)
, national_anthem = "
Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu
"" (, ) is the national anthem of Kenya.
History
"Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"'s lyrics were originally written in Kiswahili, the national language of Kenya. The commission included five members and was headed by the Kenya Music Adviser. It was based ...
"
()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital =
Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...
, coordinates =
, largest_city =
Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...
, official_languages =
[Constitution (2009) Art. 7 ational, official and other languages"(1) The national language of the Republic is Swahili. (2) The official languages of the Republic are Swahili and English. (3) The State shall–-–- (a) promote and protect the diversity of language of the people of Kenya; and (b) promote the development and use of indigenous languages, Kenyan Sign language, Braille and other communication formats and technologies accessible to persons with disabilities."]
, languages_type =
National language
A national language is a language (or language variant, e.g. dialect) that has some connection—de facto or de jure—with a nation. There is little consistency in the use of this term. One or more languages spoken as first languages in the te ...
, languages =
Swahili
, ethnic_groups =
, ethnic_groups_year = 2019 census
, religion =
, religion_year = 2019 census
, demonym =
Kenyan
)
, national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
, ...
, government_type =
Unitary
Unitary may refer to:
Mathematics
* Unitary divisor
* Unitary element
* Unitary group
* Unitary matrix
* Unitary morphism
* Unitary operator
* Unitary transformation
* Unitary representation
* Unitarity (physics)
* ''E''-unitary inverse semigroup ...
presidential
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese fu ...
republic
A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...
, leader_title1 =
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
, leader_name1 =
William Ruto
William Kipchirchir Samoei Arap Ruto (born 21 December 1966) is a Kenyan politician who is serving as the fifth and current president of Kenya since 13 September 2022. Prior to becoming president, he served as the 11th deputy president of Ken ...
, leader_title2 =
Deputy President
A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...
, leader_name2 =
Rigathi Gachagua
Geoffrey Rigathi Gachagua (born 28 February 1965) is a Kenyan politician, who is serving as the current Deputy President of Kenya since 2022. He previously served as the Member of Parliament for Mathira Constituency between 2017 to 2022 as member ...
, leader_title3 =
Senate Speaker
, leader_name3 =
Amason Kingi
Amason Kingi Jeffah is the current Speaker of the Senate of Kenya. He is the immediate former governor of Kilifi County and belongs to the Pamoja African Alliance. Before his term as governor of Kilifi, Amason was elected to represent the Maga ...
, leader_title4 =
Assembly Speaker
, leader_name4 =
Moses Wetangula
Moses Francis Masika Wetang'ula (born 13 September 1956), is the current Speaker of the National Assembly of Kenya, as well as leader of the FORD-Kenya party. He served in the government of Kenya as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2008 to 20 ...
, leader_title5 =
Chief Justice
, leader_name5 =
Martha Koome
Martha Karambu Koome (born 3 June 1960) is a Kenyan advocate who is currently serving as the Chief Justice of Kenya, and is the first woman to occupy the post.
Early life and education
Koome was born on 3 June 1960 in Kithiu village, Meru Di ...
, legislature =
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
, upper_house =
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
, lower_house =
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
, sovereignty_type =
Independence
Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
, sovereignty_note = from the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
, established_event1 =
Dominion
The term ''Dominion'' is used to refer to one of several self-governing nations of the British Empire.
"Dominion status" was first accorded to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the Irish Free State at the 1926 ...
, established_date1 = 12 December 1963
, established_event2 =
Republic
A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...
, established_date2 = 12 December 1964
, area_km2 = 580,367
, area_footnote =
, area_rank = 48th
, area_sq_mi = 224,960
, percent_water = 2.3
, population_estimate = 55,864,655
, population_estimate_year = 2022
, population_estimate_rank = 27th
, population_census = 47,564,296
, population_census_rank =
, population_census_year = 2019
, population_density_km2 = 78
, population_density_sq_mi = 202
, population_density_rank = 124th
, GDP_PPP = $333.1 billion
, GDP_PPP_year = 2022
, GDP_PPP_rank = 61th
, GDP_PPP_per_capita = $6,122
, GDP_PPP_per_capita_rank =140th
, GDP_nominal =$114.8 billion
, GDP_nominal_year = 2022
, GDP_nominal_rank = 64th
, GDP_nominal_per_capita = $2,255
, GDP_nominal_per_capita_rank = 146th
, Gini = 40.8
, Gini_year = 2015
, Gini_change = decrease
, Gini_ref =
, Gini_rank =
, HDI = 0.575
, HDI_year = 2021
, HDI_change = decrease
, HDI_ref =
, HDI_rank = 152nd
, currency =
Kenyan shilling
The shilling ( sw, shilingi; abbreviation: KSh; ISO code: KES) is the currency of Kenya. It is divided into 100 cents.
Notation
Prices in the Kenyan shilling are written in the form of , where x is the amount in shillings, while y is the ...
, currency_code = KES
, time_zone =
East Africa Time
East Africa Time, or EAT, is a time zone used in eastern Africa. The time zone is three hours ahead of UTC ( UTC+03:00), which is the same as Moscow Time, Arabia Standard Time, Further-eastern European Time and Eastern European Summer Time.
As ...
, utc_offset = +3
, date_format = dd/mm/yy (
AD)
, drives_on = left
, calling_code =
+254
, cctld =
.ke
, footnotes = According to the CIA, estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of mortality because of AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex, than would otherwise be expected.
Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya ( sw, Jamhuri ya Kenya), is a country in
East Africa
East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa:
Due to the historical ...
. At , Kenya is the world's 48th largest country by area. With a population of more than 47.6 million in the 2019 census, Kenya is the
27th most populous country in the world.
Kenya's capital and largest city is
Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...
, while its oldest, currently second largest city, and first capital is the coastal city of
Mombasa
Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...
.
Kisumu City is the third-largest city and also an inland port on
Lake Victoria
Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface area after ...
. Other important urban centres include
Nakuru
Nakuru is a city in the Great Rift Valley, Kenya, Rift Valley region of Kenya. It is the capital of Nakuru County, and was formerly the capital of Rift Valley Province. As of 2019, Nakuru had an urban and rural population of 570,674 inhabitant ...
and
Eldoret
Eldoret is a principal town in the Rift Valley region of Kenya and serves as the capital of Uasin Gishu County. The town was referred to by white settlers as Farm 64, 64 and colloquially by locals as 'Sisibo'. As per the 2019 Kenya Population ...
. As of 2020, Kenya is the third-largest economy in sub-Saharan Africa after
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
and
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
. Kenya is bordered by
South Sudan
South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the C ...
to the northwest,
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
to the north,
Somalia
Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...
to the east,
Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa
East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...
to the west,
Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
to the south, and the
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...
to the southeast. Its geography, climate and population vary widely, ranging from cold snow-capped mountaintops (Batian, Nelion and Point Lenana on
Mount Kenya
Mount Kenya (Kikuyu: ''Kĩrĩnyaga'', Kamba, ''Ki Nyaa'') is the highest mountain in Kenya and the second-highest in Africa, after Kilimanjaro. The highest peaks of the mountain are Batian (), Nelion () and Point Lenana (). Mount Kenya is locat ...
) with vast surrounding forests, wildlife and fertile agricultural regions to temperate climates in western and rift valley counties and dry less fertile
arid
A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most ar ...
and
semi-arid
A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...
areas and absolute deserts (
Chalbi Desert
The Chalbi Desert is a small desert in northern Kenya near the border with Ethiopia. It is east of Lake Turkana and contains North Horr. Marsabit is the closest major urban center.
Etymology
In the language of the Gabbra people, Chalbi means ...
and
Nyiri Desert
Nyiri Desert, also called The Nyika, Taru Desert, Taru desert, is a desert in southern Kenya. It is located east of Lake Magadi and between Amboseli, Tsavo West and Nairobi National Parks. A high proportion of Kajiado County's land area is covere ...
).
Kenya's earliest inhabitants were
hunter-gatherer
A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...
s, like the present-day
Hadza people
The Hadza, or Hadzabe (''Wahadzabe'' in Swahili), are a Tanzanian indigenous ethnic group mostly based in southwest Karatu District of Arusha Region. They live around Lake Eyasi in the central Rift Valley and in the neighboring Serengeti Platea ...
. According to archaeological dating of associated artifacts and skeletal material,
Cushitic speakers first settled in Kenya's lowlands between 3,200 and 1,300 BC, a phase known as the Lowland
Savanna Pastoral Neolithic
The Savanna Pastoral Neolithic (SPN; formerly known as the Stone Bowl Culture) is a collection of ancient societies that appeared in the Rift Valley of East Africa and surrounding areas during a time period known as the Pastoral Neolithic. They ...
.
Nilotic
The Nilotic peoples are people indigenous to the Nile Valley who speak Nilotic languages. They inhabit South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. Among these are the Burun-sp ...
-speaking
pastoralists
Pastoralism is a form of animal husbandry where domesticated animals (known as "livestock") are released onto large vegetated outdoor lands (pastures) for grazing, historically by nomadic people who moved around with their herds. The animal ...
(ancestral to Kenya's Nilotic speakers) began migrating from present-day South Sudan into Kenya around 500 BC.
Bantu people
The Bantu peoples, or Bantu, are an ethnolinguistic grouping of approximately 400 distinct List of ethnic groups of Africa, ethnic groups who speak Bantu languages. They are native to 24 countries spread over a vast area from Central Africa to Sou ...
settled at the coast and the interior between 250 BC and 500 AD. European contact began in 1500 AD with the
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the l ...
, and effective colonisation of Kenya began in the 19th century during the
European exploration of the interior. Modern-day Kenya emerged from
a protectorate established by the
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
in 1895 and the subsequent
Kenya Colony
The Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, commonly known as British Kenya or British East Africa, was part of the British Empire in Africa. It was established when the former East Africa Protectorate was transformed into a British Crown colony in ...
, which began in 1920. Numerous disputes between the UK and the colony led to the
Mau Mau revolution, which began in 1952, and the declaration of independence in 1963. After independence, Kenya remained a member of the
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...
. The
current constitution was adopted in 2010 and replaced the
1963 independence constitution.
Kenya is a
presidential
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese fu ...
representative democratic
Representative democracy, also known as indirect democracy, is a type of democracy where elected people represent a group of people, in contrast to direct democracy. Nearly all modern Western-style democracies function as some type of represe ...
republic, in which elected officials represent the people and the president is the head of state and government. Kenya is a member of the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
,
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...
,
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
,
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...
,
COMESA
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is a regional economic community in Africa with twenty-one member states stretching from Tunisia to Eswatini. COMESA was formed in December 1994, replacing a Preferential Trade Area whic ...
,
International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals ...
, as well as other international organisations. With a
GNI of 1,840, Kenya is a lower-middle-income economy.
Kenya's economy is the largest in eastern and central Africa,
[Ethiopia GDP purchasing power 2010: 86 billion](_blank)
. Imf.org. 14 September 2006.[Kenya GDP purchasing power 2010: 66 Billion](_blank)
. Imf.org. 14 September 2006. with
Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...
serving as a major regional commercial hub.
Agriculture is the largest sector: tea and coffee are traditional cash crops, while fresh flowers are a fast-growing export. The
service industry
The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...
is also a major economic driver, particularly tourism. Kenya is a member of the
East African Community
The East African Community (EAC) is an intergovernmental organisation composed of seven countries in the Great Lakes region of East Africa: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Republic of Tanzania, the Republics of Kenya, Burundi, ...
trade bloc, though some international trade organisations categorise it as part of the
Greater Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...
. Africa is Kenya's largest export market, followed by the European Union.
Etymology
The Republic of Kenya is named after
Mount Kenya
Mount Kenya (Kikuyu: ''Kĩrĩnyaga'', Kamba, ''Ki Nyaa'') is the highest mountain in Kenya and the second-highest in Africa, after Kilimanjaro. The highest peaks of the mountain are Batian (), Nelion () and Point Lenana (). Mount Kenya is locat ...
. The earliest recorded version of the modern name was written by German explorer
Johann Ludwig Krapf
Johann Ludwig Krapf (11 January 1810 – 26 November 1881) was a German missionary in East Africa, as well as an explorer, linguist, and traveler. Krapf played an important role in exploring East Africa with Johannes Rebmann. They were the first ...
in the 19th century. While travelling with a Kamba caravan led by the legendary long-distance trader Chief Kivoi, Krapf spotted the mountain peak and asked what it was called. Kivoi told him "''Kĩ-Nyaa''" or "''Kĩĩma- Kĩĩnyaa''", probably because the pattern of black rock and white snow on its peaks reminded him of the feathers of the male ostrich.
In archaic
Kikuyu Kikuyu or Gikuyu (Gĩkũyũ) mostly refers to an ethnic group in Kenya or its associated language.
