| dc.description.abstract | In this Dissertation I intend to show
the relations between the Imenti and Tigania of Meru
and the maasai from the Seventeenth Century to the
close of the Nineteenth Century.
To do this I begin by introducing a Chronology,
which I have worked out for the Meru based on the
age-set system, for placing data in historical
sequence. Then I proceed to trace the origins of
the Meru from Mbwaa, giving reasons for their
migration from this place, and subsequent settlement
in their present area. In this I shall try to
argue why the Meru include the Plains Nilotes,
specifically the Maasai and Turkana in their stories
of migration from Mbwaa. This is followed by a
whole chapter on cultural exchanges between the
Maasai and the Imenti/Tigania groups comprising briefly
of such aspects as marriages, circumcision, age-set
systems, the institution of the Mugwe and finally
the effect on language. This, although not historical
as such, is intended to guide the reader in
understanding the effects of contacts between these
two groups with different ethnologies.
From here I concentrate on the various wars
between these communities in the Nineteenth Century
and why they were fought. I also examine the contribution
of the first white hunters in the deterioration of
the mutual relations which had taken more than
two centuries to create. Their impact on the Meru
society is discussed in some detail.
Lastly I re-examine and evaluate the whole
set up including the early colonial era. This is
important in that, in Meru, the colonial government
was not actually responsible for the breakdown of
the Maasai/Meru relations or the emergence of Inter
Clan wars and rivalry in Meru. On the contrary,
the first administrator, E.B. Horne did much to
establish mutual cohesion between the Meru.
The responsibility for the collapse of the
relations is attributed to the .r.1aasai imigrants of
the last quarter of the Nineteenth Century, the white
hunters and traders of the same period and lastly
the Imenti and Tigania themselves. | en |
