Acholi

Name

Acholi

Population:

30,000 - 50,000 people inhabiting what is now

Language:

Leb Acholi (Acholi).Acholi are  a Luo speaking group.

Area of residence

Magwe County, originally part of Torit District on the east bank of Equatoria,which is now part of Eastern Equatoria State. 

History

The Acholi are part of the wider Acholi ethnic group where the majority reside in Northern Uganda,in area known as Acholiland.

Different accounts attest that the Acholi group was formed from different people who inhabited the area as the result of Luo migration and therefore assert that the Acholi are a product of intermarriages between the Luo and the Madi; being Luo in language and custom and therefore closely related in history to the Alur of West Nile, the Jopadhola of eastern Uganda and the Joluo of Kenya, the Shilluk, Anyuak and other Luo groups in the South Sudan.

Customs:

The Acholi society is a sedentary, agrarian community organised in chiefdoms, which vary greatly in size but consist of a cluster of villages including the surrounding territory used for agriculture and hunting over which the Rwot exercise his authority.

This territory comprises of the aristocrats who are the agnatic kins of the Rwot commoners who are not related to the Rwot. The villages formed a protected ring around the royal village ‘gang kal’.

Culture:

The Acholi culture is expressed in songs, music and dance. The Acholi compose tuneful songs to incidences of interest and colourful communal dance .

Relationships

The Acholi have cordial relationships with their neighbours  Madi but not with the Lotuka or Lokoya.    

The Acholi neighbour:

The Madi to the west and southwest
The Lokoya and the Lotuka to the east and northeast
The Lulubo and Bari to the north. 

Diaspora

The Acholi are now also found in :

Northern Uganda
Americas
Europe
Australia.

References,Images and further reading: Gurtong