It may also refer to:
* Kikuyu people, a majority ethnic group in Kenya
*Kikuyu language, the language of Kikuyu people
*Kikuyu, Kenya, a town in Cent ...
the word 'nyaga' or more commonly 'manyaganyaga' is used to describe an extremely bright object. The Agikuyu, who inhabit the slopes of Mt. Kenya, call it Kĩrĩma Kĩrĩnyaga (literally 'the mountain with brightness') in
Kikuyu Kikuyu or Gikuyu (Gĩkũyũ) mostly refers to an ethnic group in Kenya or its associated language.
It may also refer to:
* Kikuyu people, a majority ethnic group in Kenya
*Kikuyu language, the language of Kikuyu people
*Kikuyu, Kenya, a town in Cent ...
, while the Embu call it "Kirenyaa". All three names have the same meaning.
Ludwig Krapf recorded the name as both ''Kenia'' and ''Kegnia''.
Some have said that this was a precise notation of the African pronunciation . An 1882 map drawn by Joseph Thompsons, a Scottish geologist and naturalist, indicated Mt. Kenya as Mt. Kenia.
The mountain's name was accepted, ''
pars pro toto
''Pars pro toto'' (, ), , is a figure of speech where the name of a ''portion'' of an object, place, or concept is used or taken to represent its entirety. It is distinct from a merism, which is a reference to a whole by an enumeration of parts; ...
'', as the name of the country. It did not come into widespread official use during the early colonial period, when the country was referred to as the
East African Protectorate
East Africa Protectorate (also known as British East Africa) was an area in the African Great Lakes occupying roughly the same terrain as present-day Kenya from the Indian Ocean inland to the border with Uganda in the west. Controlled by Britai ...
. The official name was changed to the
Colony of Kenya
The Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, commonly known as British Kenya or British East Africa, was part of the British Empire in Africa. It was established when the former East Africa Protectorate was transformed into a British Crown colony in ...
in 1920.
History
Human prehistory
![Turkana Boy](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Turkana_Boy.jpg)
Fossils found in Kenya have shown that primates inhabited the area for more than 20 million years. Recent findings near
Lake Turkana
Lake Turkana (), formerly known as Lake Rudolf, is a lake in the Kenyan Rift Valley, in northern Kenya, with its far northern end crossing into Ethiopia. It is the world's largest permanent desert lake and the world's largest alkaline lake. B ...
indicate that
hominid
The Hominidae (), whose members are known as the great apes or hominids (), are a taxonomic family of primates that includes eight extant species in four genera: '' Pongo'' (the Bornean, Sumatran and Tapanuli orangutan); ''Gorilla'' (the east ...
s such as ''
Homo habilis
''Homo habilis'' ("handy man") is an extinct species of archaic human from the Early Pleistocene of East and South Africa about 2.31 million years ago to 1.65 million years ago (mya). Upon species description in 1964, ''H. habilis'' was highly ...
'' (1.8 to 2.5 million years ago) and ''
Homo erectus
''Homo erectus'' (; meaning "upright man") is an extinct species of archaic human from the Pleistocene, with its earliest occurrence about 2 million years ago. Several human species, such as '' H. heidelbergensis'' and '' H. antecessor' ...
'' (1.9 million to 350,000 years ago) are possible direct ancestors of modern ''
Homo sapiens
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...
'', and lived in Kenya in the
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
epoch.
During excavations at Lake Turkana in 1984, paleoanthropologist
Richard Leakey
Richard Erskine Frere Leakey (19 December 1944 – 2 January 2022) was a Kenyan paleoanthropologist, conservationist and politician. Leakey held a number of official positions in Kenya, mostly in institutions of archaeology and wildlife cons ...
, assisted by
Kamoya Kimeu
Kamoya Kimeu (1938 – 20 July 2022) was a Kenyan paleontologist and curator, whose contributions to the field of paleoanthropology were recognised with the National Geographic Society's LaGorce Medal and with an honorary doctorate of science deg ...
, discovered the
Turkana Boy
Turkana Boy, also called Nariokotome Boy, is the name given to fossil KNM-WT 15000, a nearly complete skeleton of a ''Homo ergaster'' youth who lived 1.5 to 1.6 million years ago. This specimen is the most complete early hominin skeleton ever ...
, a 1.6-million-year-old ''Homo erectus'' fossil. Previous research on early hominids is particularly identified with
Mary Leakey
Mary Douglas Leakey, FBA (née Nicol, 6 February 1913 – 9 December 1996) was a British paleoanthropologist who discovered the first fossilised ''Proconsul
A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A pro ...
and
Louis Leakey
Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey (7 August 1903 – 1 October 1972) was a Kenyan-British palaeoanthropologist and archaeologist whose work was important in demonstrating that humans evolved in Africa, particularly through discoveries made at Olduvai ...
, who were responsible for the preliminary archaeological research at
Olorgesailie
Olorgesailie is a geological formation in East Africa, on the floor of the Eastern Rift Valley in southern Kenya, southwest of Nairobi along the road to Lake Magadi. It contains a group of Lower Paleolithic archaeological sites. Olorgesaili ...
and
Hyrax Hill
Hyrax Hill is a prehistoric site near Nakuru in the Rift Valley province of Kenya. It is a rocky spur roughly half a kilometer in length, with an elevation of 1,900 meters above sea level at its summit. The site was first discovered in 1926 by L ...
. Later work at the former site was undertaken by
Glynn Isaac
Glynn Llywelyn Isaac (19 November 1937 – 5 October 1985) was a South African archaeologist who specialised in the very early prehistory of Africa, and was one of twin sons born to botanists William Edwyn Isaac and Frances Margaret Leighto ...
.
East Africa, including Kenya, is one of the earliest regions where modern humans (''
Homo sapiens
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...
'') are believed to have lived. Evidence was found in 2018, dating to about 320,000 years ago, at the Kenyan site of
Olorgesailie
Olorgesailie is a geological formation in East Africa, on the floor of the Eastern Rift Valley in southern Kenya, southwest of Nairobi along the road to Lake Magadi. It contains a group of Lower Paleolithic archaeological sites. Olorgesaili ...
, of the early emergence of
modern behaviours, including long-distance trade networks (involving goods such as obsidian), the use of pigments, and the possible making of projectile points. The authors of three 2018 studies on the site observed that the evidence of these behaviours is approximately contemporary to the earliest known ''Homo sapiens'' fossil remains (such as at
Jebel Irhoud
Jebel Irhoud or Adrar n Ighoud ( zgh, ⴰⴷⵔⴰⵔ ⵏ ⵉⵖⵓⴷ, Adrar n Iɣud; ar, جبل إيغود, žbəl iġud), is an archaeological site located just north of the locality known as Tlet Ighoud, approximately south-east of the cit ...
in Morocco and
Florisbad
Florisbad is a health resort 45 km northwest of Bloemfontein and 47 km south-west of Brandfort, near the Haagenstad salt-pan. Named after Floris Venter who opened up the mineral spring. Florisbad archaeological and paleontological site ...
in South Africa), and they suggest that complex and modern behaviours had already begun in Africa around the time of the emergence of ''Homo sapiens''.
Neolithic
The first inhabitants of present-day Kenya were
hunter-gatherer
A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...
groups, akin to the modern
Khoisan
Khoisan , or (), according to the contemporary Khoekhoegowab orthography, is a catch-all term for those indigenous peoples of Southern Africa who do not speak one of the Bantu languages, combining the (formerly "Khoikhoi") and the or ( in t ...
speakers.
[Ehret, C. (2002) ''The Civilizations of Africa: a History to 1800'', University Press of Virginia, .] These people were later largely replaced by agropastoralist
Cushitic
The Cushitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken primarily in the Horn of Africa, with minorities speaking Cushitic languages to the north in Egypt and the Sudan, and to the south in Kenya and Tanzania. As o ...
(ancestral to Kenya's Cushitic speakers) from the
Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...
.
[Ehret, C. (1980) ''The historical reconstruction of Southern Cushitic phonology and vocabulary'', Kölner Beiträge zur Afrikanistik 5, Bd., Reimer, Berlin.] During the early
Holocene
The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togethe ...
, the regional climate shifted from dry to wetter conditions, providing an opportunity for the development of cultural traditions such as agriculture and
herding
Herding is the act of bringing individual animals together into a group (herd), maintaining the group, and moving the group from place to place—or any combination of those. Herding can refer either to the process of animals forming herds in ...
, in a more favourable environment.
[
Around 500 BC, ]Nilotic
The Nilotic peoples are people indigenous to the Nile Valley who speak Nilotic languages. They inhabit South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. Among these are the Burun-sp ...
-speaking pastoralists
Pastoralism is a form of animal husbandry where domesticated animals (known as "livestock") are released onto large vegetated outdoor lands (pastures) for grazing, historically by nomadic people who moved around with their herds. The animal ...
(ancestral to Kenya's Nilotic speakers) started migrating from present-day southern Sudan into Kenya.[Ehret, C. (1983) ''Culture History in the Southern Sudan'', J. Mack, P. Robertshaw, Eds., British Institute in Eastern Africa, Nairobi, pp. 19–48, .][Ambrose, S.H. (1982). "Archaeological and linguistic reconstructions of history in East Africa." In Ehert, C., and Posnansky, M. (eds.), ''The archaeological and linguistic reconstruction of African history'', University of California Press, .][Ambrose, S.H. (1986) ''Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika'' 7.2, 11.] Nilotic groups in Kenya include the Kalenjin Kalenjin may refer to:
* Kalenjin people
The Kalenjin are a group of tribes designated as Highland Nilotes and are descended from Maliri people ''(thus related to Daasanach of Ethiopia.)'' The Kalenjin are cousins with Datooga people of Tan ...
, Samburu, Luo Luo may refer to:
Luo peoples and languages
*Luo peoples, an ethno-linguistic group of eastern and central Africa
**Luo people of Kenya and Tanzania or Joluo, an ethnic group in western Kenya, eastern Uganda, and northern Tanzania.
***Luoland, the ...
, Turkana, and Maasai Maasai may refer to:
* Maasai people
*Maasai language
* Maasai mythology
* MAASAI (band)
See also
* Masai (disambiguation)
* Massai
Massai (also known as: Masai, Massey, Massi, Mah–sii, Massa, Wasse, Wassil or by the nickname "Big Foot" Mas ...
.
By the first millennium AD, Bantu
Bantu may refer to:
*Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages
*Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language
* Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle
*Black Association for National ...
-speaking farmers had moved into the region, initially along the coast.[Ehret, C. (1998) ''An African Classical Age : Eastern and Southern Africa in World History, 1000 B.C. to A.D. 400.'', University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville, pp. xvii, 354, .] The Bantus originated in West Africa along the Benue River
The Benue River (french: la Bénoué), previously known as the Chadda River or Tchadda, is the major tributary of the Niger River. The river is approximately long and is almost entirely navigable during the summer months. The size of its bas ...
in what is now eastern Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
and western Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...
.[Smith, C. Wayne (1995) ''Crop Production: Evolution, History, and Technology'', John Wiley & Sons, p. 132, .] The Bantu migration brought new developments in agriculture and ironworking
Ferrous metallurgy is the metallurgy of iron and its alloys. The earliest surviving prehistoric iron artifacts, from the 4th millennium BC in Egypt, were made from meteoritic iron-nickel. It is not known when or where the smelting of iron from ...
to the region.[ Bantu groups in Kenya include the ]Kikuyu Kikuyu or Gikuyu (Gĩkũyũ) mostly refers to an ethnic group in Kenya or its associated language.
It may also refer to:
* Kikuyu people, a majority ethnic group in Kenya
*Kikuyu language, the language of Kikuyu people
*Kikuyu, Kenya, a town in Cent ...
, Luhya Luhya or Abaluyia may refer to:
* Luhya people
* Luhya language
Luhya (; also Luyia, Luhia or Luhiya) is a Bantu language of western Kenya.
Dialects
The various Luhya tribes speak several related languages and dialects, though some of them are ...
, Kamba
Kamba may refer to:
*Kamba people of Kenya
*Bena-Kamba, a community in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
*Khampa, also spelled Kamba, Tibetan people of Kham
Kham (; )
is one of the three traditional Tibetan regions, the others being Amdo in ...
, Kisii Kisii may refer to:
* Kisii, Kenya, the inaugural capital city of Kenya
* Kisii County, one of the 47 counties of Kenya
* Gucha District, in Kenya, also known as ''South Kisii District''
* Nyamira District, in Kenya, also known as ''North Kisii Di ...
, Meru
Meru may refer to:
Geography Kenya
* Meru, Kenya, a city in Meru County, Kenya
** Meru County, created by the merger of
*** Meru Central District
*** Meru North District
*** Meru South District
* Meru National Park, a Kenyan wildlife park
Tanza ...
