The Joluo and their language Dholuo are also known as the "Luo proper" by Kenya based observers, even though their dialect has more Bantu loan words than the rest.
The level of historical separation between these groups is estimated at eight centuries. Dispersion from an alleged Nilotic core region in South Sudan is presumed to have been triggered by the turmoil of the Muslim conquest of Sudan.[1][2] The migration of individual groups over the last few centuries can to some extent be traced in the respective group's oral history.
The Luo are part of the Nilotic group of people. The Nilotes had separated from the other members of the East Sudanic family by about the 3rd millennium BC.[3] Within Nilotic, Luo forms part of the Western group.[4]
Within Luo, a Northern and a Southern group is distinguished. Dholuo is part of the Southern Luo group. Northern Luo is mostly spoken in South Sudan, while Southern Luo groups migrated south from the Bahr el Ghazal area in the early centuries of the second millennium AD (about eight hundred years ago).
A further division within the Northern Luo is recorded in a "widespread tradition" in Luo oral history:[5] the foundational figure of the Shilluk (or Chollo) nation was a chief named Nyikango, dated to about the mid-15th century. After a quarrel with his brother, he moved northward along the Nile and established a feudal society. The Pari people descend from the group that rejected Nyikango.[6]
The Anuak are a Luo people whose villages are scattered along the banks and rivers of the southwestern area of Ethiopia, with others living directly across the border in South Sudan. The name of these people is also spelled Anyuak, Agnwak, and Anywaa. The Anuak of South Sudan lives in a grassy region that is flat and virtually treeless. During the rainy season, this area floods, so that much of it becomes swampland with various channels of deep water running through it.
The Anuak who live in the lowlands of Gambela are Luo people. These have accused the current Ethiopian government of encroachment. The government's oppression has affected the Anuak's access to education, health care, and other basic services, as well as limiting opportunities for the development of the area.
The Acholi also spelt Acoli, another Luo people in South Sudan, occupy what is now called Magwi County in Eastern Equatorial State. They border the Uganda Acoli of Northern Uganda. The South Sudan Acholi numbered about 10,000 on the 2008 population Census.
In the 1500s, a small group of Luo known as the Biito-Luo (Paluo), led by Labongo encountered Bantu-speaking peoples living in the area of Bunyoro. These Luo settled with the Bantu and established the Babiito dynasty, replacing the Bachwezi dynasty of the Empire of Kitara. According to the legends, Isingoma Mpuga Rukidi (Grandson to Labongo), the first in the line of the Babiito kings of Bunyoro-Kitara, was the twin brother of Kato Kimera, the first king of Buganda. These Luo were assimilated into the Bantu's society and lost their language and culture.
Later in the 18th century, other Luo-speaking people moved to the area that encompasses present-day South Sudan, Northern Uganda, and North-Eastern Congo (DRC) – forming the Alur, Jonam and Acholi.
Between the middle of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century, some Luo groups proceeded eastwards. One group called Padhola (orJopadhola - 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.
Those who went further a field were the Jo k'Ajok and Jo k'Owiny. The Ajok Luo moved deeper into the Kavirondo Gulf; their descendants are the present-day Jo Kisumo and Jo Karachuonyo amongst others. Jo k'Owiny occupied an area near Got Ramogi or Ramogi hill in Alego of Siaya district. The Owiny's ruins are still identifiable to this day at Bungu Owiny near Lake Kanyaboli.
The other notable Luo group is the Omolo Luo who inhabited Ugenya and Gem areas of Siaya district. The last immigrants were the Jo Kager, who are related to the Omollo Luo. Their leader Ochieng Waljak Ger used his advanced military skill to drive away the Omiya or Bantu groups, who were then living in present-day Ugenya around 1750AD.
Between about 1500 and 1800, other Luo groups crossed into present-day Kenya and eventually into present-day Tanzania. They inhabited the area on the banks of Lake Victoria. According to the Joluo, a warrior chief named Ramogi Ajwang led them into present-day Kenya about 500 years ago.
As in Uganda, some non-Luo people in Kenya have adopted Luo languages. A majority of the BantuSuba people in Kenya speak Dholuo as a first language and have largely been assimilated.
The Luo in Kenya, who call themselves Joluo ("people of Luo"), are the fourth largest community in Kenya after the Kikuyu, Luhya and Kalenjin. In 2017 their population was estimated to be 6.1 million. In Tanzania they numbered (in 2010) an estimated 1,980,000 [1]. The Luo in Kenya and Tanzania call their language Dholuo, which is mutually intelligible (to varying degrees) with the languages of the Alur, Acoli, and Padhola of Uganda, South Sudan and Jo Nam or Alur of Congo.
The Luo (or Joluo) are traditional fishermen and practice fishing as their main economic activity. Other cultural activities included wrestling (yii or dhao) kwath for the young boys aged 13 to 18 in their age sets. Their main rivals in the 18th century were the Lango, the Highland Nilotes, who traditionally engaged them in fierce bloody battles, most of which emanated from the stealing of their livestock.
The Luo people of Kenya are nilotes and are related to the Nilotic people. The Luo people of Kenya are the fourth largest community in Kenya after the Kikuyu and, together with their brethren in Tanzania, form the second-largest single ethnic group in East Africa.
Betty Oyella Bigombe, former Ugandan politician, a senior fellow at the U.S Institute of Peace
Daniel Owino Misiani, Tanzanian musician from Mara Region, known as the "King of History" in Kenya; he was also known as "the grandfather of benga", which he pioneered.
David Wasawo, University of Oxford trained Zoologist and the first African Deputy Principal of Makerere University College and Nairobi University College
Dennis Oliech, football player, the most successful Kenyan footballer of his time[7]
Divock Okoth Origi, is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Liverpool and the Belgium national team.
Erinayo Wilson Oryema, Uganda's first African Inspector General of Police, Minister of Land, Mineral, and Water Resources and Minister of Land, Housing and Physical Planning, (Uganda)
Geoffrey Oryema, the son of Erinayo Wilson Oryema, who fled to France upon his father's assassination and became a world renowned singer, composer and performer.
George Cosmas Adyebo, was a Ugandan politician and economist who was Prime Minister of Uganda from 1991 to 1994.
Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, notorious rebel group in Uganda
Kenny Athiu, professional footballer who plays as a forward for Cambodian Premier League club Visakha and the South Sudan national football team.
Lam Akol, a South Sudanese politician, current leader of National Democratic Movement (NDM) party and former official in the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA).
Oyay Deng Ajak, South Sudanese politician, formerly the Chief of Staff of the National Army, the Minister for Investment in the Cabinet of South Sudan and Minister of National Security.
Pagan Amum, South Sudan's Chief Negotiator with Sudan on post independence issues, Minister for Peace and Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) Implementation, prior to independence in 2011, and caretaker Minister of Peace in the first government post-independence
Paul Lokech, was a Ugandan military General who served as a commander of the AMISON mission in Somalia and Deputy Inspector General of Police
Raila Odinga, second Prime Minister of Kenya, winner of four presidential elections that have been stolen as proved by evidence in courts and public domain
Robert Ouko, Kenyan Foreign Minister, murdered in 1990
Sunday Dech, a South Sudanese-Australian professional basketball player for the Adelaide 36ers (NBL) who led South Sudan to its first ever basketball world cup.
Thomas R. Odhiambo, pre-eminent scientist, founder of International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (Kenya)
Tito Okello, former President of Uganda and Army Commander
Tom Mboya, politician, Pan-Africanist, assassinated in 1969 (Kenya)
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
