ITESO MIGRATION

 

The migration of the Iteso did not happen independently, there are other clusters or groups of Ateker people who were with Iteso in Abyssinia. This expedition to Uganda started a proximately a round 1300AD

Ateker Iteso People’s first settlement was in Turkana, north of Kenya. They left Turkana, and moved to Moroto because of tsetse flies and other factors like drought, famine and cattle disease caused by Ticks.

Whereas people were leaving, one group of people decided to remain behind. The group that remained in Ethiopia are called Nyangatom or the Dongiro “Lu Edongoto”, while those who settled in Turkana were called the Turkana. The Turknana got the name from the sound of the caves in the area that used to sound Tur tur.

A group moved and settled in Moroto are known as the Karamojong. All this names were a circumstance of the migration. ‘Ekaraki Imojong’ the old men are tired.

One group left Karamoja, went westwards and settled in the south of the present day South Sudan. These group are known as the Toposa. It’s believed that due to lack of a diviner they strayed and got lost in the desert and found their way in Southern Sudan (Lu opotu Iposiaros)

A group left Karamoja in 1700 AD and moved southwards and entered a place called Angisa in Magoro, the group of Ateker people who settled in Magoro came to be called Iteso (Webster et al 1973) The Iteso from the word, Itei iso ‘We have seen’ The young Energetic youth had seen water and greener pastures so they moved with their cattle.

Another cluster broke away from Iteso, led by Oleumo. This team went to the shore of lake Kyoga and came to be called the ‘Kumam’ The children of Oleumo (ikoku Olemo) they are often referred as Ikokolemo (Mamdani, 1998). Up-to-date the Kumam occupy the Districts that border Lake Kyoga (Kalaki, Soroti and Kaberamaido)

From Magoro, the group that went north settled in the current Usuk area (Katakwi district), while the group that went west settled in areas now known as Soroti, Serere.

Those who went south crossed Lake Bisina and named it in memory of Abyssinia and settled in places now called Ngora, Kumi, Bukedea, Pallisa and some parts of Kaliro.

Some proceeded south eastwards to settle in Mbale, Tororo, Busia and western parts of Kenya.(jones 2005).

You can also check out for present day #Soroti #Kumi #Ngora #Serere #Katakwi #Bukedea #Kaberamaido #Pallisa #Amuria #Tororo #Busia 

#Emuria Koliai 

Kokong village in Ngora district

 

An online  Image taken of the rock in Soroti 

An activity along the shores of Lake Kyoga in Serere

 

 

A village homestead in Soroti.

ITESO HISTORY & ORIGIN

 

Every scholar is inquisitorial and curious to find out why a strong, courageous and warrior tribe would drift away from the Hills of Abyssinia to the Ugandan Eastern grasslands.

Iteso are the famous section of the Ateker people whose origin is from the Habesha people of the Solomonid Dynasty in the historical Abyssinia Empire (present Ethiopia and Eritrea).

The Monarchy was so vast covering Southern Egypt, Eastern Sudan, Yemen and Western Saudi Arabia from 980 B.C. to its collapse in September 1974 due to a coup led by Mengistu Haile Mariam of the Derg committee who jailed and murdered king Haile Selassie.

Ethiopia (Abbysnia), an empire that was founded by the Ethiopian people known as the Aksumites they lived in the Ethiopian highlands.

The first 10^th century kingdom to rise to power in the territory was the Aksumite Kingdom of the Tigray Region with its capital at Aksum. The second was Zagwe dynasty with a capital at lalibela. The Zagwe dynasty gave way to the Solomonic dynasty in the 13^th century.

During the Solomonic period Ethiopia went through military reforms and imperial expansion that made it to dominate the Horn of Afrika.

The Greeks also conquered Abyssinia and Renamed it ‘Ethiopicas’ the name of their Greek god. There were also a lot of inter-tribal and inter kingdom wars in Ethiopia at this 13^th century and due to this kind of battles the cattle keepers sought refuge a way.

Cattle keepers (Ateker people) as often couldn’t be huddled in an urban settlement with cattle, goats and sheep they decided to move away from Abyssinia to a larger land for their animals, enough pastures and above all access of water for the large flocks since it was always dry in the desert.

So what's the origin of this famous Ateker Iteso people,

Solomon's fame spreads until the Queen of Sheba hears about him. She's so intrigued that she comes to Israel to test his wisdom with some tough questions. She shows up in Jerusalem with a huge entourage and camels bearing gold and spices and jewels to give to Solomon.

According to the Bible (1^st Kings 10, the purpose of her visit was to test Solomon's wisdom by asking him to solve a number of riddles. It’s believed that King Solomon Answered all the questions well, but had told the queen not to break the promise and falter the rules of his Kingdom.

When Queen Sheba was about to leave, one night she was thirsty and was looking for water in the palace she found King Solomon who took her and its believed she left Israel when she was pregnant. Many Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions tell about a marriage between Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church teaches that their son was the first great king of Ethiopia, Menelik I.

Menelik the Ist was the first Emperor of Ethiopia. According to Kebra Nagast, a 14th-century national epic in the 10th century BC he is said to have inaugurated the Solomonic dynasty of Ethiopia, so named because Menelik I was the son of the biblical King Solomon of ancient Israel and of Makeda, the Queen of Sheba.

He was conceived when his father Solomon tricked his visiting mother, the Queen of Sheba, into sleeping with him. His mother raised him as a Jew in her homeland and he only traveled to Jerusalem to meet his father for the first time when he was in his twenties. While his father begged Menelik to stay and rule over Israel, Menelik told him that he wanted to return home (Abyssinia). Thus, Solomon sent many Israelites with him, to aid him in ruling according to biblical standards.

The origin of Iteso is tagged to history of Menelik the 1^st who was a Jew and a cattle keeper whose father was Solomon and the Mother was queen of sheba. Thats why we are called the Israelites of Africa.

#Emuria Koliai

King Menelik II