, Kuria, Aembu
The Embu are a Bantu people inhabiting Embu county in Kenya. They speak the Embu language as a mother tongue. To the south of Embu are to be found their cousins, the Mbeere people. In essence Embu county encompasses the ethnic Kî embu diale ...
, Ambeere
The Mbeere or Ambeere people are a Bantu ethnic group inhabiting the former Mbeere District in the now-defunct Eastern Province of Kenya. According to the 2019 Kenya National census, there are 195,250 Ambeere who inhabit an area of 2,093 km ...
, Wadawida
Wadawida (pronounced more like vadavida) are a subgroup of the Taita people of South Eastern Kenya in East Africa. These Bantu speaking people are in origin and language more related to the Taveta (Tuweta) people of Kenya, and the Pare who live at ...
-Watuweta, Wapokomo, and Mijikenda, among others.
Notable prehistoric sites in the interior of Kenya include the (possibly archaeoastronomical) site Namoratunga
The Nasura Pillar Site, registered as GcJh3 and also known as Namoratunga II, is an Archaeology, archaeological site on the west side of Lake Turkana in Kenya dating to the Pastoral Neolithic. Namoratunga means "people of stone" in the Turkana ...
on the west side of Lake Turkana
Lake Turkana (), formerly known as Lake Rudolf, is a lake in the Kenyan Rift Valley, in northern Kenya, with its far northern end crossing into Ethiopia. It is the world's largest permanent desert lake and the world's largest alkaline lake. B ...
and the walled settlement of Thimlich Ohinga
Thimlich Ohinga is a complex of stone-built ruins in Migori county, Nyanza Kenya, in East Africa. It is the largest one of 138 sites containing 521 stone structures that were built around the Lake Victoria region in Kenya. These sites are highly ...
in Migori County
Migori County is a county in the former Nyanza Province of southwestern Kenya. It is located in Southwestern Kenya and borders Homa Bay County (North), Kisii County (North E), Narok (South East), Tanzania (West and South) and Lake Victoria to th ...
.
Swahili trade period
The Kenyan coast had served host to communities of ironwork
Ironwork is any weapon, artwork, utensil, or architectural feature made of iron, especially one used for decoration. There are two main types of ironwork: wrought iron and cast iron. While the use of iron dates as far back as 4000BC, it was th ...
ers and Bantu subsistence farmers, hunters, and fishers who supported the economy with agriculture, fishing, metal production, and trade with foreign countries. These communities formed the earliest city-states in the region, which were collectively known as Azania
Azania ( grc, Ἀζανία) is a name that has been applied to various parts of southeastern tropical Africa. In the Roman period and perhaps earlier, the toponym referred to a portion of the Southeast Africa coast extending from northern Kenya ...
.
By the 1st century CE, many of the city-states
A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as ...
such as Mombasa
Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...
, Malindi
Malindi is a town on Malindi Bay at the mouth of the Sabaki River, lying on the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya. It is 120 kilometres northeast of Mombasa. The population of Malindi was 119,859 as of the 2019 census. It is the largest urban centre ...
, and Zanzibar
Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islands ...
began to establish trading relations with Arabs
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Wester ...
. This led to increased economic growth of the Swahili states, the introduction of Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
, Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
influences on the Swahili Bantu language
The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀) are a large family of languages spoken by the Bantu people of Central, Southern, Eastern africa and Southeast Africa. They form the largest branch of the Southern Bantoid languages.
The t ...
, cultural diffusion
In cultural anthropology and cultural geography, cultural diffusion, as conceptualized by Leo Frobenius in his 1897/98 publication ''Der westafrikanische Kulturkreis'', is the spread of cultural items—such as ideas, styles, religions, technologi ...
, as well as the Swahili city-states becoming members of a larger trade network. Many historians had long believed that the city-states were established by Arab or Persian traders, but archaeological evidence has led scholars to recognise the city-states as an indigenous development which, though subjected to foreign influence due to trade, retained a Bantu cultural core.
The Kilwa Sultanate
The Kilwa Sultanate ( fa, پادشاهی کیلوا) was a sultanate, centered at Kilwa Kisiwani, Kilwa (an island off modern-day, Kilwa District in Lindi Region of Tanzania), whose authority, at its height, stretched over the entire length of t ...
was a medieval sultanate
This article includes a list of successive Islamic states and Muslim dynasties beginning with the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (570–632 CE) and the early Muslim conquests that spread Islam outside of the Arabian Peninsula, and continui ...
centred at Kilwa
Kilwa Kisiwani (English: ''Kilwa Island'') is an island, national historic site, and hamlet community located in the township of Kilwa Masoko, the district seat of Kilwa District in the Tanzanian region of Lindi Region in southern Tanzania. K ...
, in modern-day Tanzania. At its height, its authority stretched over the entire length of the Swahili Coast, including Kenya. It was said to be founded in the 10th century by Ali ibn al-Hassan Shirazi
Sultan Ali ibn al-Hassan Shirazi ( ar, علي بن الحسن شيرازي) (c.10th century), was the founder of the Kilwa Sultanate. According to legend, Ali ibn al-Hassan Shirazi was one of seven sons of the Emir Al-Hassan of Shiraz, Persia, hi ...
, a Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
Sultan from Shiraz
Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the List of largest cities of Iran, fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars province, Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars (Sasanian province), Pars () and Persis. As o ...
in southern Iran. However, scholars have suggested that claims of Arab or Persian origin of city-states were attempts by the Swahili to legitimise themselves both locally and internationally. Since the 10th century, rulers of Kilwa would go on to build elaborate coral mosques and introduce copper coinage.
Swahili, a Bantu language with Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
, Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
, and other Middle-Eastern and South Asian loanword
A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because th ...
s, later developed as a ''lingua franca'' for trade between the different peoples. Since the turn into the 20th century, Swahili has adopted numerous loanwords and calques from English, many of them originating during English colonial rule.
Early Portuguese colonization
The Swahili built Mombasa into a major port city and established trade links with other nearby city-states, as well as commercial centres in Persia, Arabia, and even India. By the 15th-century, Portuguese voyager Duarte Barbosa claimed that "Mombasa is a place of great traffic and has a good harbour in which there are always moored small craft of many kinds and also great ships, both of which are bound from Sofala and others which come from Cambay and Melinde and others which sail to the island of Zanzibar."
In the 17th century, the Swahili coast was conquered and came under the direct rule of the Omani Arabs, who expanded the Indian Ocean slave trade, slave trade to meet the demands of plantations in Oman and Zanzibar
Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islands ...
. Initially, these traders came mainly from Oman, but later many came from Zanzibar (such as Tippu Tip). In addition, the Portuguese started buying slaves from the Omani and Zanzibari traders in response to the interruption of the transatlantic slave trade by British abolitionists.
Throughout the centuries, the Kenyan coast has played host to many merchants and explorers. Among the cities that line the Kenyan coast is Malindi. It has remained an important Swahili settlement since the 14th century and once rivalled Mombasa for dominance in the African Great Lakes region. Malindi has traditionally been a friendly port city for foreign powers. In 1414, the Chinese trader and explorer Zheng He, representing the Ming Dynasty, visited the East African coast Treasure voyages, on one of his last 'treasure voyages'. Malindi authorities also welcomed the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama in 1498.
18th and 19th centuries
During the 18th and 19th century C.E, the Masai people moved into what is now modern-day central Kenya, from a region north of Lake Rudolf (now Lake Turkana
Lake Turkana (), formerly known as Lake Rudolf, is a lake in the Kenyan Rift Valley, in northern Kenya, with its far northern end crossing into Ethiopia. It is the world's largest permanent desert lake and the world's largest alkaline lake. B ...
). Although there were not many, they managed to conquer a great amount of Bantu-speaking peoples, who did not put up much resistance. The Nandi people, Nandi peoples managed to oppose the Masai, while the Taveta peoples fled to the forests on the eastern edge of Mount Kilimanjaro, along with the Kikuyu peoples, although they later were forced to leave the land due to the threat of smallpox. An outbreak of either rinderpest or pleuropneumonia greatly affected the Masai's cattle, while an epidemic of smallpox affected the Masai themselves. After the death of the Masai Mbatian, the chief ''laibon'' (medicine man), the Masai split into warring factions. There was much strife between the Nilotic (Masai) and Bantu peoples; however, cooperation between such groups as the Luo people, Luhya people, and Gusii people is evinced by shared vocabulary for modern implements and similar economic regimes. Although Arab traders remained in the area, trade routes were disrupted by the hostile Masai, though there was trade in ivory between these factions. The first foreigners to successfully get past the Masai were Johann Ludwig Krapf
Johann Ludwig Krapf (11 January 1810 – 26 November 1881) was a German missionary in East Africa, as well as an explorer, linguist, and traveler. Krapf played an important role in exploring East Africa with Johannes Rebmann. They were the first ...
and Johannes Rebmann, two German missionaries who established a mission in Rabai, not too far from Mombasa
Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...
. The pair were the first Europeans to sight Mount Kenya
Mount Kenya (Kikuyu: ''Kĩrĩnyaga'', Kamba, ''Ki Nyaa'') is the highest mountain in Kenya and the second-highest in Africa, after Kilimanjaro. The highest peaks of the mountain are Batian (), Nelion () and Point Lenana (). Mount Kenya is locat ...
.
British Kenya (1888–1962)
The colonial history of Kenya dates from the establishment of a German Empire, German protectorate over the Sultan of Zanzibar
Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islands ...
's coastal possessions in 1885, followed by the arrival of the Imperial British East Africa Company in 1888. Imperial rivalry was prevented when Germany handed its coastal holdings to Britain in 1890. This was followed by the building of the Uganda Railway passing through the country.[Encyclopædia Britannica]
The building of the railway was resisted by some ethnic groups—notably the Nandi people, Nandi, led by ''Orkoiyot'' Koitalel Arap Samoei from 1890 to 1900—but the British eventually built it. The ''Nandi'' were the first ethnic group to be put in a native reserve to stop them from disrupting the building of the railway.
During the railway construction era, there was a significant influx of Indian workers, who provided the bulk of the skilled manpower required for construction.[R. Mugo Gatheru (2005) ''Kenya: From Colonization to Independence, 1888–1970'', McFarland, ] They and most of their descendants later remained in Kenya and formed the core of several distinct Indian communities, such as the Ismailism, Ismaili Muslim and Sikh communities. While building the railway through Tsavo, a number of the Indian railway workers and local African labourers were attacked by two lions known as the Tsavo maneaters.
At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, the governors of British East Africa (as the protectorate was generally known) and German East Africa initially agreed on a truce in an attempt to keep the young colonies out of direct hostilities. But Lieutenant Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, the German military commander, determined to tie down as many British resources as possible. Completely cut off from Germany, Lettow-Vorbeck conducted East African campaign (World War I), an effective guerrilla warfare campaign, living off the land, capturing British supplies, and remaining undefeated. He eventually surrendered in Northern Rhodesia (today Zambia) 14 days after the Armistice was signed in 1918.
To chase von Lettow, the British deployed the British Indian Army troops from India but needed large numbers of porters to overcome the formidable logistics of transporting supplies far into the interior on foot. The Carrier Corps was formed and ultimately mobilised over 400,000 Africans, contributing to their long-term politicisation.
In 1920, the East Africa Protectorate was turned into a colony and renamed Kenya after its highest mountain.
During the early part of the 20th century, the interior central highlands were settled by British and other European farmers, who became wealthy farming coffee and tea. One depiction of this period of change from a colonist's perspective is found in the memoir ''Out of Africa'' by Danish author Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke, published in 1937. By the 1930s, approximately 30,000 white settlers lived in the area and gained a political voice because of their contribution to the market economy.
The central highlands were already home to over a million members of the Kikuyu people, most of whom had no land claims in European terms and lived as itinerant farmers. To protect their interests, the settlers banned the growing of coffee and introduced a hut tax, and the landless were granted less and less land in exchange for their labour. A massive exodus to the cities ensued as their ability to make a living from the land dwindled. By the 1950s, there were 80,000 Whites in Kenya, white settlers living in Kenya.
Throughout World War II, Kenya in World War II, Kenya was an important source of manpower and agriculture for the United Kingdom. Kenya itself was the site of East African Campaign (World War II), fighting between Allied forces and Italian troops in 1940–41, when Italian forces invaded. Wajir and Malindi
Malindi is a town on Malindi Bay at the mouth of the Sabaki River, lying on the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya. It is 120 kilometres northeast of Mombasa. The population of Malindi was 119,859 as of the 2019 census. It is the largest urban centre ...
were bombed as well.
In 1952, Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip were on holiday at the Treetops Hotel in Kenya when her father, King George VI, died in his sleep. Elizabeth cut short her trip and returned home immediately to assume the throne. She was crowned Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey in 1953 and as British hunter and conservationist Jim Corbett (who accompanied the royal couple) put it, she went up a tree in Africa a princess and came down a queen.
