The Embu are a Bantu people inhabiting the Embu District of Kenya. They speak the Bantu Embu language as a mother tongue. To the south of Embu are to be found their cousins, the Mbeere people, in Mbeere District. Previously, the Embu and Mbeere were in one district, Embu District, and were just referred to as the Embu people. To the east, Embu neighbors are the related Kikuyu in Kirinyaga and Nyeri districts. The Meru people in Meru South District border Embu to the east.

The Embu are of Bantu origin. They are concentrated in the vicinity of Mount Kenya. Along with other Eastern Bantu groups such as the Kikuyu and Meru, the Embu are believed to have entered their present area of inhabitation from points further south, where they had settled early on after the initial Bantu expansion from West Africa.

The migration to Mount Kenya was perhaps due to conflicts there, such as slavery. It is believed that they migrated as far as the Kenyan Coast, since the Meru elders refer to Mpwa (aPwani or Coast) as their origin. The conflicts there, perhaps slave trade by Arabs, forced them to retreat northeast to the interior of Kenya, and they settled by the slopes of Mount Kenya. They were to refer to this location as the place of the Lord, the owner of the snow ("Nyaga") or ("Njeru" meaning white) — hence the name "Mwenenyaga" or "Mwenenjeru".