Editing History of Kenya (section)

==British rule (1895–1963)==

===East Africa Protectorate===
{{main|East Africa Protectorate}}
{{See also|Imperial British East Africa Company|Uganda Railway|Nandi Resistance|Mekatilili Wa Menza|1899 famine in central Kenya}}
In 1895 the British government took over and claimed the interior as far west as Lake Naivasha; it set up the '''[[East Africa Protectorate]]'''. The border was extended to Uganda in 1902, and in 1920 the enlarged protectorate, except for the original coastal strip, which remained a protectorate, became a crown colony. With the beginning of colonial rule in 1895, the Rift Valley and the surrounding Highlands became reserved for whites. In the 1920s Indians objected to the reservation of the [[White Highlands|Highlands]] for Europeans, especially British war veterans. The whites engaged in large-scale coffee farming dependent on mostly Kikuyu labour.  Bitterness grew between the Indians and the Europeans.<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Morgan WT|date=1963|title=The 'White Highlands' of Kenya|journal=[[The Geographical Journal|Geogr. J.]]|volume=129|issue=2|pages=140–155|doi=10.2307/1792632|jstor=1792632|bibcode=1963GeogJ.129..140M }}</ref>

This area's fertile land has always made it the site of migration and conflict. There were no significant mineral resources—none of the gold or diamonds that attracted so many to South Africa.

[[Imperial Germany]] set up a protectorate over the [[Sultan of Zanzibar]]'s coastal possessions in 1885, followed by the arrival of Sir [[Sir William Mackinnon, 1st Baronet|William Mackinnon]]'s [[British East Africa Company]] (BEAC) in 1888, after the company had received a royal charter and concessionary rights to the Kenya coast from the Sultan of [[Zanzibar]] for a 50-year period. Incipient imperial rivalry was forestalled when Germany handed its coastal holdings to Britain in 1890, in exchange for German control over the coast of [[Tanganyika (territory)|Tanganyika]]. The colonial takeover met occasionally with some strong local resistance: [[Waiyaki Wa Hinga]], a [[Kikuyu people|Kikuyu]] chief who ruled Dagoretti who had signed a treaty with [[Frederick Lugard]] of the BEAC, having been subject to considerable harassment, burnt down Lugard's fort in 1890. Waiyaki was abducted two years later by the British and killed.<ref name=":1" />

Following severe financial difficulties of the [[British East Africa Company]], the British government on 1 July 1895 established direct rule through the [[British East Africa|East African Protectorate]], subsequently opening (1902) the fertile highlands to white settlers. 
[[File:Britisheastafrica 1.png|thumb|420px|1911 map]]

A key to the development of Kenya's interior was the construction, started in 1895, of a railway from Mombasa to [[Kisumu]], on [[Lake Victoria]], completed in 1901. This was to be the first piece of the [[Uganda Railway]]. The British government had decided, primarily for strategic reasons, to build a railway linking Mombasa with the British protectorate of [[Uganda]]. A major feat of engineering, the "Uganda railway" (that is the railway inside Kenya leading to Uganda) was completed in 1903 and was a decisive event in modernising the area. As governor of Kenya, Sir Percy Girouard was instrumental in initiating railway extension policy that led to construction of the Nairobi-Thika and Konza-Magadi railways.<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Mwaruvie JM|date=2006|title=Kenya's "Forgotten" Engineer and Colonial Proconsul: Sir Percy Girouard and Departmental Railway Construction in Africa, 1896–1912|journal=[[Canadian Journal of History|Can. J. Hist.]]|volume=41|issue=1|pages=1–22|doi=10.3138/cjh.41.1.1}}</ref>
	 	 