Mau Mau Uprising
From October 1952 to December 1959, Kenya was in a state of emergency arising from the Mau Mau Uprising, Mau Mau rebellion against British rule. The Mau Mau, also known as the Kenya Land and Freedom Army, were primarily Kikuyu people. During the colonial administration's crackdown, over 11,000 rebel fighters had been killed, along with 100 British troops and 2000 Kenyan loyalist soldiers. The governor requested and obtained British and African troops, including the King's African Rifles. The British began counter-insurgency operations. In May 1953, General Sir George Erskine took charge as commander-in-chief of the colony's armed forces, with the personal backing of Winston Churchill.[Maloba, Wunyabari O. (1993) ''Mau Mau and Kenya: An Analysis of Peasant Revolt'', Indiana University Press, 0852557450.]
The capture of Waruhiu Itote (nom de guerre ''"General China"'') on 15 January 1954 and the subsequent interrogation led to a better understanding of the Mau Mau command structure for the British. Mau Mau Uprising#British gain the initiative, Operation Anvil opened on 24 April 1954, after weeks of planning by the army with the approval of the War Council. The operation effectively placed Nairobi under military siege. Nairobi's occupants were screened and suspected Mau Mau supporters moved to detention camps. More than 80,000 Kikuyu were List of British Detention Camps during the Mau Mau Uprising, held in detention camps without trial, often subject to brutal treatment. The Home Guard formed the core of the government's strategy as it was composed of loyalist Africans, not foreign forces such as the British Army and King's African Rifles.
The capture of Dedan Kimathi on 21 October 1956 in Nyeri signified the ultimate defeat of the Mau Mau and essentially ended the military offensive. During this period, substantial governmental changes to land tenure occurred. The most important of these was the Swynnerton Plan, which was used to both reward loyalists and punish Mau Mau. This left roughly 1/3rd of Kikuyu bereft of any tenancy land arrangement and thus propertyless at the time of independence.
Somalis of Kenya referendum, 1962
Before Kenya got its independence, Somalis in Kenya, Somali ethnic people in present-day Kenya in the areas of Northern Frontier Districts petitioned Her Majesty's Government not to be included in Kenya. The colonial government decided to hold Kenya's first referendum in 1962 to check the willingness of Somalis in Kenya to join Somalia
Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...
.
The result of the referendum showed that 86% of Somalis in Kenya wanted to join Somalia
Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...
, but the British colonial administration rejected the result and the Somalis remained in Kenya.
Independence
The first direct elections for native Kenyans to the Legislative Council took place in 1957.
Despite British hopes of handing power to "moderate" local rivals, it was the Kenya African National Union (KANU) of Jomo Kenyatta that formed a government. The Colony of Kenya and the Protectorate of Kenya each came to an end on 12 December 1963, with independence conferred on all of Kenya. The U.K. ceded sovereignty over the Colony of Kenya. The Sultan of Zanzibar agreed that simultaneous with independence for the colony, he would cease to have sovereignty over the Protectorate of Kenya so that all of Kenya would become one sovereign state.["Commonwealth and Colonial Law" by Kenneth Roberts-Wray, London, Stevens, 1966. P. 762] In this way, Kenya became an independent country under the Kenya Independence Act 1963 of the United Kingdom. On 12 December 1964, Kenya became a republic under the name "Republic of Kenya".
Concurrently, the Kenyan army fought the Shifta War against ethnic Somali rebels inhabiting the Northern Frontier District who wanted to join their kin in the Somali Republic to the north. A ceasefire was eventually reached with the signing of the Arusha Memorandum in October 1967, but relative insecurity prevailed through 1969. To discourage further invasions, Kenya signed a defence pact with Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
in 1969, which is still in effect.
First presidency
On 12 December 1964, the Republic of Kenya was proclaimed, and Jomo Kenyatta became Kenya's first president. Under Kenyatta, corruption became widespread throughout the government, civil service, and business community. Kenyatta and his family were tied up with this corruption as they enriched themselves through the mass purchase of property after 1963. Their acquisitions in the Central, Rift Valley, and Coast Provinces aroused great anger among landless Kenyans. His family used his presidential position to circumvent legal or administrative obstacles to acquiring property. The Kenyatta family also heavily invested in the coastal hotel business, with Kenyatta personally owning the Leonard Beach Hotel.
Kenyatta's mixed legacy was highlighted at the 10-year anniversary of Kenya's independence. A December 1973 article in ''The New York Times'' praised Kenyatta's leadership and Kenya for emerging as a model of pragmatism and conservatism. Kenya's GDP had increased at an annual rate of 6.6%, higher than the population growth rate of more than 3%. But Amnesty International responded to the article by stating the cost of the stability in terms of human rights abuses. The opposition party started by Oginga Odinga—Kenya People's Union (KPU)—was banned in 1969 after the Kisumu Massacre and KPU leaders were still in detention without trial in gross violation of the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights. The Kenya Students Union, Jehovah Witnesses and all opposition parties were outlawed.[ Kenyatta ruled until his death on 22 August 1978.
]
Moi era
After Kenyatta died, Daniel arap Moi became president. He retained the presidency, running unopposed in elections held in 1979, 1983 (snap elections), and 1988, all of which were held under the single-party constitution. The 1983 elections were held a year early, and were a direct result of 1982 Kenyan coup d'état attempt, a failed military coup on 2 August 1982.
The 1982 coup was masterminded by a low-ranking Air Force serviceman, Senior Private Hezekiah Ochuka, and was staged mainly by enlisted men of the Air Force. It was quickly suppressed by forces commanded by Chief of General Staff Mahamoud Mohamed, a veteran Somali military official. They included the General Service Unit (GSU)—a paramilitary wing of the police—and later the regular police.
On the heels of the Garissa Massacre of 1980, Kenyan troops committed the Wagalla massacre in 1984 against thousands of civilians in Wajir County. An official probe into the atrocities was later ordered in 2011.
The election held in 1988 saw the advent of the ''mlolongo'' (queuing) system, where voters were supposed to line up behind their favoured candidates instead of casting a secret ballot. This was seen as the climax of a very undemocratic regime and led to widespread agitation for constitutional reform. Several contentious clauses, including the one that allowed for only one political party, were changed in the following years.
Transition to multiparty democracy
In 1991, Kenya transitioned to a multiparty political system after 26 years of single-party rule. On 28 October 1992, Moi dissolved parliament, five months before the end of his term. As a result, preparations began for all elective seats in parliament as well as the president. The election was scheduled to take place on 7 December 1992, but delays led to its postponement to 29 December. Apart from KANU, the ruling party, other parties represented in the elections included Forum for the Restoration of Democracy, FORD Kenya and FORD Asili. This election was marked by large-scale intimidation of opponents and harassment of election officials. It resulted in an economic crisis propagated by ethnic violence as the president was accused of rigging electoral results to retain power. This election was a turning point for Kenya as it signified the beginning of the end of Moi's leadership and the rule of KANU. Moi retained the presidency and George Saitoti became vice president. Although it held on to power, KANU won 100 seats and lost 88 seats to the six opposition parties.
The 1992 elections marked the beginning of multiparty politics after more than 25 years of KANU rule. Following skirmishes in the aftermath of the elections, 5,000 people were killed and another 75,000 displaced from their homes. In the next five years, many political alliances were formed in preparation for the next elections. In 1994, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga died and several coalitions joined his FORD Kenya party to form a new party, United National Democratic Alliance. This party was plagued with disagreements. In 1995, Richard Leakey
Richard Erskine Frere Leakey (19 December 1944 – 2 January 2022) was a Kenyan paleoanthropologist, conservationist and politician. Leakey held a number of official positions in Kenya, mostly in institutions of archaeology and wildlife cons ...
formed the Safina party, but it was denied registration until November 1997.
In 1996, KANU revised the constitution to allow Moi to remain president for another term. Subsequently, Moi stood for reelection and won a 5th term in 1997. His win was strongly criticised by his major opponents, Mwai Kibaki, Kibaki and Raila Odinga, Odinga, as fraudulent. Following this win, Moi was constitutionally barred from another presidential term. Beginning in 1998, he attempted to influence the country's succession politics to have Uhuru Kenyatta elected in the 2002 elections.
President Kibaki and the road to a new constitution
Moi's plan to be replaced by Uhuru Kenyatta failed, and Mwai Kibaki, running for the opposition coalition "National Rainbow Coalition" (National Rainbow Coalition, NARC), was elected president. David Anderson (2003) reports the elections were judged free and fair by local and international observers, and seemed to mark a turning point in Kenya's democratic evolution.
In 2005, Kenyans rejected a plan to replace the 1963 independence constitution with a new one. As a result, the elections of 2007 took place following the procedure set by the old constitution. Kibaki was reelected in highly contested elections marred by 2007–08 Kenyan crisis, political and ethnic violence. The main opposition leader, Raila Odinga, claimed the election was rigged and that he was the rightfully elected president. In the ensuing violence, 1,500 people were killed and another 600,000 internally displaced, making it the worst post-election violence in Kenya. To stop the death and displacement of people, Kibaki and Odinga agreed to work together, with the latter taking the position of a prime minister. This made Odinga Prime Minister of Kenya, the second prime minister of Kenya.
In July 2010, Kenya partnered with other East African countries to form the new East African Common Market within the East African Community
The East African Community (EAC) is an intergovernmental organisation composed of seven countries in the Great Lakes region of East Africa: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Republic of Tanzania, the Republics of Kenya, Burundi, ...
. In 2011, Operation Linda Nchi, Kenya began sending troops to Somalia to fight the terror group Al-Shabaab (militant group), Al-Shabaab. In mid-2011, two consecutive missed rainy seasons precipitated the worst 2011 East Africa drought, drought in East Africa in 60 years. The northwestern Turkana District, Turkana region was especially affected, with local schools shut down as a result. The crisis was reportedly over by early 2012 because of coordinated relief efforts. Aid agencies subsequently shifted their emphasis to recovery initiatives, including digging irrigation canals and distributing plant seeds.[Gettleman, Jeffrey (3 February 2012]
U.N. Says Famine in Somalia Is Over, but Risks Remain
. ''The New York Times''.
In August 2010, Kenyans held a 2010 Kenyan constitutional referendum, referendum and passed Constitution of Kenya, a new constitution, which limited presidential powers and devolved the central government. Following the passage of the new constitution, Kenya became a presidential
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese fu ...
representative democratic
Representative democracy, also known as indirect democracy, is a type of democracy where elected people represent a group of people, in contrast to direct democracy. Nearly all modern Western-style democracies function as some type of represe ...
republic, whereby the President of Kenya is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. The new constitution also states that executive powers are exercised by the executive branch of government, headed by the president, who chairs a cabinet composed of people chosen from outside parliament. Legislative power is vested exclusively in Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
Kenyatta presidency
After Kibaki's tenure ended in 2013, Kenya held its 2013 Kenyan general election, first general elections after the 2010 constitution had been passed. Uhuru Kenyatta won in a disputed election result, leading to a petition by the opposition leader, Raila Odinga. The supreme court upheld the election results and Kenyatta began his term with William Ruto
William Kipchirchir Samoei Arap Ruto (born 21 December 1966) is a Kenyan politician who is serving as the fifth and current president of Kenya since 13 September 2022. Prior to becoming president, he served as the 11th deputy president of Ken ...
as deputy president. Despite this ruling, the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court Judge, head of the Supreme Court were seen as powerful institutions that could check the powers of the president.
In 2017, Kenyatta won a second term in office in another 2017 Kenyan general election, disputed election. Odinga again petitioned the results in the Supreme Court, accusing the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission of mismanagement of the elections and Kenyatta and his party of rigging. The Supreme Court overturned the election results in what became a landmark ruling in Africa and one of the very few in the world in which the results of a presidential elections were annulled. This ruling solidified the position of the Supreme Court as an independent body. Consequently, Kenya had a second round of elections for the presidential position, in which Kenyatta emerged the winner after Odinga refused to participate, citing irregularities.
BBI
In March 2018, a historic 2018 Kenya handshake, handshake between Kenyatta and his longtime opponent Odinga signaled a period of reconciliation followed by economic growth and increased stability.
Between 2019 and 2021, Kenyatta and Odinga combined efforts to promote major changes to the Kenyan constitution, labelled the "Building Bridges Initiative" (BBI), saying that their efforts were to improve inclusion and overcome the country's winner-take-all election system that often resulted in post-election violence.[Omondi, Ferdinand]
"Kenya's BBI blocked in scathing court verdict for President Kenyatta,"
May 14, 2021, BBC News (Africa), retrieved May 14, 2021[Miriri, Duncan]
"Kenyan court slams brakes on president's constitutional changes,"
May 13, 2021, Reuters News Service, retrieved May 14, 2021
The BBI proposal called for broad expansion of the legislative and executive branches, including the creation of a prime minister with two deputies and an official leader of the opposition, reverting to selecting cabinet ministers from among the elected Members of Parliament, establishment of up to 70 new constituencies, and addition of up to 300 unelected members of Parliament (under an "affirmative action" plan).
