Settlement: Africa

The route of migration taken by different groups in Kenya is determined by their way of life. Geographic features such as farming land and the availability of building materials greatly influence settlement. The proximity of water, such as rivers and lakes were amongst the determining factors of permanent settlement.

Hostilities between ethnic has also influenced the settlement patterns of the different tribes over the course of the last centuries. The Pokot, for exemple, have settled on steep hillsides and valleys because of the raids of the Turkana.

The Turkana, the Massai, the Rendille and many other nomadic groups migrated in accordance to the availability of food for their livestock, which meant transporting building materials by camels. They settled for longer periods of time, sometimes permanently near water holes. This meant that the cattle were to travel up to two days to a waterhole and come back to the tribe. However, the cattle grazed on their way there and back, which lead to overgrazing, which lead to erosion  of the land.

Pokot homes on the steep slopes of the Cherengany hills.

Camel transporting building materials.

Erosion of the land from overgrazing.

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Andersen, Kaj Blegvad. African Traditional Architecture: a Study of the Housing and Settlement Patterns of Rural Kenya. Nairobi: Oxford UP, 1977. Print.

Louis-Pierre Bélec 07/11/2010