Some 32,000 workers were imported from British India to do the manual labour. Many stayed, as did most of the Indian traders and small businessmen who saw opportunity in the opening up of the interior of Kenya. According to one account, nearly all major Kenyan towns except Kisumu were originally founded by Somali traders.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-07-05 |title=Insight into the earliest settlers of EA: Somalis |url=https://nation.africa/kenya/life-and-style/lifestyle/insight-into-the-earliest-settlers-of-ea-somalis-1147472 |access-date=2025-02-28 |website=Nation |language=en}}</ref> Rapid economic development was seen as necessary to make the railway pay, and since the African population was accustomed to subsistence rather than export agriculture, the government decided to encourage European settlement in the fertile highlands, which had small African populations. The railway opened up the interior, not only to the European farmers, [[Missionary|missionaries]] and administrators, but also to systematic government programmes to attack slavery, witchcraft, disease and [[1899 famine in central Kenya|famine]]. The Africans saw [[Witchcraft in Africa|witchcraft]] as a powerful influence on their lives and frequently took violent action against suspected witches. To control this, the British colonial administration passed laws, beginning in 1909, which made the practice of witchcraft illegal. These laws gave the local population a legal, nonviolent way to stem the activities of witches.<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Waller RD|date=2003|title=Witchcraft and Colonial Law in Kenya|journal=[[Past & Present (journal)|Past Present]]|volume=180|issue=1|pages=241–275|doi=10.1093/past/180.1.241}}</ref>

By the time the railway was built, military resistance by the African population to the original British takeover had petered out. However new grievances were being generated by the process of European settlement. Governor Percy Girouard is associated with the debacle of the Second Maasai Agreement of 1911, which led to their forceful removal from the fertile Laikipia plateau to semi-arid Ngong. To make way for the Europeans (largely Britons and whites from South Africa), the [[Maasai people|Maasai]] were restricted to the southern Loieta plains in 1913. The Kikuyu claimed some of the land reserved for Europeans and continued to feel that they had been deprived of their inheritance.

In the initial stage of colonial rule, the administration relied on traditional communicators, usually chiefs. When colonial rule was established and efficiency was sought, partly because of settler pressure, newly educated younger men were associated with old chiefs in local Native Councils.<ref name="R. Mugo Gatheru 2005">{{Cite book|title=Kenya: From Colonization to Independence, 1888–1970|vauthors=Gatheru RM|publisher=McFarland & Co.|year=2005|isbn=9780786421992|location=Jefferson, N.C.}}</ref>

In building the railway the British had to confront strong local opposition, especially from [[Koitalel Arap Samoei]], a diviner and [[Nandi people|Nandi]] leader who prophesied that a black snake would tear through Nandi land spitting fire, which was seen later as the railway line. For ten years he fought against the builders of the railway line and train. The settlers were partly allowed in 1907 a voice in government through the legislative council, a European organisation to which some were appointed and others elected. But since most of the powers remained in the hands of the Governor, the settlers started lobbying to transform Kenya in a [[Crown Colony]], which meant more powers for the settlers. They obtained this goal in 1920, making the Council more representative of European settlers; but Africans were excluded from direct political participation until 1944, when the first of them was admitted in the council.<ref name="R. Mugo Gatheru 2005"/>

====First World War====
{{main|East African campaign (World War I)}}
Kenya became a military base for the British in the [[First World War]] (1914–1918),<ref>{{Cite book|author1=Tucker, Spencer |author2=Wood, Laura Matysek |author3=Murphy, Justin D.|title=The European powers in the First World War : an encyclopedia|date=7 December 2018|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-68425-9|oclc=1079786953}}</ref> as efforts to subdue the German colony to the south were frustrated. At the outbreak of war in August 1914, the governors of [[British East Africa]] (as the Protectorate was generally known) and [[German East Africa]] agreed a truce in an attempt to keep the young colonies out of direct hostilities. However [[Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck|Lt Col Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck]] took command of the German military forces, determined to tie down as many British resources as possible. Completely cut off from Germany, von Lettow conducted an effective [[guerrilla warfare|guerilla warfare]] campaign, living off the land, capturing British supplies, and remaining undefeated. He eventually surrendered in [[Zambia]] eleven days after the Armistice was signed in 1918. To chase von Lettow the British deployed [[Indian Army]] troops from India and then needed large numbers of porters to overcome the formidable logistics of transporting supplies far into the interior by foot. The [[Carrier Corps]] was formed and ultimately mobilised over 400,000 Africans, contributing to their long-term politicisation.<ref name="R. Mugo Gatheru 2005"/>

