Burkineji people

Stigand (1913) noted that "L'ol eborekeneji" was a Maa term meaning 'the people of the white goats'.^[1]

Von Höhnel (1894) writing following his journey to Lake Turkana, noted that the Burkineji originally occupied districts on the west of Lake Turkana.^[2]

Meru traditions recorded by Fadiman, indicate that a Maa-speaking community recalled as 'Muoko', a name that has been linked to Kor/Sambur, occupied the Tigania plain during the 1730s when contact with the pre-Meru clans occurred. The Muoko are recalled as being "more numerous" than their neighbors though seemingly less so than the incoming migrants. These traditions portray conflict occurring between the Muoko and pre-Meru.^[3]

Tiganian warriors took the Muoko by surprise, seizing "four great herds" in an initial skirmish, then moved livestock, women, children, and the aged into a single, defensible camp. The Muoko, perhaps initially outnumbered, reacted by barring the intruders from both water and salt, systematically burying salt licks and springs to prevent their discovery and use. The Muoko also had stabbing spears, a weapon Tiganians could not forge. They responded with bow and arrow, ambushing Muoko herders in the long grass ("they crept like rats" sang the Muoko of their foes) and stampeding their herds.

Fadiman notes that the traditions speak of "decades" of war though suggests that it was more likely a time of dry-season raiding on both sides. During this time the Tiganians mastered the art of forging spears following which the 'Muoko' were forced steadily into the arid northeast away from the fertile grassland region.^[3]

Samburu historians interviewed by Straight et al. (2016) state that the Samburu separated from an agglomeration known as Burkineji. They note that the Samburi Loiborkineji separated from the other Maa-speakers in the wake of the 1830s mutai.^[4]

Turkana narratives recorded by Lamphear (1988) provide a broad perspective of the prelude to the conflict between the Turkana and a community he refers to as Kor, a name by which the Turkana still call the Samburu in the present day.

By the end of the Palajam initiations, the developing Turkana community was experiencing strong ecological pressures. Behind them, up the escarpment in Karamoja, other evolving Ateker societies such as the Karimojong and Dodos were occupying all available grazing lands. Therefore Turkana cattle camps began to push further down the Tarash, which ran northwards below the foothills of the Moru Assiger massif on their right and the escarpment on their left. As they advanced, the Turkana came to realize they were not alone in this new land. At night fires could be seen flickering on the slopes of nearby mountains, including Mt. Pelekee which loomed up in the distance directly before them...

Lamphear notes that Tukana traditions aver that a dreamer among them saw strange animals living with the people up in the hills. Turkana warriors were thus sent forward to capture one of these strange beasts, which the dreamer said looked 'like giraffes, but with humps on their backs'. The young men therefore went and captured one of these beasts - the first camels the Turkana had seen. The owners of the strange beasts appear to have struck the Turkana as strange as well. The Turkana saw them as 'red' people, partly because of their lighter skin and partly because they daubed their hair and bodies with reddish clay. They thus gave them the name 'Kor'. Lamphear states that Turkana traditions agree that the Kor were very numerous and lived in close pastoral association with two other communities known as 'Rantalle' and 'Poran'. These are analogous with the present day Rendille and Boran communities.^[5]

According to Von Höhnel (1894) "a few decades" prior, the Burkineji occupied districts on the west of the lake and that they were later driven eastwards into present day Samburu. He later states that "some fifty years ago the Turkana owned part of the land on the west now occupied by the Karamoyo, whilst the southern portion of their land belonged to the Burkineji. The Karamoyo drove the Turkana further east, and the Turkana, in their turn, pushed the Burkineji towards Samburuland".^[2]

At the time of Von Höhnel's visit the Burkineji and 'Randille' had previously frequented the shores of the lake but had stopped as at that time due to frequent attacks by the Turkana.