The Maasai are a Nilotic ethnic group of semi-nomadic people inhabiting southern Kenya (840,000) and northern Tanzania (430,000), in the African Great Lakes region. According to their own oral history, they originated from the lower Nile valley north of Lake Turkana and began migrating south around the 15th century. As with the Bantu, the Maasai and other Nilotes in Eastern Africa have adopted many customs and practices from the Cushitic groups, including the age set system of social organization, circumcision, and vocabulary terms. They are herdsmen, and had a fearsome reputation as warriors and cattle-rustlers. The raiders used spears and shields, but were most feared for throwing clubs (orinka) which could be accurately thrown from up to 100m. In modern time they have resisted the urging of the Tanzanian and Kenyan governments to adopt a more sedentary lifestyle.
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