Critics saw this as an unnecessary attempt to reward political dynasties and blunt the efforts of Deputy President William Ruto, Willian Ruto (Odinga's rival for the next presidency) and bloat the government at an exceptional cost to the debt-laded country. Ultimately, in May 2021, the Kenyan High Court ruled that the BBI constitutional reform effort was unconstitutional, because it was not truly a popular initiative, but rather an effort of the government.
The court sharply criticized Kenyatta for the attempt, laying out out grounds for his being sued, personally, or even impeachment, impeached (though the Parliament, which had passed the BBI, was unlikely to do that). The ruling was seen as a major defeat for both Kenyatta (soon to leave office), and Odinga (expected to seek the presidency), but a boon to Odinga's future presidential-election rival, Ruto. On 20 August 2021, Kenya's Court of Appeal again upheld the High Court Judgment of May 2021, which was appealed by the BBI Secretariat.
Ruto presidency
In August 2022, Deputy President William Ruto narrowly won the 2022 Kenyan general election, presidential election. He took 50.5% of the vote. His main rival, Raila Odinga, got 48.8% of the vote. On 13 September 2022, William Ruto was sworn in as Kenya's fifth president.
Geography
At , Kenya is the world's 47th-largest country (after Madagascar). It lies between latitudes 5th parallel north, 5°N and 5th parallel south, 5°S, and longitudes 34th meridian east, 34° and 42nd meridian east, 42°E. From the coast on the Indian Ocean, the low plains rise to central highlands. The highlands are bisected by the Kenyan Rift Valley, Great Rift Valley, with a fertile plateau to the east.
The Kenyan Highlands are one of the most successful agricultural production regions in Africa. The highlands are the site of the highest point in Kenya and the second highest peak on the continent: Mount Kenya
Mount Kenya (Kikuyu: ''Kĩrĩnyaga'', Kamba, ''Ki Nyaa'') is the highest mountain in Kenya and the second-highest in Africa, after Kilimanjaro. The highest peaks of the mountain are Batian (), Nelion () and Point Lenana (). Mount Kenya is locat ...
, which reaches a height of and is the site of glaciers. Mount Kilimanjaro () can be seen from Kenya to the south of the Tanzanian border.
Climate
Kenya's climate varies from tropical along the coast to temperate inland to arid in the north and northeast parts of the country. The area receives a great deal of sunshine every month. It is usually cool at night and early in the morning inland at higher elevations.
The "long rains" season occurs from March/April to May/June. The "short rains" season occurs from October to November/December. The rainfall is sometimes heavy and often falls in the afternoons and evenings. Climate change is altering the natural pattern of the rainfall period, causing an extension of the short rains, which has begat floods, and reducing the drought cycle from every ten years to annual events, producing strong droughts such as the 2008-09 Kenya Drought.
The temperature remains high throughout these months of tropical rain. The hottest period is February and March, leading into the season of the long rains, and the coldest is in July, until mid-August.
Wildlife
Kenya has considerable land area devoted to wildlife habitats, including the Masai Mara, where Blue Wildebeest, blue wildebeest and other bovids participate in a large-scale Wikt:migration, annual migration. More than one million wildebeest and 200,000 zebras participate in the migration across the Mara River.
The Big Five Game, "Big Five" game animals of Africa, that is the lion, leopard, African buffalo, buffalo, rhinoceros, and African elephant, elephant, can be found in Kenya and in the Masai Mara in particular. A significant population of other wild animals, reptiles, and birds can be found in the List of national parks of Kenya, national parks and game reserves in the country. The annual animal migration occurs between June and September, with millions of animals taking part, attracting valuable foreign tourism. Two million wildebeest migrate a distance of from the Serengeti in neighbouring Tanzania to the Masai Mara in Kenya, in a constant clockwise fashion, searching for food and water supplies. This Serengeti Migration of the wildebeest is listed among the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa.
Kenya had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 4.2/10, ranking it 133rd globally out of 172 countries.
Government and politics
Kenya is a presidential system, presidential representative democracy, representative democratic republic with a multi-party system. The president is both the head of state and head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the National Assembly of Kenya, National Assembly and the Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. There has been growing concern, especially during former president Daniel arap Moi's tenure, that the executive was increasingly meddling with the affairs of the judiciary.
Kenya has high levels of corruption according to Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), a metric which attempts to gauge the prevalence of public sector, public-sector corruption in various countries. In 2019, the nation placed 137th out of 180 countries in the index, with a score of 28 out of 100. But there are several rather significant developments with regard to curbing corruption from the Kenyan government, for instance the establishment of a new and independent Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).
Following general elections held in 1997, the Constitution of Kenya Review Act, designed to pave the way for more comprehensive amendments to the Kenyan constitution, was passed by the national parliament.
In December 2002, Kenya held democratic and open elections, which were judged free and fair by most international observers. The 2002 elections marked an important turning point in Kenya's democratic evolution in that power was transferred peacefully from the Kenya African National Union (KANU), which had ruled the country since independence, to the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC), a coalition of political parties.
Under the presidency of Mwai Kibaki, the new ruling coalition promised to focus its efforts on generating economic growth, combating corruption, improving education, and rewriting its constitution. A few of these promises have been met. There is free primary education. In 2007, the government issued a statement declaring that from 2008, secondary education would be heavily subsidised, with the government footing all tuition fees.
2013 elections and new government
Under the new constitution and with President Kibaki prohibited by term limits from running for a third term, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta ran for office. He won with 50.51% of the vote in March 2013.
In December 2014, President Kenyatta signed a Security Laws Amendment Bill, which supporters of the law suggested was necessary to guard against armed groups. Opposition politicians, human rights groups, and nine Western countries criticised the security bill, arguing that it infringed on democratic freedoms. The governments of the United States, the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
, Germany, and France also collectively issued a press statement cautioning about the law's potential impact. Through the Jubilee Coalition, the Bill was later passed on 19 December in the National Assembly under acrimonious circumstances.
Foreign relations
Kenya has close ties with its fellow Swahili-speaking neighbours in the African Great Lakes region. Relations with Uganda and Tanzania are generally strong, as the three nations work toward economic and social integration through common membership in the East African Community
The East African Community (EAC) is an intergovernmental organisation composed of seven countries in the Great Lakes region of East Africa: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Republic of Tanzania, the Republics of Kenya, Burundi, ...
.
Relations with Somalia have historically been tense, although there has been some military co-ordination against Islamist insurgents. Kenya has good relations with the United Kingdom.[Kenya – Foreign Relations](_blank)
. Retrieved on 16 January 2015. Kenya is one of the most pro-American nations in Africa, and the wider world.
With International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals ...
trial dates scheduled in 2013 for both President Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto
William Kipchirchir Samoei Arap Ruto (born 21 December 1966) is a Kenyan politician who is serving as the fifth and current president of Kenya since 13 September 2022. Prior to becoming president, he served as the 11th deputy president of Ken ...
related to the 2007 election aftermath, US president Barack Obama chose not to visit the country during his United States presidential visits to Sub-Saharan Africa#List of trips, mid-2013 African trip. Later in the summer, Kenyatta visited China at the invitation of President Xi Jinping after a stop in Russia and not having visited the United States as president.[Raghavan, Sudarsan]
"In snub to Washington, Kenyan president visits China, Russia first"
, ''Washington Post'', 17 August 2013. Ambassador Liu's comments at capitalfm.co.ke linked t
capitalfm.co.ke
. Retrieved 18 August 2013. In July 2015, Obama visited Kenya, the first American president to visit the country while in office.
The British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) is used for the training of British Army, British infantry battalions in the arid and rugged terrain of the Great Rift Valley.
Armed forces
The Kenya Defence Forces are the armed forces of Kenya. The Kenya Army, Kenya Navy, and Kenya Air Force compose the National Defence Forces. The current Kenya Defence Forces were established, and its composition laid out, in Article 241 of the 2010 Constitution of Kenya; the KDF is governed by the Kenya Defence Forces Act of 2012. The President of Kenya is the commander-in-chief of all the armed forces.
The armed forces are regularly deployed in peacekeeping missions around the world. Further, in the aftermath of the national elections of December 2007 and the violence that subsequently engulfed the country, a commission of inquiry, the Waki Commission, commended its readiness and adjudged it to "have performed its duty well." Nevertheless, there have been serious allegations of human rights violations, most recently while conducting counter-insurgency operations in the Mt Elgon area and also in the district of Mandera central.
Kenya's armed forces, like many government institutions in the country, have been tainted by Corruption in Kenya, corruption allegations. Because the operations of the armed forces have been traditionally cloaked by the ubiquitous blanket of "state security", the corruption has been hidden from public view, and thus less subject to public scrutiny and notoriety. This has changed recently. In what are by Kenyan standards unprecedented revelations, in 2010, credible claims of corruption were made with regard to recruitment and procurement of armoured personnel carriers. Further, the wisdom and prudence of certain decisions of procurement have been publicly questioned.
Administrative divisions
Kenya is divided into Counties of Kenya, 47 semi-autonomous counties that are headed by governors. These 47 counties form the first-order divisions of Kenya.
The smallest administrative units in Kenya are called Locations of Kenya, locations. Locations often coincide with electoral wards. Locations are usually named after their central villages/towns. Many larger towns consist of several locations. Each location has a chief, appointed by the state.
Constituencies are an electoral subdivision, with each county comprising a whole number of constituencies. An interim boundaries commission was formed in 2010 to review the constituencies and in its report, it recommended the creation of an additional 80 constituencies. Previous to the 2013 elections, there were 210 Constituencies of Kenya, constituencies in Kenya.
Human rights
Homosexuality, Homosexual acts are illegal in Kenya and punishable by up to 14 years in prison, though the state often turns a blind eye to prosecuting gay people. According to a 2020 survey by the Pew Research Center, 83% of Kenyans believe that homosexuality should not be accepted by society. While addressing a joint press conference together with President Barack Obama in 2015, President Kenyatta declined to assure Kenya's commitment to gay rights, saying that "the issue of gay rights is really a non-issue... But there are some things that we must admit we don't share. Our culture, our societies don't accept."
In November 2008, WikiLeaks brought wide international attention to ''The Cry of Blood'' report, which documents the extrajudicial killing of gangsters by the Kenyan police. In the report, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) reported these in their key finding "e)", stating that the forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings appeared to be official policy sanctioned by the political leadership and the police.
Economy
Kenya's Macroeconomics, macroeconomic outlook has steadily posted robust growth over the past few decades mostly from road, Rail transport, rail, Low-cost carrier, air and water transport infrastructure projects as well as massive investments in Information and communications technology, Information and Communication Technology. However, much of this growth has come from cash flows diverted from ordinary Kenyan pockets at the Microeconomics, microeconomic level through targeted Monetary policy, monetary and Fiscal policy, fiscal measures coupled with poor management, corruption, massive theft of public funds, Freedom and the law, overlegislation and an ineffective judiciary resulting in diminished incomes in ordinary households and small businesses, unemployment, underemployment and general discontent across multiple sectors. Kenya ranks poorly on the List of countries by Fragile States Index, Fragile States Index at number 25 out of 178 countries, ranked in 2019, and is placed in the ALERT category. In 2014, the country's macroeconomic indicators were re-based, causing the GDP to shift upwards to low-middle-income country status.
Despite government assurances to the contrary, the Kenyan government is currently broke and struggling to meet its financial obligations. Junior government employees at both national and county levels are the hardest hit and have not received their monthly salaries, benefits and deductions for up to six months or more. There is conflicting data on the state of the economy from different government agencies with official data not reflecting record inflation and very high prices of food and other basic commodities.
Kenya has a Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.555 (medium), ranked 145 out of 186 in the world. , 17.7% of Kenyans lived on less than $1.25 a day. In 2017, Kenya ranked 92nd in the World Bank Ease of doing business index, ease of doing business rating from 113rd in 2016 (of 190 countries). The important agricultural sector is one of the least developed and largely inefficient, employing 75% of the workforce compared to less than 3% in the food security, food secure developed countries. Kenya is usually classified as a frontier market or occasionally an emerging market, but it is not one of the least developed countries.
The economy has seen much expansion, seen by strong performance in tourism, higher education, and Telecommunications in Kenya, telecommunications, and decent post-drought results in agriculture, especially the vital tea sector. Kenya's economy grew by more than 7% in 2007, and its foreign debt was greatly reduced. This changed immediately after the disputed presidential election of December 2007, following the chaos which engulfed the country.
