SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This thesis attempts a reconstruction of the history of the pastoral tribes of northern Kenya and concentrates largely, though not exclusively on the Somali, the Boran and the Samburu in that order. The thesis begins with an outline of the pre-colonial situation throughout the area, and then deals systematically with the coastal Somali down to 1909. Later chapters concentrate on the interior - an area known after 1909 as the Northern Frontier District. Here considerable attention is devoted to the problems faced by nomadic tribes living on both sides of an international frontier, having their grazing in one country and their wells in another. However, since the tribes themselves are the focal point of this study, the diplomatic background to border negotiations and wider issues of imperial interest are only considered in so far as they have some bearing on the frontier tribes. The thesis also tries to trace the impact of the Ethiopians, the Italians and the British in this area, and considers how far this affected the Somali pattern of life. The Somali reaction to colonial rule or to its absence, as the case may be, finally leads to a consideration of the central geographical area around Wajir and Serenli. Here the whole problem of the Somali migration westwards is considered. The sack of Serenli in 1916 provides a fitting end to a period that was often turbulent and always characterised by an administration that was overconfident in itself.