===Kenya Colony===
{{main|Kenya Colony}}
{{See also|White Highlands|Harry Thuku|Kikuyu Central Association|Mumboism|Luo Union (Welfare Organisation)|}}
An early anti-colonial movement opposed to British rule known as [[Mumboism]] took root in South Nyanza in the early 20th century. Colonial authorities classified it as a [[Millennialism|millennialist cult]]. It has since been recognised as an anti-colonial movement. In 1913, Onyango Dunde of central Kavirondo proclaimed to have been sent by the serpent god of [[Lake Victoria]], Mumbo to spread his teachings. The colonial government recognised this movement as a threat to their authority because of the Mumbo creed. Mumbo pledged to drive out the colonialists and their supporters and condemned their religion. Violent resistance against the British had proven to be futile as the Africans were outmatched technologically. This movement therefore focused on anticipating the end of colonialism, rather than actively inducing it.  [[Mumboism]] spread amongst [[Luo people]] and [[Kisii people]]. The Colonial authorities suppressed the movement by deporting and imprisoning adherents in the 1920s and 1930s. It was officially banned in 1954 following the Mau Mau rebellion.<ref>Brett L. Shadle. Patronage, Millennialism and the Serpent God Mumbo in South-West Kenya, 1912–34. Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, 2002, Vol. 72, No. 1 (2002), pp. 29–54</ref>

The first stirrings of modern African political organisation in Kenya Colony sought to protest pro-settler policies, increased taxes on Africans and the despised ''[[kipande]]'' (Identifying metal band worn around the neck). Before the war, African political focus was diffuse. But after the war, problems caused by new taxes and reduced wages and new settlers threatening African land led to new movements. The experiences gained by Africans in the war coupled with the creation of the white-settler-dominated '''[[Kenya Colony|Kenya Crown Colony]]''', gave rise to considerable political activity. Ishmael Ithongo called the first mass meeting in May 1921 to protest African wage reductions. [[Harry Thuku]] formed the [[Young Kikuyu Association|Young Kikuyu Association (YKA)]] and started a publication called ''Tangazo'' which criticised the colonial administration and missions. The YKA gave a sense of nationalism to many Kikuyu and advocated civil disobedience. The YKA gave way to the [[Kikuyu Association|Kikuyu Association (KA)]] which was the officially recognised tribal body with [[Harry Thuku]] as its secretary. Through the KA, Thuku advocated for African suffrage. Deeming it unwise to base a nationalist movement around one tribe, Thuku renamed his organisation the [[East African Association]] and strived for multi-ethnic membership by including the local Indian community and reaching out to other tribes. The colonial government accused Thuku of sedition, arrested him and detained him until 1930.<ref name=Kyle>The Politics of The Independence of Kenya by Kyle Keith. Palgrave MacMillan 1999</ref>

In Kavirondo (later Nyanza province), a strike at a mission school, organised by Daudi Basudde, raised concerns about the damaging implications on African land ownership by switching from the [[East African Protectorate]] to the [[Kenya Colony|Kenyan Colony]]. A series of meetings dubbed ''‘Piny Owacho’'' (Voice of the People) culminated in a large mass meeting held in December 1921 advocating for individual title deeds, getting rid of the kipande system and a fairer tax system. [[Walter Edwin Owen|Archdeacon W. E. Owen]], an Anglican missionary and prominent advocate for African affairs, formalised and canalised this movement as the president of the [[Kavirondo Taxpayers Welfare Association]]. Bound by the same concerns, [[James Beauttah]] initiated an alliance between the [[Kikuyu people|Kikuyu]] and [[Luo people|Luo communities]].<ref name=Kyle/><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Murray |first=Nancy Uhlar |date=1982 |title=Archdeacon W. E. Owen: Missionary as Propagandist |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/217849 |journal=The International Journal of African Historical Studies |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=653–670 |doi=10.2307/217849 |jstor=217849 |issn=0361-7882 |access-date=5 November 2020 |archive-date=11 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111150629/https://www.jstor.org/stable/217849 |url-status=live }}</ref>
 