Telecommunications and financial activity over the last decade now comprise 62% of GDP. 22% of GDP still comes from the unreliable agricultural sector which employs 75% of the labour force (a consistent characteristic of under-developed economies that have not attained food security—an important catalyst of economic growth). A small portion of the population relies on food aid. Industry and manufacturing is the smallest sector, accounting for 16% of GDP. The service, industry and manufacturing sectors only employ 25% of the labour force but contribute 75% of GDP.
Kenya also exports textiles worth over $400 million under AGOA.
Privatisation of state corporations like the defunct Kenya Post and Telecommunications Company, which resulted in East Africa's most profitable company—Safaricom, has led to their revival because of massive private investment.
, economic prospects are positive with 4–5% GDP growth expected, largely because of expansions in tourism, telecommunications, transport, construction, and a recovery in agriculture. The World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
estimated growth of 4.3% in 2012.
In March 1996, the presidents of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda re-established the East African Community
The East African Community (EAC) is an intergovernmental organisation composed of seven countries in the Great Lakes region of East Africa: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Republic of Tanzania, the Republics of Kenya, Burundi, ...
(EAC). The EAC's objectives include harmonising tariffs and customs regimes, free movement of people, and improving regional infrastructures. In March 2004, the three East African countries signed a Customs union, Customs Union Agreement.
Kenya has a more developed financial services sector than its neighbours. The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) is ranked 4th in Africa in terms of market capitalisation. The Kenyan banking system is supervised by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK). As of late July 2004, the system consisted of 43 commercial banks (down from 48 in 2001) and several non-bank financial institutions including mortgage companies, four savings and loan associations, and several core foreign-exchange bureaus.
Tourism
Tourism in Kenya is the second-largest source of foreign exchange revenue following agriculture. The Kenya Tourism Board is responsible for maintaining information pertaining to tourism in Kenya.
The main tourist attractions are photo safaris through the List of national parks of Kenya, 60 national parks and game reserves. Other attractions include the wildebeest migration at the Masaai Mara, which is considered to be the 7th wonder of the world; historical mosques, and colonial-era forts at Mombasa
Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...
, Malindi
Malindi is a town on Malindi Bay at the mouth of the Sabaki River, lying on the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya. It is 120 kilometres northeast of Mombasa. The population of Malindi was 119,859 as of the 2019 census. It is the largest urban centre ...
, and Lamu; renowned scenery such as the white-capped Mount Kenya
Mount Kenya (Kikuyu: ''Kĩrĩnyaga'', Kamba, ''Ki Nyaa'') is the highest mountain in Kenya and the second-highest in Africa, after Kilimanjaro. The highest peaks of the mountain are Batian (), Nelion () and Point Lenana (). Mount Kenya is locat ...
and the Great Rift Valley, Kenya, Great Rift Valley; tea plantations at Kericho; coffee plantations at Thika; a splendid view of Mount Kilimanjaro across the border into Tanzania; and the beaches along the Swahili Coast, in the Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...
. Tourists, the largest number being from Germany and the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
, are attracted mainly to the coastal beaches and the game reserves, notably, the expansive Tsavo East National Park, East and Tsavo West National Park, to the southeast.
Agriculture
Agriculture is the second largest contributor to Kenya's gross domestic product (GDP) after the service sector. In 2005, agriculture, including forestry and fishing, accounted for 24% of GDP, as well as for 18% of wage employment and 50% of revenue from exports. The principal cash crops are tea, horticultural produce, and coffee. Horticultural produce and tea are the main growth sectors and the two most valuable of all of Kenya's exports. The production of major food staples such as Maize, corn is subject to sharp weather-related fluctuations. Production downturns periodically necessitate food aid—for example in 2004, due to one of Kenya's intermittent droughts.
A consortium led by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has had some success in helping farmers grow new pigeon pea varieties instead of maize, in particularly dry areas. Pigeon peas are very drought-resistant, so can be grown in areas with less than annual rainfall. Successive projects encouraged the commercialisation of legumes by stimulating the growth of local seed production and agro-dealer networks for distribution and marketing. This work, which included linking producers to wholesalers, helped to increase local producer prices by 20–25% in Nairobi and Mombasa. The commercialisation of the pigeon pea is now enabling some farmers to buy assets ranging from mobile phones to productive land and livestock, and is opening pathways for them to move out of poverty.
Tea, coffee, sisal, pyrethrum, corn, and wheat are grown in the fertile highlands, one of the most successful agricultural production regions in Africa. Livestock predominates in the semi-arid savanna to the north and east. Coconuts, pineapples, cashew nuts, cotton, sugarcane, sisal, and corn are grown in the lower-lying areas. Kenya has not attained the level of investment and efficiency in agriculture that can guarantee food security, and coupled with resulting poverty (53% of the population lives below the poverty line), a significant portion of the population regularly starves and is heavily dependent on food aid. Poor roads, an inadequate railway network, under-used water transport, and expensive air transport have isolated mostly arid and semi-arid areas, and farmers in other regions often leave food to rot in the fields because they cannot access markets. This was last seen in August and September 2011, prompting the Kenyans for Kenya initiative by the Red Cross.
Kenya's irrigation sector is categorised into three organizational types: smallholding, smallholder schemes, centrally-managed public schemes, and private/commercial irrigation schemes.
The smallholder schemes are owned, developed, and managed by individuals or groups of farmers operating as water users or self-help groups. Irrigation is carried out on individual or on group farms averaging 0.1–0.4 ha. There are about 3,000 smallholder irrigation schemes covering a total area of 47,000 ha.
The country has seven large, centrally managed irrigation schemes, namely Mwea, Bura irrigation and Settlement Project (Kenya), Bura, Hola, Kenya, Hola, Perkerra River, Perkera, West Kano, Bunyala, and Ahero, covering a total area of 18,200 ha and averaging 2,600 ha per scheme. These schemes are managed by the National Irrigation Board and account for 18% of irrigated land area in Kenya.
Large-scale private commercial farms cover 45,000 hectares, accounting for 40% of irrigated land. They utilise high technology and produce high-value crops for the export market, especially flowers and vegetables.
Kenya is the world's 3rd largest exporter of cut flowers. Roughly half of Kenya's 127 flower farms are concentrated around Lake Naivasha, 90 kilometres northwest of Nairobi.[ To speed their export, Nairobi airport has a terminal dedicated to the transport of flowers and vegetables.][
]
Industry and manufacturing
Although Kenya is a low middle-income country, manufacturing accounts for 14% of the GDP, with industrial activity concentrated around the three largest urban centres of Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...
, Mombasa
Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...
, and Kisumu, and is dominated by food-processing industries such as grain milling, beer production, sugarcane crushing, and the fabrication of consumer goods, e.g., vehicles from kits.
Kenya also has a cement production industry. Kenya has an oil refinery that processes imported crude petroleum into petroleum products, mainly for the domestic market. In addition, a substantial and expanding informal sector commonly referred to as ''jua kali'' engages in small-scale manufacturing of household goods, auto parts, and farm implements.
Kenya's inclusion among the beneficiaries of the US Government's African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has given a boost to manufacturing in recent years. Since AGOA took effect in 2000, Kenya's clothing sales to the United States increased from US$44 million to US$270 million (2006). Other initiatives to strengthen manufacturing have been the new government's favourable tax measures, including the removal of duty on capital equipment and other raw materials.
Transport
The country has an extensive network of paved and unpaved roads. Kenya's railway system links the nation's ports and major cities, connecting it with neighbouring Uganda. There are 15 airports which have paved runways.
Energy
The largest share of Kenya's electricity supply comes from geothermal energy, followed by hydroelectric stations at dams along the upper Tana River (Kenya), Tana River, as well as the Turkwel Gorge Dam in the west. A petroleum-fired plant on the coast, Geothermal power in Kenya, geothermal facilities at Olkaria (near Nairobi), and electricity imported from Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa
East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...
make up the rest of the supply. A Sodo–Moyale–Suswa High Voltage Power Line, 2,000 MW powerline from Ethiopia is nearing completion.
Kenya's installed capacity increased from 1,142 megawatts between 2001 and 2003 to 2,341 in 2016. The state-owned Kenya Electricity Generating Company, Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen), established in 1997 under the name of Kenya Power Company, handles the generation of electricity, while Kenya Power handles the electricity transmission and distribution system in the country. Shortfalls of electricity occur periodically, when drought reduces water flow. To become energy sufficient, Kenya has installed Wind power in Kenya, wind power and Solar power in Kenya, solar power (over 300 MW each), and aims to build a nuclear power plant by 2027.
Kenya has proven deposits of oil in Turkana County, Turkana. Tullow Oil estimates the country's oil reserves to be around one billion barrels. Exploration is still continuing to determine whether there are more reserves. Kenya currently imports all crude petroleum requirements. It has no strategic reserves and relies solely on oil marketers' 21-day oil reserves required under industry regulations. Petroleum accounts for 20% to 25% of the national import bill.
Chinese investment and trade
Published comments on Kenya's 98.4 Capital FM, Capital FM website by Liu Guangyuan, Chinese Ambassador to Kenya, China's ambassador to Kenya, at the time of President Kenyatta's 2013 trip to Beijing, said, "Chinese investment in Kenya ... reached $474 million, representing Kenya's largest source of foreign direct investment, and ... bilateral trade ... reached $2.84 billion" in 2012. Kenyatta was "[a]ccompanied by 60 Kenyan business people [and hoped to] ... gain support from China for a planned $2.5 billion railway from the southern Kenyan port of Mombasa to neighbouring Uganda, as well as a nearly $1.8 billion dam", according to a statement from the president's office, also at the time of the trip.[
Base Titanium, a subsidiary of Base resources of Australia, shipped its first major consignment of minerals to China. About 25,000 tonnes of ilmenite was flagged off the Kenyan coastal town of Kilifi. The first shipment was expected to earn Kenya about KSh.1520 billion/= in earnings. In 2014, the Chinese contracted railway project from Nairobi to Mombasa was suspended due to a dispute over compensation for land acquisition.
]
Vision 2030
In 2007, the Kenyan government unveiled Kenya Vision 2030, Vision 2030, an economic development programme it hopes will put the country in the same league as the Four Asian Tigers, Asian Economic Tigers by 2030. In 2013, it launched a National Climate Change Action Plan, having acknowledged that omitting climate as a key development issue in Vision 2030 was an oversight failure. The 200-page Action Plan, developed with support from the Climate & Development Knowledge Network, sets out the Government of Kenya's vision for a 'low-carbon climate resilient development pathway'. At the launch in March 2013, the Secretary of the Ministry of Planning, National Development, and Vision 2030 emphasized that climate would be a central issue in the renewed Medium-Term Plan that would be launched in the coming months. This would create a direct and robust delivery framework for the Action Plan and ensure climate change is treated as an economy-wide issue. Furthermore, Kenya submitted an updated, more ambitious NDC on December 24, 2020, with a commitment to abate greenhouse gases by 32 percent by 2030 relative to the business-as-usual scenario and in line with its sustainable development agenda and national circumstances.
Oil exploration
Kenya has proven oil deposits in Turkana County. President Mwai Kibaki announced on 26 March 2012 that Tullow Oil, an Anglo-Irish oil exploration firm, had struck oil, but its commercial viability and subsequent production would take about three years to confirm.
Early in 2006, Chinese president Hu Jintao signed an oil exploration contract with Kenya, part of a series of deals designed to keep Africa's natural resources flowing to China's rapidly expanding economy.
The deal allowed for China's state-controlled offshore oil and gas company, China National Offshore Oil Corporation, CNOOC, to prospect for oil in Kenya, which is just beginning to drill its first exploratory wells on the borders of Sudan and the disputed area of North Eastern Province, Kenya, North Eastern Province, on the border with Somalia
Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...
and in coastal waters. There are formal estimates of the possible reserves of oil discovered.
Child labour and prostitution
Child labour child labor in Kenya, is common in Kenya. Most working children are active in agriculture. In 2006, UNICEF estimated that up to 30% of girls in the coastal areas of Malindi, Mombasa, Kilifi, and Diani were subject to prostitution. Most of the prostitutes in Kenya are aged 9–18. The Ministry of Gender and Child Affairs employed 400 child protection officers in 2009. The causes of child labour include poverty, the lack of access to education, and weak government institutions. Kenya has ratified Convention No. 81 on labour inspection in industries and Convention No. 129 on labour inspection in agriculture.
Microfinance
More than 20 institutions offer business loans on a large scale, specific agriculture loans, education loans, and loans for other purposes. Additionally, there are:
* emergency loans, which are more expensive in respect to interest rates, but are quickly available
* group loans for smaller groups (four to five members) and larger groups (up to 30 members)
* women's loans, which are also available to groups of women
Out of approximately 40 million Kenyans, about 14 million are unable to receive financial service through formal loan application services, and an additional 12 million have no access to financial service institutions at all. Further, one million Kenyans are reliant on informal groups for receiving financial aid.
