Maasai history is partially shrouded in mystery.

The little literature that does exist was written primarily by European explorers and colonists. Archeology proves little help with a semi-nomadic people who moved from one green pasture to the next. Linguistics can help trace the origin of the Maasai to a degree.

To the Maasai, it is oral tradition that has helped to preserve the past.

Legend has it that long ago the Maasai were divided into two groups during a season of drought. Before this time they lived as one group in a crater-like region surrounded by steep escarpments.

They spoke one language called olmaa and had no subdivisions as they do today. However, when no rains fell they decided they had to move into the hills where the land was vast and fertile.

Much discussion was given to the problem of how to climb the escarpments. It was decided that a great bridge would be built.

When the bridge had been built and the families with their cattle began to ascend the bridge suddenly broke. Those who were crossing fell back into the crater where many more awaited.

However, half of the people had already reached the top. These people at the top became ilmeek or non-Maasai. Those in the crater remained Maasai.

Once thought to be the lost tribe of Israel, a Maasai warrior resembles a Roman foot soldier. Like the Romans, the Maasai have been regarded for their militaristic strength.

They were able to forcibly displace tribes encountered on their migration South. Arab slave traders wouldn’t touch them. Early European settlers and explorers feared any encounter with the ‘warrior tribe.’

After migrating South from the Nile Region of North Africa, in the fifteenth century the Maasai established themselves in the East of Africa by the mid seventeenth century. Along the way they conquered such groups as the Chaga, Sirikwa, Galla, Iltatua, Ndorobo and Kikuyu.

A dispute between two brothers, one a religious leader and the other a secular chief in the mid nineteenth century, caused a rift among the people.

A civil war entailed as British colonists began to take an interest in Maasai territory siding with the religious leader. Along with disease and famine, the people were weakened. The British displaced the Maasai to reservations where terrain was less than adequate for sustenance.

Although their number slowly grows each year, the Maasai don’t command the authority and presence they once did in Africa.

After independence, some Maasai were able to return to their family homeland. By this time many Maasai had become more settled. Some started growing crops or held jobs requiring them to stay.