The region historically known as Kavirondo—encompassing what is today Nyanza and Western Kenya—has long been a land of migration, trade, and cultural fusion. Situated along the eastern shores of Lake Victoria, Kavirondo was home to a diverse mix of Nilotic and Bantu communities, primarily the Luo and Abaluhya (Luhya), who shaped the region’s history through their distinct traditions, governance systems, and interactions with neighboring societies.
Bethwell Ogot, a leading historian, notes that Kavirondo was never a homogenous entity. The Luo, migrating from the north between the 15th and 17th centuries, settled along the lake, while Bantu-speaking Luhya and Abagusii groups had already established agricultural communities further inland. Over time, these groups coexisted through trade, warfare, and intermarriage, creating a rich cultural and economic landscape.
Kavirondo also played a crucial role in long-distance trade. Swahili and Arab traders, traveling along the caravan routes from the coast, ventured inland seeking ivory, rhino horn, and enslaved laborers. In return, they introduced new goods, ideas, and economic networks, integrating the region into the broader Indian Ocean trade system.
Through this curated collection of historical photographs, we embark on a visual exploration of Kavirondo’s past, capturing its people, traditions, and interactions with the outside world. These images document the daily lives, economic activities, and colonial transformations that shaped the region, offering a rare glimpse into its storied history.
Post cards of old Kisumu market at the beginning of 20th Century
A market scene in Port Florence (Kisumu today) in the 1900s.Scene at Kisumu market, East Africa. 1918
Pitt Rivers Museum’s Luo Visual History Collection
As part of our ongoing exploration of Kavirondo’s history, we begin by featuring a selection of historical images from the Pitt Rivers Museum’s Luo Visual History Collection. This remarkable archive, consisting of around 350 photographs taken between 1902 and 1936, provides a rare and detailed look into the social, cultural, and economic life of the Luo community in the early 20th century.
The collection, a result of collaboration between the Pitt Rivers Museum, members of the Luo community, and the National Museums of Kenya, documents traditional homesteads, agricultural practices, cattle-keeping, landscape images, portraits, and important rituals such as the Tero Buru funerary ceremony. These images offer a unique perspective on the lives of Kavirondo’s people before and during the colonial period.
While we highlight only a small portion of this collection here, we encourage you to explore the full archive to gain a deeper understanding of the rich history and traditions of the Luo community. A link will be provided for those who wish to delve further into this visual treasure trove.
Two men playing the bao board game called ajua in Luo, widely known elsewhere by the Arabic-derived term mancala. The names of this family of games varied across Luo country depending on the clan area, the type of wood or even the number of holes in the board. This photograph seems to show them playing near to or within a homestead since a calf is lying down beside them. The two men playing are very differently dressed: one wears more or less colonial European clothing with hat and shoes, and the other is much more traditional with a bead necklace, wound metal armlet (minyonge) and probably a skin apron on the front. [Gilbert Oteyo 21/04/2005]A portrait of Kere (called ‘Ukuri’ by Hobley), Chief of Nyakach clan of the Luo in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. He is adorned in his headdress of authority made of a lion’s mane, very special in those days. Notice the unusual absence of this sort of chiefly head covering in the portrait of Ogada, also by Hobley. He is also adorned in armlets and metal finger rings. His white robe is difficult to examine in detail in this photograph but may be European cloth or a coastal type. This is also an interesting point of comparison to the attire of Ogada in the Hobley portrait. [Gilbert Oteyo 26/04/2005 & CM 25/04/2007]A crowd of Luo women standing and kneeling, watching activities out of frame to the right, previously seen behind a group of warriors in another Hobley photograph. They are presumably also thereby from Nyakach clan. They are heavily adorned with earrings (stadi), bead necklaces (tik ng’ut) and waist beads (tik nungo). They also have numerous metal leg rings or anklets, and armlets (minyonge). Their body clothing seems to be skin aprons (law pien). Look at the small sticks many are carrying. In Luo custom, sticks were important for walking support and also in the event that one should encounter a snake or other danger whilst walking. [Gilbert Oteyo 27/04/2005 & CM 25/04/2007]A Luo man holding up to the camera two old spear blades, described as the tong of Kaluo, or the spears of Kaluo, the founder of the sub-clan of Alego location. The man holding the spears is likely to be the designated clan custodian of these revered objects. The fact that there are two spears fits with Luo practice, most elders owning one wide short bladed spear (tong’ dindo) for cultural ceremonies, and one long narrow bladed for war, hunting and general protection. [Gilbert Oteyo 9/9/2004]A Luo homestead (dala) at Ng’iya village. The homestead is fenced with euphorbia trees and