Shungwaya (alsoShingwaya) is anorigin myth of theMijikenda peoples.[1] Traditions known collectively as the "Shungwaya myth" describe a series of migrations ofBantu peoples dating to the 12th–17th centuries from a region to the north of theTana River. However according to Rodger F. Morton, coastal traditions recorded prior to 1897 indicate that the Shungwaya tradition entered Mijikenda oral literature only after this date and is therefore of doubtful veracity.[2] These Bantu migrants were held to have been speakers ofSabakiBantu languages.[3] Other Bantu ethnic groups, smaller in number, are also suggested to have been part of the migration.[4] From Shungwaya, theMount KenyaBantu (Kamba,Kikuyu,Meru,Embu, andMbeere) are then proposed to have broke away and migrated from there some time before the Oromo onslaught. Shungwaya appears to have been, in its heyday, a multi-ethnic settlement with extensive trade networks.[5] In the 13th century perhaps this settlement was subjected to a full scale invasion of Cushitic speaking Oromo peoples from he Horn of Africa.[6] From the whole corpus of these traditions, it has been argued that Shungwaya comprised a large, multi-ethnic community.[1]
The "Zhongli" (中理) ofZhao Rukuo'sZhu Fan Zhi (13th century) may be aChinese transcription of Shungwaya. From Zhao's description, the place seems to be in the south of modernSomalia.[7]
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