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Eldoret
Eldoret is a city in the Rift Valley region of Kenya. It serves as the capital of Uasin Gishu County. Located in western Kenya and lying south of the Cherangani Hills, the local elevation varies from about 2,100 metres (6,900 ft) at the Eldoret International Airport to more than 2,700 metres (8,900 ft) in nearby areas.
As per the 2019 population census, Eldoret has a population of 475,716 people and is the fifth most populated urban area in the country after Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru and Ruiru.
A long standing municipality, Eldoret was conferred city status on 15 August 2024, making it the fifth city of Kenya after Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu and Nakuru.
The city is a significant urban area in Kenya; it is the second largest medical destination in Kenya after Nairobi and hosts the largest university student population outside of the nation's capital. Its international airport is ranked as the nation's second busiest cargo airport after JKIA in Nairobi and has the second largest coverage by financial institutions outside of the capital with over 40 branches in town. The city also hosts a substantial manufacturing sector.
The name "Eldoret" is based on the Maasai word eldore meaning "stony river", a reference to the bed of the Sosiani River, a tributary of the Nile that runs through the town. The city was referred to as Farm 64 or 'Sisibo', a derivative of '64', during the early colonial period.
The Uasin Gishu Plateau and surrounding highlands were historically inhabited by the Sirikwa, a sedentary pastoralist community remembered through oral traditions and early colonial-era ethnography. Although the term "Sirikwa culture" has since been adopted by archaeologists to describe a broader Late Iron Age agropastoral horizon (c. AD 1200–1600), the Sirikwa people themselves appear to have been a distinct clan or sub-group within this wider cultural complex.
Oral traditions—particularly among the Pokot, Kony, and Nandi—place the Sirikwa on the Uasin Gishu Plateau prior to their dispersal in the mid-19th century. These accounts describe the plateau as being shared by at least two distinct communities, indicating a segmented settlement pattern rather than exclusive Sirikwa occupation. Sengwer oral traditions, for example, recall the presence of both "Sirikwa and Mitia"—the latter possibly corresponding to the Mitei (Kalenjin) tribe referenced in early 20th-century Nandi sources.
Archaeologically, the Sirikwa are associated with a distinctive form of circular earthwork enclosure known as Sirikwa holes, alongside tumuli, irrigation channels, and occasional monolith structures. These features are especially concentrated in the western highlands of Kenya, notably in the modern-day counties of Trans Nzoia, Uasin Gishu, and Elgeyo Marakwet.
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Eldoret
Eldoret is a city in the Rift Valley region of Kenya. It serves as the capital of Uasin Gishu County. Located in western Kenya and lying south of the Cherangani Hills, the local elevation varies from about 2,100 metres (6,900 ft) at the Eldoret International Airport to more than 2,700 metres (8,900 ft) in nearby areas.
As per the 2019 population census, Eldoret has a population of 475,716 people and is the fifth most populated urban area in the country after Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru and Ruiru.
A long standing municipality, Eldoret was conferred city status on 15 August 2024, making it the fifth city of Kenya after Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu and Nakuru.
The city is a significant urban area in Kenya; it is the second largest medical destination in Kenya after Nairobi and hosts the largest university student population outside of the nation's capital. Its international airport is ranked as the nation's second busiest cargo airport after JKIA in Nairobi and has the second largest coverage by financial institutions outside of the capital with over 40 branches in town. The city also hosts a substantial manufacturing sector.
The name "Eldoret" is based on the Maasai word eldore meaning "stony river", a reference to the bed of the Sosiani River, a tributary of the Nile that runs through the town. The city was referred to as Farm 64 or 'Sisibo', a derivative of '64', during the early colonial period.
The Uasin Gishu Plateau and surrounding highlands were historically inhabited by the Sirikwa, a sedentary pastoralist community remembered through oral traditions and early colonial-era ethnography. Although the term "Sirikwa culture" has since been adopted by archaeologists to describe a broader Late Iron Age agropastoral horizon (c. AD 1200–1600), the Sirikwa people themselves appear to have been a distinct clan or sub-group within this wider cultural complex.
Oral traditions—particularly among the Pokot, Kony, and Nandi—place the Sirikwa on the Uasin Gishu Plateau prior to their dispersal in the mid-19th century. These accounts describe the plateau as being shared by at least two distinct communities, indicating a segmented settlement pattern rather than exclusive Sirikwa occupation. Sengwer oral traditions, for example, recall the presence of both "Sirikwa and Mitia"—the latter possibly corresponding to the Mitei (Kalenjin) tribe referenced in early 20th-century Nandi sources.
Archaeologically, the Sirikwa are associated with a distinctive form of circular earthwork enclosure known as Sirikwa holes, alongside tumuli, irrigation channels, and occasional monolith structures. These features are especially concentrated in the western highlands of Kenya, notably in the modern-day counties of Trans Nzoia, Uasin Gishu, and Elgeyo Marakwet.
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