In the mid-1920s, the Kikuyu Central Association (KCA) was formed. Led by [[Joseph Keng’ethe]] and [[Jesse Kariuki]], it picked up from Harry Thuku's East African Association except that it represented the Kikuyu almost exclusively. [[Jomo Kenyatta]] was the secretary and editor of the associations’ publication ''Mugwithania'' (The unifier). The KCA focused on unifying the Kikuyu into one geographic polity, but its project was undermined by controversies over ritual tribute, land allocation and the ban on female circumcision. They also fought for the release of [[Harry Thuku]] from detention. Upon Thuku's release, he was elected president of the KCA. The government banned the KCA after [[World War II]] began when Jesse Kariuki compared the compulsory relocation of Kikuyus who lived near white owned land to [[Nazism|Nazi]] policies on compulsory relocation of people.<ref name=Kyle/>

Most political activity between the wars was local, and this succeeded most among the Luo of Kenya, where progressive young leaders became senior chiefs. By the later 1930s government began to intrude on ordinary Africans through marketing controls, stricter educational supervision and land changes. Traditional chiefs became irrelevant and younger men became communicators by training in the missionary churches and civil service. Pressure on ordinary Kenyans by governments in a hurry to modernise in the 1930s to 1950s enabled the mass political parties to acquire support for "centrally" focused movements, but even these often relied on local communicators.<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Lonsdale JM|date=1968|title=Some Origins of Nationalism in East Africa|journal=[[The Journal of African History|J. Afr. Hist.]]|volume=9|issue=1|pages=119–146|jstor=179923|doi=10.1017/S0021853700008380|s2cid=162644039}}</ref>

During the early part of the 20th century, the interior central highlands were settled by British and other European farmers, who became wealthy farming coffee and tea.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,901759-3,00.html|title=We Want Our Country|date=5 November 1965|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|access-date=8 March 2019|archive-date=24 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190224115954/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,901759-3,00.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> By the 1930s, approximately 15,000 white settlers lived in the area and gained a political voice because of their contribution to the market economy.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://libsysdigi.library.illinois.edu/ilharvest/Africana/Books2011-05/5530244/5530244_1930/5530244_1930_opt.pdf|title=Annual Report of the Colonies, Kenya, 1930|website=illinois.edu|access-date=1 August 2023|archive-date=13 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221213172948/https://libsysdigi.library.illinois.edu/ilharvest/Africana/Books2011-05/5530244/5530244_1930/5530244_1930_opt.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> The area was already home to over a million members of the [[Kikuyu people|Kikuyu]] tribe, most of whom had no land claims in European terms, and lived as itinerant farmers. To protect their interests, the settlers banned the growing of coffee, introduced a hut tax and the landless were granted less and less land in exchange for their labour. A massive exodus to the cities ensued as their ability to provide a living from the land dwindled.<ref name="R. Mugo Gatheru 2005"/>

====Representation====
{{See also|Happy Valley set}}
Kenya became a focus of resettlement of young, upper class British officers after the war, giving a strong aristocratic tone to the white settlers. If they had £1,000 in assets they could get a free {{convert|1000|acre|km2|sigfig=1}}; the goal of the government was to speed up modernisation and economic growth. They set up coffee plantations, which required expensive machinery, a stable labour force, and four years to start growing crops. The veterans did escape democracy and taxation in Britain, but they failed in their efforts to gain control of the colony. The upper class bias in migration policy meant that whites would always be a small minority. Many of them left after independence.<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Duder CJ|date=1993|title='Men of the Officer Class': The Participants in the 1919 Soldier Settlement Scheme in Kenya|journal=[[African Affairs|Afr. Aff.]]|volume=92|issue=366|pages=69–87|jstor=723097|doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a098607}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Islands of White: Settler Society and Culture in Kenya and Southern Rhodesia, 1890–1939|vauthors=Kennedy D|publisher=Duke University Press|year=1987|isbn=9780822307082}}</ref>

