TheKadam people inhabitMount Kadam inNakapiripirit District in theKaramoja sub-region, located in north-easternUganda.
They are closely related to the Tepeth/Tepes or So peoples who inhabit Mount Napak[1] andMount Moroto, also in southern Karamoja. Some regard them as a sub-group of the Tepeth. There is very little written about them, but local oral history records all these groups as having been the inhabitants of wider areas of present-day Karamoja who took refuge in the mountains when the Karamojong arrived from Ethiopia in the 17th century (seeKaramojong people). They are one of the few peoples in Uganda to practiseFemale Genital Mutilation[2]
The Kadam speak theKadam Language, also known asyog toŋi[3] which is a variant of theSo language of theNilo-Saharan languages group. It is also closely related to the languages of the peoples mentioned above. The language is endangered;[4] those who speak Kadam/So as a first language are middle-aged and elderly, the younger generations speak mostly thePökoot orKaramojong language.