Editing Nairobi (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of Nairobi}}
{{For timeline}}

===Early years===
[[File:Nairobi 18 99.jpg|thumb|right|Nairobi in 1899]]
The site of Nairobi was originally a swamp land occupied by a [[Pastoralism|pastoralist]] people, the [[Maasai people|Maasai]], the long-distance trader community, [[Kamba people|Akamba People]], as well as the [[agriculturalist]] [[Kikuyu people]].<ref name="ReferenceB">Donald B. Freeman, City of Farmers: Informal Urban Agriculture in the Open Spaces of Nairobi, Kenya, McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP, 1 Mar 1991</ref> The name Nairobi itself comes from the [[Maasai language|Maasai]] expression meaning 'cool waters', referring to the cold water stream which flowed through the area.<ref>Frédéric Landy, From Urban National Parks to Natured Cities in the Global South: The Quest for Naturbanity, Springer, 20 Jul 2018, p.50</ref> With the arrival of the [[Uganda Railway]], the site was identified by [[George Whitehouse|Sir George Whitehouse]] for a store depot, shunting ground and camping ground for the [[Indians in Kenya|Indian]] labourers working on the railway. Whitehouse, chief engineer of the railway, favoured the site as an ideal resting place due to its high elevation, temperate climate, adequate water supply and being situated before the steep ascent of the [[Limuru]] [[escarpments]].<ref name="Anne-Marie Deisser 2016, p.76">Anne-Marie Deisser, Mugwima Njuguna, Conservation of Natural and Cultural Heritage in Kenya, UCL Press, 7 Oct 2016, p.76</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=United Nations University |title=Nairobi: National capital and regional hub |publisher=unu.edu |url=http://www.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/uu26ue/uu26ue0o.htm |access-date=17 June 2007 |archive-date=9 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130609014131/http://archive.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/uu26ue/uu26ue0o.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> His choice was however criticised by officials within the [[East Africa Protectorate|Protectorate]] government who felt the site was too flat, poorly drained and relatively infertile.<ref name="ReferenceB"/>
[[File:The entrance to the Nairobi Railway Station in 1899.jpg|thumb|left|Entrance to Nairobi railway station in 1899]] During the pre-colonial era, the people of modern Kenya mostly lived in villages amongst their tribes and cultural groups, where they had rulers within their communities rather than one singular government or leader.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tignor |first1=Robert L. |title=Colonial Chiefs in Chiefless Societies |journal=The Journal of Modern African Studies |date=1971 |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=339–359 |doi=10.1017/S0022278X00025131 |jstor=159669 |s2cid=154551781 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/159669 |access-date=September 28, 2020 |archive-date=7 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407205902/https://www.jstor.org/stable/159669 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1898, Arthur Church was first and foremost commissioned to design the first town layout for the railway depot. It constituted two streets – [[Tom Mboya Street|Victoria Street]] and [[Moi Avenue (Nairobi)|Station Street]], ten avenues, staff quarters and an Indian commercial area.<ref name="Anne-Marie Deisser 2016, p.76"/> The railway arrived at Nairobi on 30 May 1899, and soon Nairobi replaced Machakos as the headquarters of the provincial administration for the Ukamba province.<ref>Roman Adrian Cybriwsky, ''Capital Cities around the World: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture'', ABC-CLIO, USA, 2013, p. 303</ref><ref>The Eastern Africa Journal of Historical and Social Sciences Research, Volume 1, Indiana University, 8 Publishers, 1996</ref> On the arrival of the railway, Whitehouse remarked that "Nairobi itself will in the course of the next two years become a large and flourishing place and already there are many applications for sites for hotels, shops and houses."<ref name="Anne-Marie Deisser 2016, p.76"/> The town's early years were however beset with problems of [[malaria]] leading to at least one attempt to have the town moved.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.spectator.co.uk/2009/12/the-inconvenient-truth-about-malaria/|title=The inconvenient truth about malaria|last=Reiter|first=Paul|date=5 December 2009|work=Spectator|access-date=25 July 2016|archive-date=18 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160218091605/http://www.spectator.co.uk/2009/12/the-inconvenient-truth-about-malaria/|url-status=live}}</ref> In the early 1900s, Bazaar Street (now Biashara Street) was completely rebuilt after an outbreak of [[Bubonic plague|plague]] and the burning of the original town.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://owaahh.com/meet-the-man-who-saved-nairobi-from-the-bubonic-plague/|title=The man who saved Nairobi from the Bubonic Plague – Owaahh|date=16 April 2014|work=Owaahh|access-date=19 January 2018|language=en-US|archive-date=20 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180120065811/http://owaahh.com/meet-the-man-who-saved-nairobi-from-the-bubonic-plague/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Between 1902 and 1910, the town's population rose from 5,000 to 16,000 and grew around [[Public administration|administration]] and tourism, initially in the form of [[big game hunting]].<ref name="Sana Aiyar 2015, p.42">Sana Aiyar, Indians in Kenya: The Politics of Diaspora, Harvard University Press, 2015, p.42</ref> In 1907, Nairobi replaced [[Mombasa]] as the capital of the East Africa Protectorate.<ref>Claire C. Robertson, Trouble Showed the Way: Women, Men, and Trade in the Nairobi Area, 1890–1990, Indiana University Press, 1997, p.16</ref> In 1919, Nairobi was declared to be a municipality.<ref>{{cite book |last=Merriam-Webster, Inc |title=Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary |publisher=[[Merriam-Webster]] |year=1997 |page=786 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GN9UQMuNQNkC&pg=PA786 |isbn=0-87779-546-0 }}</ref><ref>Britannica,
[https://www.britannica.com/place/Nairobi Nairobi] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190618141956/https://www.britannica.com/place/Nairobi |date=18 June 2019 }}, britannica.com, USA, accessed on July 7, 2019</ref>

