes, these tribes are sometimes referred to as
River-Lake Nilotes or
Western Nilotes, which also includes the
Dinka-Nuer language group. People who speak Luo language include the
Shilluk,
Anuak,
Acholi,
Lango,
Palwo,
Alur,
Padhola,
Joluo (Kenyan Luo),
Bor, and
Kumam.
According to ethnologists, linguists and
oral history, the Luo are part of the
Nilotic group of tribes who separated from the
East Sudanic family of tribes about 3000 BCE. More than eight centuries ago, the Luo peoples occupied the area that now lies in eastern
Bahr el Ghazal. The reason for their dispersion from this area is not known. Internal contradictions or population explosion could have driven them from this region. The Luo moved to nearly all the countries neighbouring
Sudan, resulting in many separate groups with variation in language and tradition as each group moved further away from their kin.
A branch of the Luo, the
Shilluk (or Chollo) nation, comprising more than one hundred clans and sub-tribes, was founded by a chief named Nyikango sometime in the middle of the
15th century. They evolved a nation with a feudal-style system. Nyikango and his nation moved northward along the Nile (towards
Kush and
Rip) to re-conquer and settle the land their ancestors had lost to the
Arabs and
Europeans. The rest of the Luo groups rejected Nyikangos idea and kept a south and westwards migration.
Around 1500, a small group of Luo known as the Biito-Luo led by a Chief called Labongo whose full title became Isingoma Labongo Rukidi (sometimes named as Mpuga Rukidi), encountered Bantu-speaking peoples living in the area of
Bunyoro. These Luo settled with the Bantu and established the Babiito dynasty. Labongo, the first in the line of the Babiito kings of
Bunyoro-Kitara is said to have been the twin brother of Kato Kimera, the first king of
Buganda. These Luo were assimilated by the Bantu, and they lost their language and culture.
Later in the 16th century, other Luo-speaking people moved to the area that encompasses present day Southern Sudan, Northern Uganda and North-Eastern
Congo (DRC) – forming the
Alur and
Acholi. Conflicts developed when they encountered the
Lango who had been living in the area north of
Lake Kyoga. Lango also speak a Luo language, but their origins are somewhat obscure. It is generally held that they are an
Eastern Nilotic Ateker people who originated from
Abyssinia in
Ethiopia around A.D. 1600, adopting the Luo language of their Acholi neighbours - sometimes it is said they are part of the Luo from
Bahr el Ghazal who migrated eastwards from Sudan to
Anuak in Ethiopia and onwards to Uganda.
Kumam, who live the same area, also speak a Luo language, but belong to the Ateker group along with the
Teso and
Karamojong.
Between the middle of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century, some Luo groups proceeded eastwards. One group called
Padhola (or
Jopadhola - people of Adhola), led by a chief called Adhola, settled in
Budama in Eastern Uganda. They settled in a thickly forested area as a defence against attacks from Bantu neighbours who had already settled there. This self-imposed isolation helped them maintain their language and culture amidst Bantu and Ateker communities.
Between about 1500 and 1800, other Luo groups crossed into
Kenya. They inhabited the province of
Nyanza on the banks of
Lake Victoria, and today some Luo also live in
Tanzania. According to the
Joluo (known in Kenya simply as Luo), a warrior chief named Ramogi Ajwang led them from present-day Uganda into present-day Kenya circa 500 years ago.
As in Uganda, some non-Luo people in Kenya have adopted Luo languages. A majority of the
Bantu Suba people in Kenya speak
Dholuo (albeit mostly as a second language).
The Luo in
Kenya, who call themselves
Joluo (aka
Jaluo, people of Luo), are the third largest community in Kenya after the
Kikuyu and
Luhya. They call their language
Dholuo, which is mutually intelligible the languages of the Lango, Kumam and Padhola of Uganda, Acholi of Uganda and Sudan and Alur of Uganda and Congo.
Notable Kenyan Luos include: Illinois Senator,
Barack Obama; Kenyan Roads Minister,
Raila Odinga; and Kenyan Politician
Tom Joseph Odhiambo Mboya who was assassinated on July 5, 1969 in Nairobi. (note: Luo family names usually begin with O- ie: Obama, Odinga, Odhiambo, etc.)
This includes people who share Luo ancestory and/or speak a Luo language.
*
Shilluk (Sudan)
*
Pari (Sudan)
*
Thur (Sudan)
*
Alur (Uganda and DRC)
*
Acholi (Sudan and Uganda)
*
Lango (Uganda)
*
Kumam (Uganda)
*
Jopadhola (Uganda)
*
JoLuo (Kenya and Tanzania)
*
Jo-Luo or Jurchol (Sudan)
*
Re-introducing the "People Without History"*
Towards a Human Rights Approach to Citizenship and Nationallity Struggles in Africa.*
The making of the Shilluk kingdom, A socio-political synopsis*
About Kenya*
The Luo*Ogot, Bethwell A., "History of the Southern Luo: Volume I, Migration and Settlement, 1500-1900", (Series: Peoples of East Africa), East African Publishing House, Nairobi, 1967
*Johnson D., "History and Prophecy among the Nuer of Southern Sudan", PhD Thesis, UCLA, 1980
*Deng F.M. ‘African of Two Worlds; the Dinka in Afro-Arab Sudan", Khartoum, 1978
