Kaya (Mijikenda)

Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests

UNESCO World Heritage Site
Location	Coast Province, Kenya
Includes	Kaya Giriama Kaya Jibana Kaya Kambe Kaya Kauma Kaya Ribe The Rabai Kayas The Duruma Kayas Kaya Kinondo Kaya Chonyi
Criteria	Cultural: iii, v, vi
Reference	1231rev
Inscription	2008 (32nd Session)
Area	1,538 ha (3,800 acres)
Coordinates	3°55′55″S 39°35′46″E / 3.93194°S 39.59611°E / -3.93194; 39.59611
Location of Kaya in Kenya

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Pleistocene Koobi Fora Hominins Olorgesailie Aechulean hand axe culture Kariandusi prehistoric site Enkapune Ya Muto Nataruk
Neolithic Lothagam North Monumental Cemetery Kalokol Pillar Site Elmenteitan Culture Cushitic expansion Eburran industry Hyrax Hill
African Iron Age Sirikwa culture Bantu expansion Nilotic expansion Urewe culture Thimlich Ohinga stone-built ruins Shungwaya Mijikenda Kayas (Fortified settlements) Indian Ocean trade route
Swahili city-states Periplus of the Erythraean Sea Swahili people Swahili culture Kilwa Sultanate History of Mombasa History of Malindi History of Lamu Ruins of Gedi Jumba la Mtwana
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A kaya (plural makaya or kayas) is a sacred site of the Mijikenda people in the former Coast Province of Kenya. Often located within sacred forests, a kaya is considered to be an intrinsic source of ritual power and the origin of cultural identity;^[1][2] it is also a place of prayer for members of the Mijikenda ethnic group.^[3] The settlement, ritual centre, and fortified enclosure associated with the forest are also part of the kaya. In the present day, the kaya is also referred to as a traditional organizational unit of the Mijikenda.^[4] Eleven of the approximately 60 separate makaya have been grouped together and inscribed as the Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.