Editing Nairobi (section)

===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>