The Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, also known as British Kenya or British East Africa, was a part of the British Empire located in East Africa from 1920 until 1963. It was established when the former East Africa Protectorate was transformed into a British Crown colony in 1920.
Technically, the "Colony of Kenya" referred to the interior lands, while a 16-kilometer (9.9 mi) coastal strip, nominally on lease from the Sultan of Zanzibar, was the "Protectorate of Kenya", but the two were controlled as a single administrative unit.
Origin of the Name
Kenya is named after Mount Kenya, the second tallest Mountain in Africa. The Kikuyu people who lived around present day Mt Kenya referred to it as Kirinyaga or Kerenyaga, meaning mountain of whiteness because of its snow capped peak. Mt Kirinyaga which was the main landmark became synonymous with the territory the British later claimed as their colony.
Early Inhabitants and Visitors
The first people to settle in Kenya were indigenous African communities who migrated from various parts of the continent. Other visitors included traders, explorers and tourists who came in from various parts of the world such as Portugal, Arabia, Roman empire, India and Greece. They visited mainly the East African Coast from as early as the first century A.D.
The civilisation base of craft industries, farming, fishing and international trade gave rise to both Coastal city states such as Siu, Pate, Lamu, Malindi, Gede, Mombasa and Vanga . Islam and Kiswahili language were also introduced. The traders from overseas brought such items as clothes, beads, wines, iron weapons, porcelain and handicrafts.
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The first major European presence in East Africa started with the arrival of the Portuguese in the East African waters in 1498 when Vasco Da Gama’s fleet made its initial forays on its way to the East Indies. On the first voyage his only negotiations were with the ruler of Malindi and, indeed, for the next hundred years this alliance was the foundation of the Portuguese network in the region. Their quest to control and dominate the lucrative Indian Ocean trade, the conquest of several city-states along the coast, and the establishment of their dominance, lasted 200 years.
The Portuguese presence was however, hated and resisted and there were many insurrections against them. The Portuguese were finally kicked out of the Coastal towns through a combination of local nationalisms, aided by the Omani Arabs.
The Scramble for Colonies and British Acquisition
The scramble for colonies in Africa among European countries reached fever pitch in 1884, when the Berlin Conference was convened to partition Africa amongst European colonial rivals. Among British acquisitions was the land we today call Kenya. A British trading company, Imperial British East Africa Company, was set up and posted to administer Kenya under the name British East Africa Protectorate.
As Germany, Britain, and France were carving up East Africa in the mid-1880s, they recognized the authority of the sultan of Zanzibar over a coastal strip 10 miles (16 km) wide between the Tana (in Kenya) and Ruvuma (in Tanzania) rivers. The hinterland, however, was divided between Britain and Germany: the British took the area north of a line running from the mouth of the Umba River, opposite Pemba Island, and skirting north of Kilimanjaro to a point where latitude 1° S cut the eastern shore of Lake Victoria; the German sphere, Tanganyika (present-day Tanzania), lay to the south of that line.
In 1887 the sultan’s territory on the mainland was conceded to the British East Africa Association (later Company) for a 50-year period; this was later made a permanent grant. Because the British government was reluctant to become involved in the administration of East Africa, in 1888 it granted the company a royal charter that authorized it to accept existing and future grants and concessions relevant to the administration and development of the British sphere in that part of the world.
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The financial resources of the company, however, were inadequate for any large-scale development of the region. The company also administered territory in what is now Uganda; when it became involved with the kingdoms of Buganda and Bunyoro, it incurred a great debt and therefore was forced to limit its activities to regions nearer the coast. This financial problem was finally resolved in 1895 when the British government made Buganda a protectorate and paid the company £250,000 to surrender its charter to the area that is now Kenya. The East Africa Protectorate was then proclaimed, with Sir Arthur Hardinge as the first commissioner.
Colonial Policies and Racial Discrimination
The seventy years of colonial rule in Kenya were characterised by punitive economic, social and political policies. Most outstanding among these policies was racial discrimination. Huge fertile land was alienated for white settlement, and harsh labour laws were enacted to force the Africans to work at low wages on settler farms and public works. In addition, African political participation was confined to local government.
