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The Pokot people (also spelled ''Pökoot'') live in West Pokot County and Baringo County in Kenya and in the Pokot District of the eastern Karamoja region in Uganda. They form a section of the Kalenjin ethnic group and speak the Pökoot language, which is broadly similar to the related Marakwet, Nandi, Tuken and other members of the Kalenjin language group. Kenya's 2009 census puts the total number of Pokot speakers at about 620,000 in Kenya (roughly 133,000 Pokot in Baringo county and close to 500,000 in West Pokot county). In addition, there are close to 100,000 Pokot speakers in Uganda. A fair estimate thus places the number of Pokot speakers in Kenya and Uganda at 700,000. ==Hill & Plains Pokot== Based on areal and cultural differences, the Pokot people can be divided into two groups; the Hill Pokot and the Plains Pokot.〔Rottland, Franz 1982. ''Die Südnilotischen Sprachen: Beschreibung, Vergelichung und Rekonstruktion'' (Kölner Beiträge zur Afrikanistik vol. 7). Berlin: Dietrich Reimer pp.26, 138-139〕 The Hill Pokot live in the rainy highlands in the west and in the central south of the Pokot area and are both farmers and pastoralists. The Plains Pokot live in the dry and infertile plains, herding cows, goats and sheep, thus are pastoralists. Halfway through the nineteenth century, the Pokot expanded their territory rapidly into the lowlands of the Kenyan Rift Valley, mainly at the expense of the Laikipia Maasai people. This was the formation of the plains Pokot, and is captured in their historical narratives. In that account, when the Pokot nation was forming on the Elgeyo escarpment, the Kerio Valley was occupied by the Samburu. Whenever the Pokot descended into the valley, they were harassed and raided by the Samburu, "Until there arose a wizard among the () who prepared a charm in the form of a stick, which he placed in the Samburu cattle kraals, with the result that all their cattle died". The Samburu are said to have then left the Kerio Valley and moved to En-ginyang where they formed a large settlement. Once the Pokot saw that the Kerio Valley was no longer occupied, they descended in large numbers and occupied Tiati and the hills as far south as Ka-ruwon.〔Beech M.W.H, The Suk - Their Language and Folklore. The Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1911〕 Many Pokot people from the present eastern part of the Pokot area claim that they come from the hilly areas of northern Cherengani.〔Bollig, Michael 1990. 'An outline of pre-colonial Pokot history', ''Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere'', p.23,73&91〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pokot people」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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