To mitigate this problem, the mobile banking service M-Pesa was launched in 2007 by Vodafone and Safaricom, in collaboration from the Financial Deepening Challenge Fund competition established by the UK government's Department for International Development. M-Pesa, as an application that allows users to deposit, withdraw, transfer money, pay for goods and services (Lipa na M-Pesa), access credit and savings, all with a mobile device, has provided access to digital transactions to millions of Kenyans in poverty situation.
Conditions for microfinance products
* Eligibility criteria: the general criteria might include gender as in the case of special women's loans; being at least 18 years old; owning a valid Kenyan ID; having a business; demonstrating the ability to repay the loan; and being a customer of the institution.
* Credit scoring: there is no advanced credit scoring system and the majority has not stated any official loan distribution system. However, some institutions require applicants to have an existing business for at least three months, own a small amount of cash, provide the institution with a business plan or proposal, have at least one guarantor, or to attend group meetings or training. For group loans, almost half of the institutions require group members to guarantee for each other.
* Interest rate: mostly calculated on a flat basis and some at a declining balance. More than 90% of the institutions require monthly interest payments. The average interest rate is 30–40% for loans up to KSh.500,000/=. For loans above KSh.500,000/=, interest rates go up to 71%.
Demographics
Kenya had a population of approximately 48 million in January 2017.[ The country has a young population, with 73% of residents under 30 because of rapid population growth, from 2.9 million to 40 million inhabitants over the last century.
Nairobi is home to Kibera, one of the world's largest slums. The shantytown is believed to house between 170,000] and one million people. The UNHCR base in Dadaab in the north houses around 500,000.[The UN Refugee Agency](_blank)
. Unhcr.org.
Ethnic groups
Kenya has a diverse population that includes many of Africa's major ethnoracial and linguistic groups. Although there is no official list of Kenyan ethnic groups, the number of ethnic categories and sub-categories recorded in the country's census has changed significantly over time, expanding from 42 in 1969 to more than 120 in 2019. Most residents are Bantu peoples, Bantus (60%) or Nilotic peoples, Nilotes (30%). Cushitic languages, Cushitic groups also form a small ethnic minority, as do Arabs, Indians, and Europeans.
According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), in 2019, Kenya had a total population of 47,564,296. The largest native ethnic groups were the Kikuyu Kikuyu or Gikuyu (Gĩkũyũ) mostly refers to an ethnic group in Kenya or its associated language.
It may also refer to:
* Kikuyu people, a majority ethnic group in Kenya
*Kikuyu language, the language of Kikuyu people
*Kikuyu, Kenya, a town in Cent ...
(8,148,668), Luhya Luhya or Abaluyia may refer to:
* Luhya people
* Luhya language
Luhya (; also Luyia, Luhia or Luhiya) is a Bantu language of western Kenya.
Dialects
The various Luhya tribes speak several related languages and dialects, though some of them are ...
(6,823,842), Kalenjin Kalenjin may refer to:
* Kalenjin people
The Kalenjin are a group of tribes designated as Highland Nilotes and are descended from Maliri people ''(thus related to Daasanach of Ethiopia.)'' The Kalenjin are cousins with Datooga people of Tan ...
(6,358,113), Luo people, Luo (5,066,966), Kamba
Kamba may refer to:
*Kamba people of Kenya
*Bena-Kamba, a community in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
*Khampa, also spelled Kamba, Tibetan people of Kham
Kham (; )
is one of the three traditional Tibetan regions, the others being Amdo in ...
(4,663,910), Somalis, Somali (2,780,502), Kisii people, Kisii (2,703,235), Mijikenda (2,488,691), Meru
Meru may refer to:
Geography Kenya
* Meru, Kenya, a city in Meru County, Kenya
** Meru County, created by the merger of
*** Meru Central District
*** Meru North District
*** Meru South District
* Meru National Park, a Kenyan wildlife park
Tanza ...
(1,975,869), Maasai Maasai may refer to:
* Maasai people
*Maasai language
* Maasai mythology
* MAASAI (band)
See also
* Masai (disambiguation)
* Massai
Massai (also known as: Masai, Massey, Massi, Mah–sii, Massa, Wasse, Wassil or by the nickname "Big Foot" Mas ...
(1,189,522), and Turkana (1,016,174). The North Eastern Province, Kenya, North Eastern Province of Kenya, formerly known as NFD, is predominantly inhabited by the indigenous ethnic Somalis. Foreign-rooted populations include Omanis, Arabs, Indians in Kenya, Asians, and White people in Kenya, Europeans.
Languages
Kenya's various ethnic groups typically speak their mother tongues within their own communities. The two official languages, English and Swahili, are used in varying degrees of fluency for communication with other populations. English is widely spoken in commerce, schooling, and government. Peri-urbanisation, Peri-urban and rural dwellers are less multilingual, with many in rural areas speaking only their native languages.
British English is primarily used in Kenya. Additionally, a distinct local dialect, Kenyan English, is used by some communities and individuals in the country, and contains features unique to it that were derived from local Bantu languages such as Kiswahili and Kikuyu Kikuyu or Gikuyu (Gĩkũyũ) mostly refers to an ethnic group in Kenya or its associated language.
It may also refer to:
* Kikuyu people, a majority ethnic group in Kenya
*Kikuyu language, the language of Kikuyu people
*Kikuyu, Kenya, a town in Cent ...
. It has been developing since colonisation and also contains certain elements of American English. Sheng slang, Sheng is a Kiswahili-based cant (language), cant spoken in some urban areas. Primarily a mixture of Swahili and English, it is an example of linguistic code-switching.
69 languages are spoken in Kenya. Most belong to two broad language families: Niger-Congo languages, Niger-Congo (Bantu languages, Bantu branch) and Nilo-Saharan languages, Nilo-Saharan (Nilotic languages, Nilotic branch), spoken by the country's Bantu and Nilotic populations respectively. The Cushitic and Arab ethnic minorities speak languages belonging to the separate Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic family, with the Indian and European residents speaking languages from the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family.[Languages of Kenya](_blank)
. Ethnologue.com.
Urban centres
Religion
Most Kenyans are Christians, Christian (85.5%), with 53.9% Protestant and 20.6% Catholic Church in Kenya, Roman Catholic. The Presbyterian Church of East Africa has 3 million followers in Kenya and surrounding countries. There are smaller conservative Reformed tradition, Reformed churches, the Africa Evangelical Presbyterian Church, the Independent Presbyterian Church in Kenya, and the Reformed Church of East Africa. Orthodox Christianity has 621,200 adherents. Kenya has by far the highest number of Quakers of any country in the world, with around 146,300. The only Jewish synagogue in the country is in Nairobi.
Islam is the Islam in Kenya, second largest religion, comprising 10.9% of the population. 60% of Kenyan Muslims live in the Coast Province, Coastal Region, comprising 50% of the total population there, while the upper part of Kenya's Eastern Province (Kenya), Eastern Region is home to 10% of the country's Muslims, where they are the majority religious group. African traditional religion, Indigenous beliefs are practised by 0.7% of the population, although many self-identifying Christians and Muslims Religious syncretism, maintain some traditional beliefs and customs. Nonreligious Kenyans are 1.6% of the population.
Some Hindus also live in Kenya. The numbers are estimated to be around 60,287, or 0.13% of the population.
Health
Health care is largely funded by private individuals, families and employers through direct payments to health care providers, the National Hospital Insurance Fund, National Health Insurance Fund, and private health insurance firms. Additional funding comes from local, international and some government social safety net schemes. Public hospitals are fee-for-service establishments that generate a large portion of county and national government revenues, making them highly political enterprises. Minimum and maximum fees that health care providers may charge are determined and controlled by the government through the regulatory bodies.
Kenya is currently grappling with a large number of unemployed health care providers (including health facilities) many of whom are under-utilised, underemployed or not practicing. A large thriving black market for counterfeit medicines and health services exists and is largely controlled by Quackery, quacks and charlatans. Kenya is a major regional transit route and destination for counterfeit medications and other health products. The corporate practice of medicine is a deeply entrenched vice that has not been subjected to judicial review resulting in widespread sharing of medical practice incomes with non-medical persons and, more recently, in the actual trading of patients and health care providers in financial markets.
Private health facilities are diverse, highly dynamic, and difficult to classify, unlike public health facilities, which are easily grouped in classes that consist of community-based (level I) services, run by community health workers; dispensaries (level II facilities) run by nurses; health centres (level III facilities), run by clinical officers; sub-county hospitals (level IV facilities), which may be run by a clinical officer or a General practitioner, medical officer; county hospitals (level V facilities), which may be run by a General practitioner, medical officer or a Consultant (medicine), medical practitioner; and national referral hospitals (level VI facilities), which are run by fully qualified Consultant (medicine), medical practitioners.
Nurses are by far the largest group of front-line health care providers in all sectors, followed by clinical officers, medical officers, and medical practitioners. These are absorbed and deployed into government service in accordance with the Scheme of Service for Nursing Personnel (2014), the Revised Scheme of Service for Clinical Personnel (2020) and the Revised Scheme of Service for Medical Officers and Dental Officers (2016).
Traditional healers (herbalists, witch doctors, and faith healers) are readily available, trusted, and widely consulted as practitioners of first or last choice by both rural and urban dwellers.
Despite major achievements in the health sector, Kenya still faces many challenges. The estimated life expectancy dropped in 2009 to approximately 55 years — five years below the 1990 level. The infant mortality rate was high at approximately 44 deaths per 1,000 children in 2012. The WHO estimated in 2011 that only 42% of births were attended by a skilled health professional.
Diseases of poverty directly correlate with a country's economy, economic performance and wealth distribution: Half of Kenyans live below the poverty level. Preventable diseases like malaria, HIV/AIDS, pneumonia, diarrhoea, and malnutrition are the biggest burden, major child-killers, and responsible for much morbidity; weak policies, corruption, inadequate health workers, weak management, and poor leadership in the public health sector are largely to blame. According to 2009 estimates, List of countries by HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate, HIV/AIDS prevalence is about 6.3% of the adult population. However, the 2011 UNAIDS Report suggests that the HIV epidemic may be improving in Kenya, as HIV prevalence is declining among young people (ages 15–24) and pregnant women. Kenya had an estimated 15 million cases of malaria in 2006.
Women
The total fertility rate in Kenya was estimated to be 4.49 children per woman in 2012. According to a 2008–09 survey by the Kenyan government, the total fertility rate was 4.6% and the contraception usage rate among married women was 46%. Maternal mortality is high, partly because of female genital cutting, female genital mutilation, with about 27% of women having undergone it.
This practice is however on the decline as the country becomes more modernised, and in 2011 it was banned in Kenya.
Women were economically empowered before colonialisation.
By colonial land alienation, women lost access and control of land. They became more economically dependent on men. A colonial order of gender emerged where males dominated females.
Median age at first marriage increases with increasing education.
Rape, defilement, and battering are not always seen as serious crimes.
Reports of sexual assault are not always taken seriously.
Youth
Article 260 of the 2010 Kenyan constitutional referendum, Kenyan Constitution of 2010 defines youth as those between the ages of 18 and 34. According to the 2019 Population and Census results, 75 percent of the 47.6 million population is under the age of 35, making Kenya a country of the youth. Youth unemployment and underemployment in Kenya has become a problem. According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), approximately 1.7 million people lost their jobs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which eliminated some informal jobs and caused the economy to slow. The Kenyan government has made progress in addressing the high youth unemployment by implementing various affirmative action programs and projects which include; the National Youth Service (Kenya), National Youth Service, The National Youth Enterprise Development Fund, The Women Enterprise Fund, Kazi Mtaani, Ajira Digital Program, Ajira Digital, Kikao Mtaani, Uwezo fund, Future Bora and Studio mashinani that Youth empowerment, empower the youth, offer job opportunities and to raise one's standard of living.
Education
Children attend nursery school, or kindergarten in the private sector until they are five years old. This lasts one to three years (KG1, KG2 and KG3) and is financed privately because there has been no government policy on pre-schooling until recently.
Basic formal education starts at age six and lasts 12 years, consisting of eight years in primary school and four in high school or secondary. Primary school is free in public schools and those attending can join a vocational youth/village polytechnic, or make their own arrangements for an apprenticeship program and learn a trade such as tailoring, carpentry, motor vehicle repair, brick-laying and masonry for about two years.
Those who complete high school can join a Institute of technology, polytechnic or other technical college and study for three years, or proceed directly to university and study for four years. Graduates from the polytechnics and colleges can then join the workforce and later obtain a specialised higher diploma qualification after a further one to two years of training, or join the university—usually in the second or third year of their respective course. The higher diploma is accepted by many employers in place of a bachelor's degree and direct or accelerated admission to post-graduate studies is possible in some universities.