In the 1920s, natives objected to the reservation of the White Highlands for Europeans, especially British war veterans. Bitterness grew between the natives and the Europeans.
As demand for labor increased, British settlers then introduced poll tax which was required of every citizen in the country. In addition, Kenyans had to work for 60 days a year for the government unless they were already employed by British settlers. This led to the creation of native reservations which were often situated far from major roads and rail and whose soil was not conducive for farming. In 1913, the government passed a land bill that gave the white British settlers 999 year leases on the land and effectively created a monopoly on land use.
Native Kenyan labourers were in one of three categories: squatter, contract, or casual. By the end of World War I, squatters had become well established on European farms and plantations in Kenya, with Kikuyu squatters comprising the majority of agricultural workers on settler plantations. An unintended consequence of colonial rule, the squatters were targeted from 1918 onwards by a series of Resident Native Labourers Ordinances-criticised by at least some MPs -which progressively curtailed squatter rights and subordinated native Kenyan farming to that of the settlers. The Ordinance of 1939 finally eliminated squatters’ remaining tenancy rights, and permitted settlers to demand 270 days’ labour from any squatters on their land.
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Kenyan employees were often poorly treated by their European employers, with some settlers arguing that native Kenyans “were as children and should be treated as such”. Some settlers flogged their servants for petty offences. To make matters even worse, native Kenyan workers were poorly served by colonial labour-legislation and a prejudiced legal-system. The vast majority of Kenyan employees’ violations of labour legislation were settled with “rough justice” meted out by their employers. Most colonial magistrates appear to have been unconcerned by the illegal practice of settler-administered flogging; indeed, during the 1920s, flogging was the magisterial punishment-of-choice for native Kenyan convicts.
Political Associations and the Pathway to Independence
Several political associations, including the Young Kikuyu Association, East African Association, Young Kavirondo Association, North Kavirondo Central Association and Taita Hills Association, were formed to articulate African grievances against forced labour, low wages, heavy taxation, continuing land alienation, and racial discrimination. In 1944, the first countrywide nationalist party, Kenya African Union (KAU) was formed. And in the same year the first African, Eliud Mathu, was nominated to the settler dominated Legislative Council.
Unhappiness with the slow political and economic change led to the breakdown of law and order in the early 1950s, and in 1952 Governor, Sir Everlyn Baring declared a state of emergency following the outbreak of the Mau Mau rebellion, whose major grievances included land alienations, racial discrimination and lack of political progress. Under the Lyttleton constitution of 1954 Africans were allowed to directly elect their representatives to the Legislative Council.
The elections were held in 1957, and eight African leaders - Ronald Ngala, Tom Mboya, Daniel arap Moi, Mate, Muimi, Oginga Odinga, Oguda and Muliro, were elected. They stepped up agitation for widened representation and independence. After considerable discussion, it was decided to form a mass organization to mobilize the people for the final assault on colonialism, hence the birth of Kenya African National Union, (KANU). KANU was formed in March 1960, at Kiambu town, and on 11 June 1960, it was registered as a mass political society.
The first election on a broad electoral register was held in 1961, and was won by KANU. Jomo Kenyatta was elected president of the Kenyan African National Union (KANU) in absentia on May 14, 1960. The KANU was officially recognized as a political party on June 11, 1960. The Kenya Africa Democratic Union (KADU) was established on June 25, 1960. Legislative elections were held in British Kenya on February 27, 1961, and KANU won 24 out of 65 elected seats in the Legislative Council. KADU won 13 seats in the Legislative Council. Jomo Kenyatta, president of KANU, was released from prison on August 14, 1961.
The Colony and the Protectorate each came to an end on 12 December 1963. The United Kingdom ceded sovereignty over the Colony of Kenya under an agreement dated 8 October 1963. The Sultan agreed that simultaneous with independence for Kenya, the Sultan would cease to have sovereignty over the Protectorate of Kenya. In this way, Kenya became an independent country under the Kenya Independence Act 1963, which established the independent Commonwealth realm of Kenya, with Queen Elizabeth II as head of state.
