Editing Kipsigis people (section)

==== Sotik Massacre ====
{{See also|Sotik Massacre}}

Originally not part of the White Highlands, Sotik District was a Y-shaped strip of land about 50 miles and in some places not more than three miles wide, carved out of the Native Reserve. Sotik was Abugusii and Maasai territory before 1800 but, under a treaty promulgated by Menya Araap Kisiara, the Maasai were pushed to Trans-Mara. Following the arrival of the British, the Kipsigis rallied alongside the Nandis to fight against the building of the [[Uganda Railway|Kenya-Uganda Railway]].

Seeing the long-drawn-out resistance of the Nandi led by [[Koitalel Arap Samoei|Koitalel Araap Samoei]], the intelligence officer [[Richard Meinertzhagen]], vowed to break the impasse. In the middle of 1905, a punitive raid led by Major [[Richard Pope-Hennessy]] killed 1,850 men, women, and children who were rounded up and fired upon indiscriminately with a [[Maxim gun]] and other weapons. The massacre was ostensibly in retaliation against the refusal by the Sotik people to heed an ultimatum by the British government to return cattle raided from the Maasai. It is noted that medal of honours were awarded to officers who took part in these operations around the same time.<ref>{{Cite book |title=War medals and their history |publisher=Read Books |year=2008 |isbn=9781408697122 |pages=258}}</ref>

Some months later on 19 October 1905, Richard Meinertzhagen tricked Koitalel into what was effectively an ambush and shot him at point-blank range, killing him on the spot and the rest of his entourage. With Koitalel dead, the Nandi resistance was neutralized, and the British proceeded to evict the Kipsigis and Nandi from their land and sent them to areas that were largely unfit for human habitation. The Sotik massacre and the assassination of Koitalel were directly linked to the setting aside of Sotik for European settlement and the colonial system of forced labour, punitive taxes for Africans, economic, and racial segregation. It is disingenuous to argue that it was a buffer zone to keep warring African tribes apart.<ref>{{Cite web|last=January 28, 2022|first=Friday|date=2022-01-27|title=How Sotik massacre, Koitalel killing opened area to white settlers|url=https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/bd/lifestyle/society/how-sotik-massacre-koitalel-area-to-white-settlers-3696378|access-date=2022-02-23|website=Business Daily|language=en|archive-date=23 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220223074202/https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/bd/lifestyle/society/how-sotik-massacre-koitalel-area-to-white-settlers-3696378|url-status=live}}</ref>

In August 2020, following the [[Murder of George Floyd|murder of Gerge Floyd]], [[Claudia Webbe]], [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Leicester East (UK Parliament constituency)|Leicester East]] wrote in a letter addressed to UK's Secretary of State for Education, [[Gavin Williamson]], about Sotik Massacre and asked that the massacre should be taught in British schools.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-08-07|title=Include the Sotik Massacre in the National Curriculum.|url=https://claudiawebbe.org/include-the-sotik-massacre-in-the-national-curriculum/|access-date=2022-02-23|website=Claudia Webbe|language=en-GB|archive-date=23 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220223115749/https://claudiawebbe.org/include-the-sotik-massacre-in-the-national-curriculum/|url-status=live}}</ref>