Karamojong
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The Karamojong or Karimojong, are an ethnic group of agro-pastoral herders. They live in the southern part of Karamoja region in the north-east of Uganda, occupying an area equivalent to tenth of the country. Their language is also known (in English usage) as Karamojong or Karimojong, and is part of the Nilo-Saharan language group. According to anthropologists, the Karamojong are part of a group that migrated from Ethiopia around 1600 A.D. and split into two branches, with one branch moving to present day Kenya to form the Kalenjin group and Maasai cluster. The other branch, called Ateker migrated westwards. Ateker further split into several groups, including Turkana in present day Kenya, Iteso, Dodoth or Dodos, Jie, Karamojong, and Kumam in present day Uganda, also Jiye and Toposa in southern Sudan all of them together known as the "Teso Cluster" or "Karamojong Cluster".
In the Karamojong language the people and the language have the convenient prefixes ŋi- and ŋa- respectively, lack of a prefix indicating the land / place in which they live. All the above mentioned branches from Ateker speak languages which are mutually intelligible to a greater or lesser degree. (The Lango in Uganda are also ethnically and genetically close to the ŋiKarimojong, evidenced by similar names among other things, though they adopted a dialect of the Luo language).
The main livelihood activity of the Karamojong is herding livestock, which has social and cultural importance. Crop cultivation is a secondary activity, undertaken only in areas where it is practicable. Due to the arid climate of the region, the Karamojong have always practised a sort of pastoral transhumance, where for 3-4 months in a year, they move their livestock to the neighbouring districts in search of water and pasture for their animals. The availability of food and water is always a concern and has an impact on the Karamojong's interaction with other ethnic groups.
The Karamojong have been involved in various conflicts centered on the practice of cattle raids. The Karamojong are in constant conflict with their neighbours in Uganda, Sudan and Kenya due to frequent cattle raids. This could be partly due to a traditional belief that the Karamojong own all the cattle by a divine right, but also because cattle are also an important element in the negotiations for a bride and young men use the raids as a right of passage and way of increasing their herds to gain status. In recent years the nature and the outcome of the raids have become increasingly violent with the acquisition of AK47s by the Karamojong. The Ugandan government have attempted to broker deals for weapons amnesties, but the number of cattle the Karamojong have wanted per gun has proved too steep for any meaningful agreement to be made.
The Karamojong were originally know as the Jie. The name Karamojong derived from phrase "Ekar ngmojong", meanig "the Old man can walk no farther" According to tradition, the group of people now known as the Karamojong are said to have migrated fom Abyssinia between the 1600 an 1700AD as a single group known as the Jie. When they reached the Kenyan Ethiopian border, they are said to have fragmented into several groups: The Turkana, Toposa, and the Dodoth. Of the three groups, the Turkana setled where they are now. The second group which became known as the Toposa continued strwaight to the present day Sudan. The third group, the Dodoth setled in Apule in northern part of the prsent day Karamoja. The main body continued southwards then on reaching the main territory now mainly occupied by the Jie, these main body are reported to have split into three groups and moved farther south: The Pia, the Bokora, and the Matheniko. the third body of three, the Matheniko went west and formed the Iteso, the Kumam, and the Langi. It was thes last group who travelled the farthest who are said to have used the phrase "the old man can walk no farther".