===Growth===
In 1921, Nairobi had 24,000 residents, of which 12,000 were native Africans.<ref name="ReferenceA">Garth Andrew Myers, Verandahs of Power: Colonialism and Space in Urban Africa, Syracuse University Press, 2003</ref> The next decade saw growth in native African communities in Nairobi, and they began to constitute a majority for the first time.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> This growth caused planning issues, described by [https://atom.lib.uct.ac.za/index.php/thornton-white-leonard-william Thorntorn White] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022233148/https://atom.lib.uct.ac.za/index.php/thornton-white-leonard-william |date=22 October 2020 }} and his planning team as the "Nairobi Problem".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Martin |first1=A. M. |last2=Bezemer |first2=P. M. |title=The concept and planning of public native housing estates in Nairobi/Kenya, 1918- 1948. |journal=Planning Perspectives |year=2020 |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=609–634 |doi=10.1080/02665433.2019.1602785 |s2cid=150702513 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2020PlPer..35..609M }}</ref> In February 1926, colonial officer Eric Dutton passed through Nairobi on his way to [[Mount Kenya]], and said of the city:
{{Blockquote|Maybe one day Nairobi will be laid out with tarred roads, with avenues of flowering trees, flanked by noble buildings; with open spaces and stately squares; a cathedral worthy of faith and country; museums and of art; theatres and public offices. And it is fair to say that the Government and the Municipality have already bravely tackled the problem and that a town-plan ambitious enough to turn Nairobi into a thing of beauty has been slowly worked out, and much has already been done. But until that plan has borne fruit, Nairobi must remain what she was then, a slatternly creature, unfit to queen it over so lovely a country.<ref name=Dutton>{{cite book |last=Dutton |first=E. A. T. |others=Introduction by Hilaire Belloc |title=Kenya Mountain |orig-year=1929 |edition=1 |year=1929 |publisher=Jonathan Cape |location=London |pages=1–2 |chapter=1 }}</ref>
}}

After [[World War II]], continuous expansion of the city angered both the indigenous [[Maasai people|Maasai]] and [[Kikuyu people|Kikuyu]].<ref>Elkins,&nbsp;Caroline.&nbsp;Britain's Gulag: The Brutal End of Empire in Kenya.&nbsp;United Kingdom,&nbsp;Pimlico,&nbsp;2005.</ref> This led to the [[Mau Mau Uprising]] in the 1950s, and the [[Lancaster House Conferences (Kenya)|Lancaster House Conferences]], which initiated a transition to Kenyan independence in 1963.