Kenya’s Journey to Independence
The Mau Mau Rebellion
The Mau Mau rebellion, that was a revolt against British colonial rule in Kenya, lasted from 1952 to 1960. The rebellion was marked by war crimes and massacres committed by both sides. Caroline Elkins's 2005 book, Britain's Gulag, uncovered that the UK ran concentration camps and "enclosed villages" in Kenya during the 1950s, where nearly the entire Kikuyu population was confined. Many thousands were tortured, murdered, or died from hunger and disease. The British government systematically destroyed almost all records of these crimes, burning them or dumping them at sea in weighted crates, and replaced them with fake files.
Members of the Mau Mau Society led by Dedan Kimathi Waciuri began a armed rebellion against the British government on September 26, 1952. Mau Mau militants killed a British civilian in Thika near Nairobi on October 3, 1952. Chief Waruhiu of the Kikuyu tribe was killed by Mau Mau militants near Nairobi on October 9, 1952. British Government Evelyn Baring declared a state-of-emergency on October 20, 1952. On October 21, 1952, Jomo Kenyatta, president of the KAU, was arrested by British colonial police. Chief Nderi of the Kikuyu tribe and two colonial policemen were killed by Mau Mau militants on October 22, 1952. Mau Mau militants killed three individuals near North Kinangop on October 27-28, 1952. Mau Mau militants killed some 150 individuals (members of the Kikuyu tribe) in the village of Lari on March 26, 1953.
| Phase | Dates | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Crisis Phase | March 14, 1922 - September 25, 1952 | Arrest of Harry Thuku, demonstrations, deportations |
| Conflict Phase | September 26, 1952 - January 12, 1960 | Armed rebellion by Mau Mau against British government |
| Post-Conflict Phase | January 13, 1960 - December 12, 1963 | Release of Jomo Kenyatta, formation of KANU and KADU, legislative elections |
The capture of rebel leader, Field Marshal Dedan Kimathi, on 21 October 1956, signalled the defeat of the Mau Mau However, the rebellion survived until after Kenya’s independence from Britain, driven mainly by the Meru units led by Field Marshal Musa Mwariama and General Baimungi. The KLFA failed to capture widespread public support. General Sir Frank Kitson, who served in the British colonial forces in Kenya, authored a book entitled Gangs and Counter-gangs in which he describes the tactic of manipulating the Mau Maus into rival gangs and pitting them against one another.
The Mau Mau movement remained internally divided, despite attempts to unify the factions. The British, meanwhile, applied the strategy and tactics they developed in suppressing the Malayan Emergency (1948-60). The Mau Mau Uprising created a rift between the European colonial community in Kenya and the metropole, and also resulted in violent divisions within the Kikuyu community Suppressing the Mau Mau Uprising in the Kenyan colony cost Britain £55 million and caused at least 11,000 deaths among the Mau Mau and other forces, with some estimates considerably higher.
Independent Kenya
The first Government of independent Kenya immediately had to deal with some pressing economic and political problems. The priorities were acceleration of growth, Kenyanisation of the economy and redistribution of incomes. None of these, however, could be achieved without political stability, and it was first felt necessary to neutralize those elements in the country who supported extreme policies and who was undermining, rather than building confidence in the new nation. Thus, Kenya embarked on the road to peace and stability, which has made it possible for the country to realize great strides in development.
Since independence Kenya has had 5 presidents. The first President mzee Jomo Kenyatta led Kenya since its independence. Upon Kenyatta’s death on 22nd August 1978, Daniel Arap Moi took over the leadership until he retired on 30th December 2002- in line with a constitutional provision which limits the presidential term to a maximum 10 years of 5 years each. Mwai Kibaki then took over from Moi on 30th December 2002 to become Kenya’s third President through the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) thus ending KANU’s forty-year dominance. Kibaki was re-elected in 2007 and handed over to Uhuru Kenyatta on March 2013. Uhuru was elected on The National Alliance (TNA) and was re-elected on 26th October 2017.
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