The colonial history of Kenya/ British East Africa

Colonial history

Already in the 1840^th European missionaries protected by the sultan of Zanzibar settled in Kenya. In 1885 Kenya’s history as a colony began. It became a German protectorate until the Germans gave the area to the Imperial British East Africa Company also working with permission from the sultan of Zanzibar in 1888. Kenya was now part of British East Africa. Seven years later the British government declared Kenya as their protectorate because the Company nearly collapsed. In 1902 Uganda was affiliated to British East Africa and the highland was freed to settle.

In 1920 British East Africa became the colony of Kenya.

more information: History of Kenya

The Mau Mau Uprising

The very special and terrible in the Kenyan history is the Mau Mau Uprising (1952- 1957) against the British colonial rule. Originally it was a movement against the discrimination of Kenyan farmers. The revolt was influenced by cruelty and hardness. Thousands of people had to die because of the two-sided violence.

More than 1000 Africans were hanged because of quick adopted Terrorist Acts, ten thousands of Africans were imprisoned for years and more than 100.000 people had to relocate.

Life in jail was absolutely dreadful because of withholding of food, forced labor, sexual assaults, strokes and torture.

In Great Britain the resistance against the proceeding in Kenya grew more and more.

In the course of the abolition of the revolt by the British and the rethinking the government gave the Kenyan the independence in 1963.

One year later Kenya became a republic with Jomo Kenyatta as the first president.

Problems after the independence

The colonial rulers left an underdeveloped state without any base behind. The countries were directed to the particular ruler’s economy. Right from the start there was just few hope that the ex-colonies could revive. So most of the new governments tried to practise the same strategy as the colonial rulers did: a highly controlled state with no upward mobilities to avoid any opposition. This strategy called one-party system was also practised in Kenya until 1990.