In the spring of 1950, the East African Trades Union Congress (EAUTC) led a [[1950 Nairobi general strike|nine-day general strike]] in the city.<ref name="cotu-kenya">{{cite web|title=History of COTU(K) – Central Organization of Trade Unions (COTU-K)|url=https://cotu-kenya.org/history-of-cotuk/|access-date=2021-08-25|website=cotu-kenya.org|archive-date=9 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220109203033/https://cotu-kenya.org/history-of-cotuk/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="libcom">{{cite web|title=The Nairobi General Strike, 1950: From Protest to Insurgency|url=https://libcom.org/library/nairobi-general-strike-1950-protest-insurgency|access-date=2021-08-25|website=libcom.org|archive-date=20 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210620004614/https://libcom.org/library/nairobi-general-strike-1950-protest-insurgency|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Post independence===
[[File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Zicht op Nairobi met op de voorgrond het stadspark met tribune TMnr 20014416.jpg|thumb|Nairobi in 1973]]
Nairobi remained the capital of Kenya after independence, and its continued rapid growth put pressure on the city's infrastructure with power cuts and [[Water scarcity|water shortages]] becoming a common occurrence.

On 11 September 1973, the [[Kenyatta International Conference Centre]] KICC was open to the public. The 28-storey building at the time was designed by the Norwegian architect Karl Henrik Nøstvik and Kenyan David Mutiso. It is the only building within the city with a helipad that is open to the public. Of the buildings built in the Seventies, the KICC was the most eco-friendly and most environmentally conscious structure; its main frame was constructed with locally available materials gravel, sand, cement and wood, and it had wide open spaces which allowed for natural aeration and natural lighting. Cuboids made up the plenary hall, the tower consisted of a cylinder composed of several cuboids, and the amphitheater and helipad both resembled cones. The tower was built around a concrete core and it had no walls but glass windows, which allowed for maximum natural lighting. It had the largest halls in eastern and central Africa.<ref>[http://kicc.co.ke/about/ourhistory "Our History"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170307001156/http://kicc.co.ke/about/ourhistory |date=7 March 2017 }}, The Kenyatta International Convention Centre.</ref>

A year prior in 1972, the [[World Bank]] approved funds for further expansion of the then Nairobi Airport (now [[Jomo Kenyatta International Airport]]), including a new international and domestic passenger terminal building, the airport's first dedicated cargo and freight terminal, new taxiways, associated aprons, internal roads, car parks, police and fire stations, a State Pavilion, airfield and roadway lighting, fire hydrant system, water, electrical, telecommunications and sewage systems, a dual carriageway passenger access road, security, drainage and the building of the main access road to the airport (Airport South Road). The total cost of the project was more than US$29 million (US$111.8 million in 2013 dollars).<ref name="nairobiairport">{{cite web | title=Nairobi Airport Project | url=http://www.worldbank.org/projects/P001235/nairobi-airport-project?lang=en | publisher=The World Bank | access-date=7 August 2013 | archive-date=17 March 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140317022637/http://www.worldbank.org/projects/P001235/nairobi-airport-project?lang=en | url-status=live }}</ref> On 14 March 1978, construction of the terminal building was completed on the other side of the airport's single runway and opened by President [[Jomo Kenyatta]] less than five months before his death. The airport was renamed [[Jomo Kenyatta International Airport]] in memory of its first president.

The [[Giraffe Centre]], an animal sanctuary on the southwestern outskirts of Nairobi, was opened in 1983. To this day, it breeds the endangered species of [[Rothschild's giraffe]].

The United States Embassy, then located in downtown Nairobi, was bombed in August 1998 by [[Al-Qaeda]] and the [[Egyptian Islamic Jihad]], as one of a series of [[1998 United States embassy bombings|US embassy bombings]]. It is now the site of a memorial park.<ref>{{cite web |last=United States Embassy |title=Quiet Memorials Mark Fourth Anniversary of Embassy Bombing |publisher=usembassy.gov |url=http://www.usembassy.gov/nairobi/wwwhrann.html |access-date=17 June 2007 }}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

===21st century===
[[File:Nairobi Skyline from BBC Studios.jpg|thumb|Nairobi showing Fedha Towers, ICEA Building, the Nairobi Safari Club and Anniversary Towers]]
On 20 October 2011, a memorial statue was unveiled in Nairobi in memory to [[Tom Mboya]], a former Kenyan Independence politician and assassination victim.

