Homeland and origins
The Makonde are a Bantu-speaking people from northern Mozambique. Families came to Kenya from the 1930s to work on the sisal and sugar estates of the coast, and the community's home today is Kwale County.
Arts
The Makonde are famous across East Africa for sculpture in blackwood, known as mpingo.
Recognition
Like several communities that arrived during the colonial period, the Makonde spent decades without recognition or citizenship. In 2016 they marched from Kwale to State House to press their case. In February 2017 they were given citizenship and proclaimed Kenya's "43rd tribe". The numbering of the communities recognized after them varies between sources.
Today
The 2019 census, the first after their recognition, counted 3,764 Makonde, most of them in Kwale.
Further reading
- Knowing Ethnicity: Politics, Classification and Pluralism in Kenya, Samantha Balaton-Chrimes (2026)
Sources
- UNHCR: the Makonde become Kenyan citizens
- Citizen Digital: Kenya's 43rd and 44th tribes
- Statelessness Hub: Kenya
From The Peoples of Kenya: An Ethnographic Reference (Kenya Experience, November 2026), a synthesis of published sources. Practices described as traditional are historical baselines; today most Kenyans are Christian or Muslim, live in or near towns and speak Swahili and English. Spot something to correct? Write to kibetck@kenyaexperience.org.
