Historical Background

Pre-Colonial History:
Before Kenya (or the area that is now known as Kenya) had any contact with the outside world, its culture already faced divides. The Masai tribe dominated society, however the Kikuyu tribe was actually the largest in numbers. So, when other powers arrived and other groups such as the Nilotic and Bantu migrated in the first millennium AD, the land was already rooted in what would be a long history of turmoil. In the first century AD, Arab traders made their first contact with the city-states along the Eastern coast of Africa. By the eight century AD, Arabs had actually settled the land. These initial contacts were, as most things in world history are, for the purposes of commerce and trade. The Arabs sought ivory and slaves from the Eastern coast of Africa that they could, as the middlemen of global-trading networks, sell for a profit.

The Portuguese were the first Europeans to establish contact with the East Africa coast. In 1498, Vasco de Gamma stopped at Mombassa, a Swahili city-state, in his endeavor to find a route to India. In 1505, Don Francisco Alameida conquered Kilwa and other city-states, securing the Portuguese’s’ firm grip on eastern Africa. Control over this land was imperative to controlling the Indian Ocean Basin trade, as it bordered the western part of the Indian Ocean. Also, by controlling the Indian Ocean, the Portuguese would be able to bypass the Venetians and the Arabs en route to India, therefore reducing the cost of luxuries such as spices and cotton. Under Portuguese control, the Kenyan territory was still very much divided and contained into distinct city-states.

By 1730, however, a new force, the Omani Arabs were able to take kick out the Portuguese and take control of the Kenyan territory. The Omani were able to truly consolidate power and created a more unified territory. Their main industries were clove plantations (which used slaves) and slave trade itself. So, when the British outlawed slave trade in 1808, the Omani lost their biggest sources of revenue, and thus their control over the territory fell into shambles.


Colonial History:

The origins of colonialism in Kenya, and most other countries in Africa, are linked to the Congress of Berlin in 1885. Under the leadership of Otto von Bismarck, the Europeans essentially “carved up” a map of Africa in order to restore the balance of power in Europe (see colonial map of Africa). Germany was given the East African territory, and thus demanded land from the Sultan who controlled the territory. However, as was common in the new age of communication and the telegraph, Britain quickly found out about this demand and suggested a compromise. The British drew a line at a latitude of one degree South: Britain got the land to the north of this line which today constitutes Kenya, and Germany to the south, which is modern day Tanzania, leaving the Sultan with only a ten mile strip of land. Although this may seem like an odd move on Britain’s part, it actually was in full accordance with the British motives for imperialism. Kenya itself did not have that much to offer in the eyes of the Europeans, rather colonialism was a manifestation of competition between European powers (see political cartoon). So, the more land in Africa a country had, the more powerful it seemed. Also, the eastern African land had a significant, yet indirect connection to India, which the British did view as a plentiful source of revenue. Lake Victoria, which is technically now in Uganda, was the source of the headwaters for the Nile, and the Nile was the link to Egypt, and Egypt was the threshold from the western world into the Indian Ocean (and thus India). So control over Lake Victoria in some ways secured the British control of India, or at least trade with India.

In 1888, the British established the British East Africa Company to oversee the development of the territory. Similar to the charter companies that Britain established to colonize the Americas, this company was not controlled by the government, rather by wealthy businessmen. The main achievement of this company was the construction of the Ugandan Railway, which ran parallel to the Nile and aided in mobilizing troops and goods between Egypt and Eastern Africa.




However, in the 1890’s, the British revoked the British East Africa Company’s charter. In the previous years, Britain had actually established the Ugandan protectorate over land contiguous to that of the British East Africa Company. With more at stake, the British felt it was necessary to cement their control over access to the sea (through East Africa), and thus revoked the charter in favor of a direct authority. So, in 1895, the British established the East Africa Protectorate. In 1920, the Protectorate became the Kenya colony, in which white settlers were able to elect a legislative council, although the colony was still mainly under the direct authority of the British Empire.

Kenya Colony:
Kenya was an official British colony from 1920-1963 when it achieved independence. Many historians consider Kenya to be a colony “created by a railway” because only once the Ugandan Railway was constructed, white settlers began paying much more attention to the colony. The need for production to make the railway actually profitable ignited a policy to entice settlers to the Kenyan “White” Highlands.



The image above, produced by the Uganda Railway Company, shows the techniques used to lure in settlers. The land was fertile and the British government offered it at very cheap rates. After much trial and error, two crops were found to be fertile in the highlands, tea and coffee. This success in the early 1900s and through the birth of the colony attracted more and more settlers who were drawn to both profit and often times the exotic word of “Lions and Love”, portrayed in much popular literature. This depiction of Kenya as an exotic paradise was hardly accurate. Interestingly, even for white settlers, life in Kenya Colony was not the paradise promised in advertisement, and was often very strenuous, these experiences however pail in comparison to those of the Natives. During the railroad construction and the later carving up of land, hundreds of thousands of native Africans; Masai, Kikuyu etc., were forced into “reservations” or were simply killed. Exploitation was rampant.




Although these natives (especially the Kikuyu) had control over virtually no land, they were burdened with harsh tax and labor laws. The gap between the races in terms of economic prosperity was so harsh that formally prosperous Africans were forced into deep poverty. Politically, both native Africans and the large population of Indians (imported for the building of the railroad) were grossly underrepresented and demanded rights as early as the 1920s. As early as 1921 African groups formed to fight for representation, one of which was the Young Kikuyu Movement (East Africa Movement). Although in 1925 this group was suppressed, it regrouped immediately as the Kikuyu Central organization and 3 years later Jomo Kenyatta became involved in the organization’s newspaper. During the 1930s Kenyatta campaigned peacefully for education, representation and respect for traditional customs; as native Africans continued to be mistreated and forced into reservations. Finally in 1944 one African gained a seat in colonial legislation and the number was then doubled in 1946, but years of brutality left the people angry. The result was in 1952 the emergence of the extremist group known as the Mau-Mau. A sudden outbreak of assassinations and violence emerged as a result of Mau-Mau’s birth and because of their Kikuyu origins; Kenyatta was arrested and imprisoned for 7 years. Meanwhile as many as 11,000 Africans were killed in encounters with the British, while only about 2000 British were killed.



The worst of the violence ended in 1956 but not until 1960 was the state of emergency considered over. In 1960 Africans were given a majority of seats in the legislative council and after Kenyatta’s release from prison he lead negations for independence which were won in 1963.