Nyanza Province of Kenya, on Lake Victoria, is one of Kenya's seven administrative provinces outside Nairobi. Strategically placed in the southwest corner of Kenya, it includes part of the eastern edge of the world’s largest fresh water lake - Lake Victoria - and is inhabited predominantly by the Luo. However, there are also Bantu-speaking tribes such as the Gusii, the Kuria and a few traces of the Luhya living in the province.

The province derives its name from the Sukuma, a Bantu-speaking tribe living on the Tanzanian shore of Lake Victoria, to whom the word Nyanza means a large mass of water. The provincial capital is Kisumu, the third largest city in Kenya and second most important city after Kampala in the greater Lake Victoria basin. The province has a population of 4,392,196 (as of 1999) within an area of 16,162 km². Lying on the shores of the lake, fishing and related activities have played a large role in the lives of most of the inhabitants and has been the driver of economic activities with agriculture mainly playing a subsistence role.