The Luhya (also known as Abaluyia or Luyia) are a group of 19 distinct Bantu tribes in Kenya that lack a common origin and were politically united in the mid 20th century.
They number 6,823,842 people according to the 2019 census, being about 14.35% of Kenya's total population of 47.6 million, and are the second-largest ethnic group in Kenya.
Luhya refers to both the 19 Luhya tribes and their respective languages collectively called Luhya languages and the current King is Peter Nantinda Mumia.
There are 19 (and by other accounts, 20, when the Suba are included) tribes that make up the Luhya. Each has a distinct dialect. The word Luhya or Luyia in some of the dialects means "the north", and Abaluhya (Abaluyia) thus means "people from the north". Other translations are "those of the same hearth."
The seventeen tribes are the Bukusu (Aba-Bukusu), Idakho (Av-Idakho), Isukha (Av-Isukha), Kabras (Aba-Kabras), Khayo (Aba-Khayo), Kisa (Aba-Kisa), Marachi (Aba-Marachi), Maragoli (Aba-Logoli), Marama (Aba-Marama), Nyala (Aba-Nyala), Nyole (Aba-Nyole), Samia (Aba-Samia), Tachoni (Aba-Tachoni), Tiriki (Aba-Tiriki), Tsotso (Abatsotso), Wanga (Aba-Wanga), and Batura (Abatura). They are closely related to the Masaba (or Gisu), whose language is mutually intelligible with Luhya. The Bukusu and the Maragoli are the two largest Luhya tribes.
The principal traditional settlement area of the Luhya is in what was formerly the Western province of Kenya. A substantial number of them permanently settled in the Kitale and Kapsabet areas of the former Rift Valley province.
Western Kenya is one of the most densely populated parts of Kenya.[5] Migration to their present Luhyaland (a term of endearment referring to the Luhya's primary place of settlement in Kenya after the Bantu expansion) dates back to as early as the 1450s.
Immigrants into present-day Luhyaland trace their ancestry with several Bantu groups and Cushitic groups,[which?] as well as peoples like the Kalenjin, Luo, and Maasai. By 1850, migration into Luhyaland was largely complete, and only minor internal movements occurred after that due to disease, droughts, domestic conflicts and the effects of British colonialism.
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