the entrance is behind the grass thatch hut on the left, and this hut may be for the son of the home owner. There are calves in the cattle pen (kul) in the centre of the homestead, which were often unfenced as this one is and instead using short pegs (loch or loye (plural)) to tether them. In between them and looking back at the camera is a youth. [Gilbert Oteyo 9/9/2004]This is a section of the Sondu River between Nyakach and Kabondo Locations in South Nyanza District. The Sondu River starts in the Nandi and Kipsigis highlands and flows down through the steep gorges of Nyakach and Kabondo Hills and into Lake Victoria in the southern part of Kavirondo (Winam) Gulf. The villages of Kabondo are seen at the foot of the hills while those of Nyakach are partly hidden. [Gilbert Oteyo 9/9/2004]A typical Luo homestead with cattle (dhok) tethered on the pegs (loch) in the kraal (kul) which usually situated at the center of the homestead. Cattle dung (owuoyo) is seen all over the kraal and an old man’s three-legged stool (kom nyaluo) is seen in the middle. The homestead is fenced with euphorbia trees (ojuok) and grass thatched huts (udi) and grain storage granaries (dere) are lined around the kraal. [Gilbert Oteyo 9/9/2004]A man wearing a headdress consisting of a plume of animal tail hair or feathers (or even vegetable fibre) tied on a short stick above a cowry shell hat (ogut gagi) and a long white robe (kandho or kanzu). In front of him is a large pot, described by Evans-Pritchard as the ‘Great Pot’ of [?] Karaunango, which may be a misspelling of a Luo place name. Whilst the significance of this pot is still obscure, such big narrow-necked pots (dak) are used as a container for liquids and as such could be water pot (dag pi) or local beer pot (dag kong’o). [Gilbert Oteyo 9/9/2004]A group of Luo warriors in full warrior dress with long spears and shields, posed in front of the administrative building at Kisumu. This group is particularly distinguished by their extraordinary headdresses, including colobus monkey tail ones (kondo bim). Their chests are also adorned by cowrie shell decorated belts (okanda gaagi). Their shields are typical of Luo shields in the period, taking a curved form and with geometrical patterns. [Gilbert Oteyo 06/05/05 & CM 27/04/2007]These are Luo men going to a funeral wearing enormous headdresses, one riding an ox (rwath), another dressed in leopard skin (pien kwach) and they are all holding either a spear or a club (rungu, odunga or luth, depending on the type) which are all necessary in the funeral ceremony called tero buru (driving away death). Their headdresses of animal fur and ostrich plumes are typical of the period, although rather large. The young man in white shirt riding an ox may be too young to adorn the traditional funeral attire reserved mainly for mature respected elders but still he has to learn the art. [Gilbert Oteyo 27/04/2005 & CM 25/04/2007]A head and shoulders postcard portrait of a Luo elder wearing a headdress. He is heavily and expensively adorned in traditional attire and must be a significant elder. Around his head is a metal band which may be called ataka in Kijaluo. This metal band holds a number of items on his head including wild pig or hippo tusk (lak rao) and a wig of vegetable fibre. His ears are richly and heavily adorned with metal and bead earrings (ngaga) which was worn only by respected elderly persons. His neck is also heavily adorned with wild pig or hippo tusk and ostrich egg-shell beads (rek). [Gilbert Oteyo 21/04/2005]A formal group portrait of six Luo women posed in front of the administrative building at Kisumu. The original annotation says that this is a group of women from various Luo clans: the women standing from left are said to come from the clans of Gem, Ugenya, Seme, and Kano respectively, and those seated both from Gem. They are all wearing a number of items typical of female adornment in the period, including metal wrist and leg rings (minyonge), beaded front aprons and strings of waist beads. [Gilbert Oteyo & CM 04/05/2007]A group of school children at a school in Mulaha Village, Ugenya Location, Siaya District. They are all in school uniform with the older children standing behind and the younger of junior classes sitting in front. [Gilbert Oteyo 9/9/2004]
Stay with us as we continue to showcase more historical images from various sources, painting a broader picture of Kavirondo’s past.
Explore the full Pitt Rivers Museum Luo Visual History Collection here: [Link]
Walled communities were common in Kavirondo
an aerial view of a homestead taken by Walter Mittelholzer, a Swiss aviation pioneer and photographer. Moat around Kavirondo village, Kenya. (Photo by Ernest Gedge /Royal Geographical Society via Getty ImagesAerial view of Kisumu, Kenya just before landing ca. 1936
Bantu of Kavirondo
Group of Kavirondo natives posed in standing pyramid with spears and shields. ca. 1910-1920Six Wakwifi warriors taken at Mumia’s Kavirondo, Kenya. (Photo by Ernest Gedge /Royal Geographical Society via Getty Images) c.1889Kavirondo dancing, Kenya, 1899. (Photo by H. H. Johnston/Royal Geographical Society via Getty Images)Native bridge, Kavirondo, Kenya. (Photo by Ernest Gedge /Royal Geographical Society via Getty Images)Kavirondo natives at Mumia’s with James Martin and Chief Mumia (plus the wives of Chief Mumia), Kenya. (Photo by Ernest Gedge/Royal Geographical Society via Getty Images)