Public universities in Kenya are highly commercialised institutions and only a small fraction of qualified high school graduates are admitted on limited government-sponsorship into programs of their choice. Most are admitted into the social sciences, which are cheap to run, or as self-sponsored students paying the full cost of their studies. Most qualified students who miss out opt for middle-level diploma programs in public or private universities, colleges, and polytechnics.
In 2018, 18.5 percent of the Kenyan adult population was illiterate, which was the highest rate of literacy in East Africa. There are very wide regional disparities: for example, Nairobi had the highest level of literacy at 87.1 per cent, compared to North Eastern Province, the lowest, at 8.0 per cent. Preschool, which targets children from age three to five, is an integral component of the education system and is a key requirement for admission to Standard One (First Grade). At the end of primary education, pupils sit the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE), which determines those who proceed to secondary school or vocational training. The result of this examination is needed for placement at secondary school.
Primary school is for students aged 6/7-13/14 years. For those who proceed to the secondary level, there is a national examination at the end of Form Four – the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE), which determines those proceeding to the universities, other professional training, or employment. Students sit examinations in eight subjects of their choosing. However, English, Kiswahili, and mathematics are compulsory subjects.
The Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS), formerly the Joint Admissions Board (JAB), is responsible for selecting students joining the public universities. Other than the public schools, there are many private schools, mainly in urban areas. Similarly, there are a number of international schools catering to various overseas educational systems.
Despite its impressive commercial approach, Kenya's academia and higher education system is somehow rigid. However, Kenyan University Graduates are highly skilled, and they are accepted in the job market domestically as well as internationally. Kenay was ranked 85th in the Global Innovation Index in 2021.
Culture
The culture of Kenya comprises multiple traditions. Kenya has no single prominent culture. It instead consists of the various cultures of the country's different communities.
Notable populations include the Swahili on the coast, several other Bantu peoples, Bantu communities in the central and western regions, and Nilotic communities in the northwest. The Maasai Maasai may refer to:
* Maasai people
*Maasai language
* Maasai mythology
* MAASAI (band)
See also
* Masai (disambiguation)
* Massai
Massai (also known as: Masai, Massey, Massi, Mah–sii, Massa, Wasse, Wassil or by the nickname "Big Foot" Mas ...
culture is well known to tourism, despite constituting a relatively small part of Kenya's population. They are renowned for their elaborate upper-body adornment and jewellery.
Additionally, Kenya has an extensive music, television, and theatre scene.
Media
Kenya has a number of media outlets that broadcast domestically and globally. They cover news, business, sports, and entertainment. Popular Kenyan newspapers include:
* ''Daily Nation, The Daily Nation''; part of the Nation Media Group, Nation Media Group (NMG) (largest market share)
* ''The Standard (Kenya), The Standard''
* ''The Star''
* ''The People''
* ''East Africa Weekly''
* ''Taifa Leo''
Television stations based in Kenya include:
* Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC)
* Citizen TV
* Kenya Television Network (KTN)
* NTV (Kenya), NTV (part of the Nation Media Group (NMG))
* Kiss Television
* K24 (Kenya), K24 Television
* Kass-TV
All these terrestrial channels are transmitted via a DVB T2 digital TV signal.
Literature
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o is one of Kenya's best-known writers. His novel ''Weep Not, Child depicts'' life in Kenya during the British occupation. The story details the effects of the Mau Mau on the lives of Kenyans. Its combination of themes—colonialism, education, and love—helped make it one of the best-known African novels.
M.G. Vassanji's 2003 novel ''The In-Between World of Vikram Lall'' won the Scotiabank Giller Prize, Giller Prize in 2003. It is the fictional memoir of a Kenyan of Indian heritage and his family as they adjust to the changing political climates in colonial and post-colonial Kenya.
Since 2003, the literary journal ''Kwani?'' has been publishing Kenyan contemporary literature. Kenya has also nurtured emerging versatile authors such as Paul Kipchumba (Kipwendui, Kibiwott) who demonstrate a pan-African outlook.
Music
Kenya has a diverse assortment of popular music forms, in addition to multiple types of folk music based on the variety of over 40 regional languages.
Drums are the most dominant instrument in popular Kenyan music. Drum beats are very complex and include both native rhythms and imported ones, especially the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congolese cavacha rhythm. Popular Kenyan music usually involves the interplay of multiple parts, and more recently, showy guitar solos as well. There are also a number of local hip-hop artists, including Jua Cali; Afro-pop bands such as Sauti Sol; and musicians who play local genres like Benga, such as Akothee.
Lyrics are most often in Kiswahili or English. There is also some emerging aspect of Lingala language, Lingala borrowed from Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congolese musicians. Lyrics are also written in local languages. Urban radio generally only plays English music, though there also exist a number of vernacular radio stations.
Zilizopendwa is a genre of local urban music that was recorded in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s by musicians such as Daudi Kabaka, Fadhili William, and Sukuma Bin Ongaro, and is particularly enjoyed by older people—having been popularised by the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation's Kiswahili service (formerly called Voice of Kenya or VOK).
The Isukuti is a vigorous dance performed by the Luhya Luhya or Abaluyia may refer to:
* Luhya people
* Luhya language
Luhya (; also Luyia, Luhia or Luhiya) is a Bantu language of western Kenya.
Dialects
The various Luhya tribes speak several related languages and dialects, though some of them are ...
sub-tribes to the beat of a traditional drum called the Isukuti during many occasions such as the birth of a child, marriage, or funeral. Other traditional dances include the Ohangla among the Luo peoples, Luo, Nzele among the Mijikenda, Mugithi among the Kikuyu Kikuyu or Gikuyu (Gĩkũyũ) mostly refers to an ethnic group in Kenya or its associated language.
It may also refer to:
* Kikuyu people, a majority ethnic group in Kenya
*Kikuyu language, the language of Kikuyu people
*Kikuyu, Kenya, a town in Cent ...
, and Taarab among the Swahili.
Additionally, Kenya has a growing Christian gospel music scene. Prominent local gospel musicians include the Kenyan Boys Choir.
Benga music has been popular since the late 1960s, especially in the area around Lake Victoria
Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface area after ...
. The word ''benga'' is occasionally used to refer to any kind of pop music. Bass, guitar, and percussion are the usual instruments.
Sports
Kenya is active in several sports, among them cricket, rallying, Association football, football, rugby union, rugby, field hockey, and boxing. The country is known chiefly for its dominance in middle-distance running, middle-distance and long-distance running, long-distance athletics, having consistently produced Olympic Games, Olympic and Commonwealth Games champions in various distance events, especially in 800 m, 1,500 m, 3,000 m steeplechase, 5,000 m, 10,000 m, and the marathon. Kenyan athletes (particularly Kalenjin Kalenjin may refer to:
* Kalenjin people
The Kalenjin are a group of tribes designated as Highland Nilotes and are descended from Maliri people ''(thus related to Daasanach of Ethiopia.)'' The Kalenjin are cousins with Datooga people of Tan ...
), continue to dominate the world of distance running, although competition from Morocco and Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
has reduced this supremacy. Kenya's best-known athletes include the four-time women's Boston Marathon winner and two-time world champion Catherine Ndereba, 800m world record holder David Rudisha, former Marathon (sport), marathon world record-holder Paul Tergat, and John Ngugi.
Kenya won several medals during the Beijing Olympics: six gold, four silver, and four bronze, making it Africa's most successful nation in the 2008 Olympics. New athletes gained attention, such as Pamela Jelimo, the women's 800m gold medalist who went on to win the IAAF Golden League jackpot, and Samuel Wanjiru, who won the men's marathon. Retired Olympic and Commonwealth Games champion Kipchoge Keino helped usher in Kenya's ongoing distance dynasty in the 1970s and was followed by Commonwealth Champion Henry Rono's spectacular string of world record performances. Lately, there has been controversy in Kenyan athletics circles, with the defection of a number of Kenyan athletes to represent other countries, chiefly Bahrain and Qatar.[IAAF]
Changes of Allegiance 1998 to 2005
The Kenyan Ministry of Sports has tried to stop the defections, but they have continued anyway, with Bernard Lagat being the latest, choosing to represent the United States. Most of these defections occur because of economic or financial factors. Decisions by the Kenyan government to tax athletes' earnings may also be a motivating factor. Some elite Kenyan runners who cannot qualify for their country's strong national team find it easier to qualify by running for other countries.
Kenya has been a dominant force in women's volleyball within Africa, with both the clubs and the national team winning various continental championships in the past decade. The women's team has competed at the Olympics and FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship, World Championships, though without any notable success. Cricket is another popular sport, also ranking as the most successful team sport. Kenyan cricket team, Kenya has competed in the Cricket World Cup since 1996 Cricket World Cup, 1996. They upset some of the world's best teams and reached the semi-finals of the 2003 Cricket World Cup, 2003 tournament. They won the inaugural World Cricket League Division 1 hosted in Nairobi and participated in the World T20. They also participated in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. Their current captain is Rakep Patel.
Kenya is represented by Lucas Onyango as a professional rugby league player who plays with the English club Oldham R.L.F.C., Oldham. Besides the former Super League team, he has played for the Widnes Vikings and with the Sale Sharks. Rugby is increasing in popularity, especially with the annual Safari Sevens tournament. The Kenya national rugby sevens team, Kenya Sevens team ranked 9th in the IRB Sevens World Series for the 2006 season. In 2016, the team beat Fiji at the Singapore Sevens finals, making Kenya the second African nation after South Africa to win a World Series championship. Kenya national football team, Kenya was once also a regional powerhouse in football. However, its dominance has been eroded by wrangles within the now defunct Kenya Football Federation, leading to a suspension by FIFA which was lifted in March 2007.
In the motor rallying arena, Kenya is home to the world-famous Safari Rally, commonly acknowledged as one of the toughest rallies in the world. First held in 1953, it was a part of the World Rally Championship for many years until its exclusion after the 2002 event owing to financial difficulties. Some of the best rally drivers in the world have taken part in and won the rally, such as Björn Waldegård, Hannu Mikkola, Tommi Mäkinen, Shekhar Mehta, Carlos Sainz Sr., Carlos Sainz, and Colin McRae. The Safari Rally returned to the world championship in 2021 Safari Rally, 2021, after the 2003–2019 events ran as part of the African Rally Championship.
Nairobi has hosted several major continental sports events, including the FIBA Africa Championship 1993, where Kenya national basketball team, Kenya's national basketball team finished in the top four, its best performance to date.
Kenya also has its own ice hockey team, the Kenya Ice Lions. The team's home ground is the Solar Ice Rink at the Panari Sky Centre in Nairobi, which is the first and largest ice rink in all of Africa.
Cuisine
Kenyans generally have three meals in a day—breakfast (''kiamsha kinywa''), lunch (''chakula cha mchana''), and supper (''chakula cha jioni'' or simply ''chajio''). In between, they have the 10-o'clock tea (''chai ya saa nne'') and 4 p.m. tea (''chai ya saa kumi''). Breakfast is usually tea or porridge with bread, chapati, mahamri, boiled sweet potatoes, or Yam (vegetable), yams. Githeri is a common lunchtime dish in many households, while Ugali with vegetables, sour milk (mursik), meat, fish, or any other stew is generally eaten by much of the population for lunch or supper. Regional variations and dishes also exist.
In western Kenya, among the Luo (Kenya and Tanzania), Luo, fish is a common dish; among the Kalenjin Kalenjin may refer to:
* Kalenjin people
The Kalenjin are a group of tribes designated as Highland Nilotes and are descended from Maliri people ''(thus related to Daasanach of Ethiopia.)'' The Kalenjin are cousins with Datooga people of Tan ...
, who dominate much of the Rift Valley Region, mursik—sour milk—is a common drink.
In cities such as Nairobi, there are fast-food restaurants, including Steers, KFC, and Subway (restaurant), Subway. There are also many fish-and-chips shops.
Cheese in Kenya, Cheese is becoming more popular in Kenya, with consumption increasing particularly among the middle class.Entrepreneur grows her hobby into a successful cheese making business
, howwemadeitinafrica.com, August 23, 2013.
See also
* Foreign relations of Kenya
* Index of Kenya-related articles
* Outline of Kenya
* Water supply and sanitation in Kenya
References
Sources
*
External links
*
*
Kenya
''The World Factbook''. Central Intelligence Agency.
Kenya
profile from Africa.com
Kenya Corruption Profile
from the Business-Anti-Corruption Portal, Business Anti-Corruption Portal
World Bank Summary Trade Statistics Kenya
2010
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{{Authority control
Kenya,
Republics in the Commonwealth of Nations
English-speaking countries and territories
G15 nations
Member states of the African Union
Member states of the Commonwealth of Nations
Member states of the United Nations
East African countries
States and territories established in 1963
Swahili-speaking countries and territories
1963 establishments in Africa
Countries in Africa