WHY THE ABAKHOONE IN BUNGOMA CLAIM THEY CAME FROM SAMIA

In the precolonial days, the current Budalangi constituency used to be divided into four main principalities. In the far South west towards Siaya, there was Ebulwani where the Abalwani clan lived. To the East towards Siaya, in the area of the present day Ruambwa and Nyadorera in Alego-Usonga, there was the Buongo chieftaincy. In Buongo there lived almost all the small clans that constitute today's subtribe of the Banyala. This included the Abaongo, Ababoro, Abamuripo, Abanyifwa, Abasinyama, Abamakhya, Abakhauka, Abamulembo, and Abanyekera amongst others.

In the middle between the mouth of River Yala (which in the olden days the Abakhoone called Obaro or Lukose) across the Ndekwe estuary to the south-eastern shores of River Nzoia, there was Bunambo. In Bunambo there lived solely the Abakhoone. The headquarters of Bunambo was Erukala located between the modern Runyu sub location and River Ndekwe. The locality on the northern banks of the River Nzoia extending from Port Victoria to Funyula was known as Esamia.

See the satellite map here: http://www.maphill.com/kenya/western/busia/budalangi/detailed-maps/google-hybrid-map/.
Around the year 1660, the Buongo clans ganged up with some newly arrived Luo clans that had settled in Yimbo and attacked Bunambo. This attack was completely unexpected since no war had been announced by the attackers. The Abakhoone quickly mobilised to defend the Bunambo Kingdom. They fought back the attackers ferociously. The attackers did, however, manage to capture one village in the north of Bunambo called Bumaba. This is the present locality of the Abamaba clan of Bunyala. In the end, the Abakhoone managed to fend off the attackers and win the war.

Once again, circa 1710, the Buongo and the Ebulwani ganged up and tried to attack the Abakhoone in Bunambo. The brave and daring warriors of the Abakhoone defeated them within a few days, inflicting on them heavy loses.

Following the victories in these wars, between 1710 and 1750, Bunambo experienced a period of relative peace. However, this period of peace left the Abakhoone elders worried and wondering whether the current generation of warriors would be able to effectively wage war. To assuage these doubts, in 1750 the Abakhoone elders ordered the mobilisation of the battalions which crossed River Nzoia into Esamia and waged war against the Samia people. Being an effective and disciplined army, they overran the Samia warriors and captured the land north and West of River Nzoia where the current Port Victoria town is all the way to Ganga town near Sigalame High School. This annexation of the Samia territories resulted in the creation of a principality of Esamia which was added to the Kingdom of Bunambo. The Abakhoone expelled all the Abasmia and settled in the villages of Bukani, Budiera, Marenga, Bukoma, Singwe, and Budubuusi all the way to Sisenye near Ganga. Since most of the ancestors of the Abakhoone in Bungoma today, originated from the newly acquired Esamia principality of the Bunambo kingdom, most of them still talk of having come from Esamia. In essence, they were all citizens of the Bunambo kingdom as they were all Abanambo who had settled in Esamia.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE CHWEZI ORIGINS OF THE ABAKHOONE CLAN

The people of the Chwezi Empire were known as AbaChwezi . The word "chwezi" means "lawgiver" or “ruler”. The abachwezi were believed to be having divine powers and therefore were capable of performing miracles. The Chwezi Empire's most military belligerent ruler was Emperor Ndahura I kya-Rubumbi [known in Rwanda as Ndahiro , and in Buganda as Ndaula ]. Ndahura had a royal kraal on Rweisamba Hill that overlooks the crater lake known as Lake Kikorongo , in what is now Busongora County in Kasese district (the seat of the modern day Busongora Kingdom), in the Republic of Uganda. In 2012 Lake Kikorongo merged with the larger Lake Matsyoro [a.k.a Lake George], but is still visible on account of its perfectly round banks despite being flooded by the larger lake. Ndahura was a warrior-king and empire-builder, and so he was constantly leading his armies into battle. One day while on an expedition, Ndahura and his guard unit had become separated from the
Read more

THE LINEAGE OF CHIEF SUDI NAMACHANJA

Most of you might have come across distorted historical material claiming that Ekobi, the great grandfather of Chief Sudi Namachanja was a wondering Mutura boy who adopted by a barren wife of  wealthy Mukhoone man by the name Otunga. I have personally come across this kind of talk and I find it to be misleading. I have also come across some Bakhoone in Bungoma claiming that Abakhoone came from Uganda into Matayos in Busia. This is also wrong. Below I will present to you the family tree of Sudi Namachanja which stretches several generals back as it was documented by R.T.K. Scully of Hartwick College in 1970. I will start with the the Sirwa because the others I had mentioned them in an earlier post entitled "The Genealogy of Abakhoone". Sirwa the father of Membwe. Membwe the father of Wekesa Wekesa the father of Kayoyo and Bilachi Kayoyo the father of Bule, Otunga and Wakoko Bule the father of Ekobi Ekobi the father of Khisa, Mukwana and Mabonga Khisa the father of
Read more

ABAKHONE AND ABANYALA WERE DIFFERENT ENTITIES

BUNAMBO KINGDOM Bunambo Kingdom was located largely in today's Southern and Western Bunyala. The immediate neighbour of Bunambo the East was Buongo. To the South was Yimbo location. To the West was Lake Victoria and to the North was Samia. Part of Bunyala south is drained by four major rivers, namely, Nzoia, Ndekwe, Namukhongo and Obaro. Rivers Nzoia and Yala formed swamps which are extensively irrigated agricultural areas with rice as the most ideal cash crop. Other important physical features in Bunambo are hills, valleys and plains. The most significant hills are Mwita Fubu, Singwe, Nanjuku, Nzalagobe hill, Wanga, Munjogo and Namenya hill. Bunambo also has a number of Islands namel Sumba, Sigulu (today it is in Uganda), Nabuduma and Khanete. The Abanyala are Bantu-speaking people of northern Bantu group/cluster commonly referred to as the Luhya. The term Luhya has been claimed to mean 'fellow clansman'. Osogo (1966:7) in the entitled The History of Buluhy
Read more