They came from the highlands of what is now Ethiopia, moving south in search of grazing land and water. The Cushitic-speaking people were the first farming and herding communities to settle in the land that would become Kenya. They brought with them cattle, sheep, and goats. They brought with them language, ritual, and a way of reading the land. Over centuries they spread across the drylands of northern and eastern Kenya, laying the first human roots in soil that would one day hold 50 million people.