EUROPEAN COLONIZATION IN KENYA

Kenya

What effects did colonialism have on this country's political, economic and social systems?

Political System

• Education improvements
• Healthcare improvements
• More organized government

Economic System

• Taxes imposed on Kenyans
• Forced labor
• Cash crop restrictions (Europeans didn't allow natives to grow popular crops in fear of competition)
• White immigrants engaged in large-scale coffee farming which led to an increase in profit
• In 1895, a railroad was constructed that stretched from Mombassa to Kismu, on Lake Victoria

Social System

• Missionaries (Mainly Angelics, Presbyterians, Methodists, and Catholics)
• Little respect for natives
• Natives objected to reservation of the Highlands
• Loss of land (reserves)

In what ways did the country react to colonization? (site specific examples)

Who colonized this country and when?

• Great Britain took control of the interior region of Kenya
• A secret terrorist organization, called the "Mau Mau" was formed to drive the British away. This group was unsuccessful and their leaders were either executed or imprisoned.
• Tom Mboya was a major Kenyan politician who formed the Kenyan Independence movement, and later assassinated

• First colonization was by Arabs in late 10th century
• In 1489 the Portuguese first visited Kenya's coast and by the 16th century they controlled most of it. Kenya's large trade access was a major benefit for the Portuguese.
• In 1895, British government formally took over and renamed Kenya, "East Africa Protectorate"
• Later in 1920, the East Africa Protectorate was transformed into a British Crown Colony (Royal Colony) which shared the same administration as the British Empire.

How did this country attempt to gain independence from colonial rule and were they successful?

Prior to Colonialism in this country, what was life like there and who lived there? What were the government, economic, and social systems like?

EUROPEAN COLONIZATION IN KENYA

The Kenyans began a protest in the 1920s to gain equal status. Between 1952 and 1956, the movement reached it's climax leading to a Kenyan rebellion (which was conducted by the Mau Mau). After the rebellion, the British rulers gave the Africans more representation in the legislative council in 1961. Although they got more representation, it wasn't enough. Kenya became independent on December 12, 1963.

Also, a huge factor that led to the Kenyan independence was the British involvement in WW2. The British decided to invest more of their time in the war than in Kenya. Thus, resulting in a more vulnerable Kenyan colony.

By: Paige Overmyer, Allison Fiveash, Callie Nelson, Maggie Richardson, Ryan Webb, Griffin Callaghan, Madeline Pearce, and John Lieng

• Mixture of cultures all throughout Africa. Many were nomadic so they combined culture and societies.
• Bantu peoples ruled
• Nilotics (Combination of Negro and Semito-Hamitic peoples)
• Government, economic and social systems were almost all clan-based and largely nomadic, but eventually began to settle by 10th century CE

What evidence of colonialism still exist today?

Bibliography

The impacts of British colonialism is still very much evident in Kenya today because of the lasting impacts that were made when the colonization took place initially. Kenya's economy remains technologically, commercially, and financially dependent on Britain and other european countries along with the USA. Foreign aid comes from multiple countries all around the world. November 25, 1952 the Mau Mau declare an official rebellion against the british rule in Kenya. This rebellion shaped how the culture was going to start, becoming increasingly more self reliant and not just another British colony. November 10, 1959 the state of emergency involving the rebellion ends and peace is restored for the time being. Great Britain helped shape Kenya's current democratic government and placed health institutions and schools throughout Kenya, helping to provide easy access to an education and medicine. However their land policies greatly increased tribal hostility and the culture and economy of the natives was destroyed in the process of colonization.

• See R. A. Oliver et al., ed., History of East Africa (3 vol., 1963–76)
• C. G. Rosberg and J. C. Nottingham, The Myth of Mau Mau: Nationalism in Kenya (1966)
• M. P. K. Sorenson, The Origins of European Settlement in Kenya (1969)
• C. Leo, Land and Class in Kenya (1984)
• M. G. Schatzberg, ed., The Political Economy of Kenya (1987)
• W. R. Ocheing, ed., Themes in Kenyan History (1990)
• D. Branch, Defeating Mau Mau, Creating Kenya (2009).
• "Kenya." -New World Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Nov. 2013.
• World Book A1. Illinois: Chicago, 2008. Print.
• New Standard Encyclopedia KL. Illinois: Chicago, 2002, Print.