Spatial variation among Kenyan tribes and subtribes.

Fifteen Kenyan tribes Nilotic as well as Bantu speakers were measured for 24 anthropometric variables. For one tribe the Abaluyia 8 subtribes were studied as well. Spatial autocorrelation analysis was applied to the geographic variation patterns of the variables. There are at least two or three significant and different spatial patterns in these data. The combination of different patterns and differing correlograms indicates considerable migration from different sources and in different directions since it is improbable that selection has imposed patterns on these relatively recently arrived populations. Application of the multiple Mantel statistics showed that phenetic differentiation is affected approximately equally by geographic and linguistic factors but that these forces affected the anthropometric variables differentially. (EXCERPT)