Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

91 results found

Kampala

(Encyclopedia)Kampala kämpäˈlä [key], city (2002 pop. 1,189,142), capital of Uganda, on Lake Victoria. It is Uganda's largest city and its administrative, communications, economic, and transportation center. Ma...

Oromo

(Encyclopedia)Oromo gălˈə [key], traditionally pastoral tribes who live in W and S Ethiopia and N Kenya. They number more than 25 million. About half are Muslim, about a third Ethiopian Orthodox, and about a six...

Nakuru

(Encyclopedia)Nakuru näko͞oˈro͞o [key], city (1989 est. pop. 164,000), capital of Rift Valley prov., W central Kenya. Founded in the early 20th cent. as a center of European settlement, Nakuru is a growing comm...

Nilotes

(Encyclopedia)Nilotes nīlōˈtēz [key], people of E Africa who speak Nilotic languages. Among these are the Nuer and the Masai. The most prominent Nilotic ethnic groups live in South Sudan, N Uganda, and N Kenya....

Malindi

(Encyclopedia)Malindi mälĭnˈdē [key], town, SE Kenya, on the Indian Ocean. It is a beach resort and a commercial center. Probably founded in the 10th cent. by Arab traders, Malindi became an important city-stat...

Bantu languages

(Encyclopedia)Bantu languages, group of African languages forming a subdivision of the Benue-Niger division of the Niger-Congo branch of the Niger-Kordofanian language family (see African languages). Bantu contains...

Naivasha

(Encyclopedia)Naivasha nīväˈshä [key], lake, 12 mi (19.3 km) long and 9 mi (14.5 km) wide, W central Kenya, E Africa, in the Great Rift Valley. Large flower farms that supply European flower markets have been d...

Turkana, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Turkana, Lake, c.2,500 sq mi (6,475 sq km), NW Kenya and SW Ethiopia, E Africa, in the Great Rift Valley; alt. 1,230 ft (375 m). Surrounded by desolate, volcanic mountains, the 170-mi-long (274-km) al...

Swahili

(Encyclopedia)Swahili swähēˈlē [key] [Arab.,=coast people], name for some of the inhabitants of the Kenya, Tanzania, Somali, and Mozambique coasts, Zanzibar, and E Congo. Descendants of black Africans and Arab ...

Al Shabab

(Encyclopedia)Al Shabab or Al Shabaab [key], [Arab.,=the youth], Islamic fundamentalist militia based in Somalia. One of several hardline Somali Islamist militias, Al Shabab has operated primarily in southern and ...

Browse by Subject