Kenya
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History
Palaeontologists believe that the oldest ancestors of human beings lived in the territory of Kenya. Two million years ago Homo habilis, the first human capable of making tools, lived around Lake Turkana. In addition, around 200,000 BC, Homo sapiens lived in Lake Baringo.
Between 5000 and 500 BC, populations of hunters, gatherers and pastoralists were living in Kenya. Bantu immigrants have settled in, providing their expertise on metals. All of these groups are thought to have come from Sudan, Ethiopia, the Nile and probably also of Egypt.
At the beginning of our era, the Kenyan coastline, bordering the Indian Ocean, has seen the migration of populations from the interior of the continent, as well as Arabic and Persian navigators, making the region a prosperous maritime trade. For several centuries, the area experienced a golden age of Arab-Swahili civilization.
European colonization of Kenya began in 1498 when the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama docked on the coast of East Africa. This has opened two centuries of Portuguese occupation, whose territory extended from the northern coast of Kenya all the way south to Mozambique. During the occupation, the spice road was created between India, the Persian Gulf and the East African coast.
The Omanis took the place of Portuguese by imposing harsher domination. In 1832 the sultan Seyyid Said moved to Zanzibar, and in 1839 the island became capital of the Omani Empire. During this period, the spice trade, which mainly operated cloves, was flourishing in the region. On a sadder note, the slave trade had also proliferated, forcing more than one million Africans to generate free labour under appalling conditions, where most people have succumbed to their fate.
In the late nineteenth century, the British overthrew the Omanis and made slavery illegal. They have claimed the territories of Kenya and Uganda and later built the Uganda Railway, a railroad that linked Mombasa to Lake Victoria. In the early twentieth century, the fertile lands of Kenya were given to European settlers without regard for the tribes that operated those places for centuries. This created an anticolonial reaction, and sparked clandestine political movements.
On December 12, 1963, Kenya has acquired its independence with Jomo Kenyatta as president. During this period, the government was an authoritarian regime and ruled under one party. In 1978, following the death of Kenyatta, Daniel Arap Moi succeeded him and led the country until 2002.
The government of the current President Mwai Kibaki has carried out the reintroduction of free elementary school and has promised to stop corruption. However, Kenya is currently facing ethnic tensions that have sometimes resolved by violent clashes, mainly in 1992 and after the recent elections of 2007.
See Also
References
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (www.wikipedia.org).
BBC News - Country Profile: Kenya (news.bbc.co.uk).
Kenya facts on National Geographic (www3.nationalgeographic.com).
World Flag Database (www.flags.net).
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All photographs have been taken by Dr Anto Youssef. For specific informations concerning any picture, please write by email (a new window will open). |