History
The years of warfare
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- Published on Saturday, 30 June 2007 23:10
Living alongside the Gusii were Isiria Maasai. The arrival of the Kipsigis, cousins of the Nandi and who are now also part of the Kalenjin, plunged the whole region into military turmoil. One day in a fierce battle the Gusii killed the Maasai war-leader, Ole Kericho (after whom, by one version, Kericho town is named). After that the Gusii and Maasai lived side by side for many years. The Gusii were stronger and better warriors than the Maasai, who used to attack at night for this reason. The Gusii built thick thorn fences and dug deep trenches around their homesteads.
But the real threat lay not with the Maasai but with the Kipsigis, who were similarly attached to cattle and believed, like the Maasai, that all the cattle in the world belonged to them. So they began to raid both the Maasai and the Gusii for cattle; and even the Luo, whom the Kipsigis feared, had to reckon with Kipsigis night raids on their homesteads.
The Kipsigis eventually drove the Maasai away from the area (nowadays called Buret), then tried to do the same to the Gusii, who they called 'Kosopek'.
The first encounters initiated were by the Kipsamaek clan of the Kipsigis, and took place near Kabianga. The Gusii defended themselves with arrows, which they fired from a safe distance. But the Kipsigis had very heavy shields made of buffalo hide, which they used to protect themselves against Gusii arrows and spears. Their strategy was to wait until the Gusii had thrown all their arrows and spears and then attack, so the Gusii had to retreat into their homesteads. To protect themselves the Gusii built heavy stone fortifications, called orwaki, round their villages. These were guarded on the outside by deep trenches. They had tall, stout walls of stone and mud, on top of which were strewn heavy acacia thorns. The forts were repeatedly stormed by the Kipsigis, but it took several years of raids, ambushes and counter-ambushes before the Gusii were finally forced to migrate southwards beyond the area of present-day Sotik. And even here the Kipsigis did not leave them in peace.
These attacks divided the Gusii once again: one group stayed in the region of Kericho, where they eventually became one with the Kipsigis. But the majority headed south to the present-day Gusii Highlands. They argued that it was easier for them to defend their homes on the high ridges of the highlands than on the rolling tableland of Kericho and Sotik. There, initial years great hardship in clearing the land to make it suitable for agriculture were followed by better times, which saw the development of a strong economy based on cultivation, which survives to this day.
Another group refused to go to the highlands because of the cold. They migrated southwestwards and established themselves along the banks of the Migori River (sometimes spelled Mogori), at a place called Chimanga Chia Miehina, in the Trans Mara triangle. Today this is in Tanzania. Living across the river, in the plains to the south, were the Kwavi Maasai. The Gusii began to fight once again with the Maasai over cattle thefts.