On 9 November 2012, President [[Mwai Kibaki]] opened the KES 31 billion Thika Superhighway. This mega-project of Kenya started in 2009 and ended in 2011. It involved expanding the four-lane carriageway to eight lanes, building underpasses, providing interchanges at roundabouts, erecting flyovers and building underpasses to ease congestion. The 50.4-kilometre road was built in three phases: Uhuru Highway to Muthaiga Roundabout; Muthaiga Roundabout to [[Kenyatta University]] and; Kenyatta University to [[Thika Town Constituency|Thika Town]].<ref>[http://www.nation.co.ke/news/Kibaki-to-officially-open-Sh30bn-Thika-superhighway/1056-1612572-eg30pcz/index.html "Kibaki to officially open Sh30bn Thika superhighway"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510145843/http://www.nation.co.ke/news/Kibaki-to-officially-open-Sh30bn-Thika-superhighway/1056-1612572-eg30pcz/index.html |date=10 May 2017 }}, ''The Nation'', 5 November 2012.</ref>

On 31 May 2017, President [[Uhuru Kenyatta]] inaugurated the Standard Gauge Railway which connects Nairobi to Mombasa.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kenya inaugurates new Chinese-funded railway |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/5/31/kenya-inaugurates-new-chinese-funded-railway |access-date=2023-06-08 |website=www.aljazeera.com |language=en |archive-date=9 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230609005539/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/5/31/kenya-inaugurates-new-chinese-funded-railway |url-status=live }}</ref> It was primarily built by a Chinese firm with about 90% of total funding from China and about 10% from the Kenyan government. A second phase is also being built which will link [[Naivasha]] to the existing route and also the [[Uganda]] border.

On 11 August 2020, Nairobi County Assembly Speaker [[Beatrice Elachi]] resigned.<ref name="1R">{{cite web |date=11 August 2020 |url=https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/news/counties/Nairobi-County-Speaker-Beatrice-Elachi-resigns/4003142-5607116-1413rf2/index.html |title=Nairobi County Speaker Beatrice Elachi resigns |newspaper=[[Business Daily Africa]] |author=Bonface Otieno |access-date=22 December 2020 |location=Nairobi |archive-date=29 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210129220449/https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/news/counties/Nairobi-County-Speaker-Beatrice-Elachi-resigns/4003142-5607116-1413rf2/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> On 21 December 2020, recently elected<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theafricareport.com/56119/is-former-nairobi-governor-mike-sonkos-career-finished-now-he-has-been-impeached/|title=Kenya: Can former Nairobi governor Mike Sonko make a comeback?|first=Morris|last=Kiruga|publisher=The Africa Report|date=22 December 2020|access-date=22 December 2020|archive-date=22 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201222133941/https://www.theafricareport.com/56119/is-former-nairobi-governor-mike-sonkos-career-finished-now-he-has-been-impeached/|url-status=live}}</ref> Nairobi County Assembly Speaker Benson Mutura was sworn in as acting Nairobi Governor four days after the previous Nairobi Governor [[Mike Sonko]] was impeached and removed from office.<ref name=nodeputy>{{cite news|url=https://nairobinews.nation.co.ke/news/assembly-speaker-benson-mutura-sworn-in-as-acting-nairobi-governor|title=Assembly Speaker Benson Mutura sworn in as Acting Nairobi Governor – VIDEO|first=Collins|last=Omulo|publisher=Nairobi News|date=December 21, 2020|access-date=December 22, 2020|archive-date=21 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201221093039/https://nairobinews.nation.co.ke/news/assembly-speaker-benson-mutura-sworn-in-as-acting-nairobi-governor|url-status=dead}}</ref> At the time of Mutura's swearing in as acting Governor, which he will hold for at least 60 days, Nairobi did not have a Deputy Governor as well.<ref name=nodeputy />

=== Recent Developments ===
Nairobi has seen several major infrastructure projects in recent years. The '''Nairobi Expressway''', completed in 2022, was developed to reduce traffic congestion along Mombasa Road.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Nairobi Expressway |url=https://nairobiexpressway.ke |access-date=2024-09-29 |website=nairobiexpressway.ke}}</ref> Additionally, the '''Green Park Bus Terminal''', part of efforts to improve public transport, began operations in 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-12-01 |title=Governor Sakaja commissions Green Park Terminus |url=https://nation.africa/kenya/counties/nairobi/governor-sakaja-commissions-green-park-terminus-4040016 |access-date=2024-09-29 |website=Nation |language=en}}</ref> In line with the Kenyan government's '''Affordable Housing Program''', various housing developments are underway to accommodate the city's growing population.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-09-27 |title=Affordable Housing – Kenya News Agency |url=https://www.kenyanews.go.ke/category/house/ |access-date=2024-09-29 |language=en-GB}}</ref>