The region is located in the southwestern part of Kenya around Lake Victoria. It includes part of the eastern edge of the lake and is inhabited predominantly by the Luo people and Kisii people. There are also Bantu-speaking tribes, such as the Kuria, and some Luhya, living in the province. The province derives its name from Nyanza, a Bantu word which means a large mass of water.
The provincial capital was Kisumu, the third-largest city in Kenya. The province had a population of 4,392,196 at the 1999 census within an area of 16.162 km2, or 12.613 km2 of land.
The following counties make up the area of the former Nyanza province:
Districts after 2007
Several new districts were created in 2007 in Kenya, also in Nyanza Province:[1]
Languages
The predominant language in Nyanza is Dholuo, a Nilotic language and Ekegusii (Bantu Languages) whose origins are from South Sudan. It is spoken by the ethnic Luo.
Other languages include Luhya, Kuria, Suba and the national languages of English and Swahili. Other languages from the many Kenyan communities are also spoken in small pockets by migrants from these communities.
Barack Obama Sr. (1934–1982), economist with the government; educated in Hawaii and Massachusetts; father of the PresidentBarack Obama (2009–2017) of the United States