Luo peoples

Luo

Luo location in East Africa
Total population
18,596,000
Regions with significant populations
East Africa: Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Congo (DRC)
Religion
Christianity; Traditional religions; Islam
Related ethnic groups
Other Nilotic peoples Especially Atuot, Burun, Dinka, Jumjum, and Nuer

The Luo, (also spelled Lwo) are several ethnically and linguistically related Nilotic ethnic groups that inhabit an area ranging from Egypt and Sudan to South Sudan and Ethiopia, through Northern Uganda and eastern Congo (DRC), into western Kenya, and the Mara Region of Tanzania. Their Luo languages belong to the western branch of the Nilotic language family.

The Luo groups in South Sudan include the Shilluk, Anuak, Pari, Acholi, Balanda Boor, Thuri and Luwo. Those in Uganda include the Alur, Acholi, Jonam and Padhola. The ones in Kenya and Tanzania are the Joluo (also called Luo in Kenyan English).

The Joluo and their language Dholuo are also known as the "Luo proper" by Kenya based observers, even though their dialect has more Bantu loan words than the rest. The level of historical separation between these groups is estimated at eight centuries. Dispersion from an alleged Nilotic core region in South Sudan is presumed to have been triggered by the turmoil of the Muslim conquest of Sudan.^[1][2] The migration of individual groups over the last few centuries can to some extent be traced in the respective group's oral history.