Shungwaya

Shungwaya (also Singwaya) is an origin myth of the Mijikenda peoples.^[1] Traditions known collectively as the Shungwaya Myth describe a series of migrations of Bantu peoples dating to the 16th-17th centuries from a region to the north of the Tana River. These Bantu migrants were held to have been speakers of Sabaki Bantu languages.^[2] Other Bantu ethnic groups, smaller in number, are also suggested to have been part of the migration.^[3] From Shungwaya, the Mount Kenya Bantu (Kamba, Kikuyu, Meru, Embu, and Mbeere) are then proposed to have migrated to the west of where they presently reside.^[4]

References

1. Morton, R. F. (1977). "New Evidence regarding the Shungwaya Myth of Miji Kenda Origins". The International Journal of African Historical Studies 10 (4): 628–643.
2. Robert W. Preucel, Stephen A. Mrozowski (2011). Contemporary Archaeology in Theory: The New Pragmatism. John Wiley & Sons. p. 411. ISBN 1444358510.
3. Pouwels 2002, p. 11.
4. Muchanga, p. 24.

Bibliography

• Muchanga, J. Makong’o & K. Peak Revision K.C.S.E. History & Government. East African Publishers. ISBN 978-9966-25-460-3.
• Pouwels, Randall L. (6 June 2002). Horn and Crescent: Cultural Change and Traditional Islam on the East African Coast, 800-1900. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-52309-7.

Further reading

• De Vere Allen, James (1993). Swahili Origins: Swahili Culture & the Shungwaya Phenomenon