Power remained concentrated in the governor's hands; weak legislative and executive councils made up of official appointees were created in 1906. The European settlers were allowed to elect representatives to the Legislative Council in 1920, when the colony was established. The white settlers, 30,000 strong, sought "responsible government," in which they would have a voice. They opposed similar demands by the far more numerous Indian community. The European settlers gained representation for themselves and minimised representation on the Legislative Council for Indians and Arabs. The government appointed a European to represent African interests on the council. In the "Devonshire declaration" of 1923 the Colonial Office declared that the interests of the Africans (comprising over 95% of the population) must be paramount—achieving that goal took four decades. Historian [[Charles Mowat]] explained the issues:
:[The Colonial Office in London ruled that] native interests should come first; but this proved difficult to apply [in Kenya] ... where some 10,000 white settlers, many of them ex-officers of the war, insisted that their interests came before those of the three million natives and 23,000 Indians in the colony, and demanded 'responsible government', provided that they alone bore the responsibility. After three years of bitter dispute, provoked not by the natives but by the Indians, vigorously backed by the Government of India, the Colonial Office gave judgment: the interest of the natives was 'paramount', and responsible government out of the question, but no drastic change was contemplated – thus in effect preserving the ascendancy of the settlers.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Britain between the wars, 1918–1940|vauthors=Mowat CL|publisher=Methuen & Co|year=1968|isbn=9780416295108|location=London|pages=[https://archive.org/details/britainbetweenwa00mowa/page/109 109–10]|oclc=10833602|url=https://archive.org/details/britainbetweenwa00mowa/page/109}}</ref>

====Second World War====
{{main|Kenya in World War II}}
In the [[Second World War]] (1939–1945) Kenya became an important British military base for successful campaigns against Italy in the [[Italian Somaliland]] and [[Ethiopia]]. The war brought money and an opportunity for military service for 98,000 men, called "askaris". The war stimulated African nationalism. After the war, African ex-servicemen sought to maintain the socioeconomic gains they had accrued through service in the [[King's African Rifles]] (KAR). Looking for middle class employment and social privileges, they challenged existing relationships within the colonial state. For the most part, veterans did not participate in national politics, believing that their aspirations could best be achieved within the confines of colonial society. The social and economic connotations of KAR service, combined with the massive wartime expansion of Kenyan defence forces, created a new class of modernised Africans with distinctive characteristics and interests. These socioeconomic perceptions proved powerful after the war.<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Brands H|date=2005|title=Wartime Recruiting Practices, Martial Identity and Post-World War II Demobilization in Colonial Kenya|journal=[[The Journal of African History|J. Afr. Hist.]]|volume=46|issue=1|pages=103–125|jstor=4100831|doi=10.1017/S0021853704000428|s2cid=144908965}}</ref><ref>{{Cite thesis|last=Meshack O|title='For your tomorrow, we gave our today': A history of Kenya African soldiers in the Second World War|date=2004|degree=Doctor of Philosophy|publisher=Rice University|hdl=1911/18678}}</ref>

====Rural trends====
British officials sought to modernise Kikuyu farming in the Murang'a District 1920–1945. Relying on concepts of trusteeship and scientific management, they imposed a number of changes in crop production and agrarian techniques, claiming to promote conservation and "betterment" of farming in the colonial tribal reserves. While criticised as backward by British officials and white settlers, African farming proved resilient and Kikuyu farmers engaged in widespread resistance to the colonial state's agrarian reforms.<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Mackenzie AF|date=2000|title=Contested Ground: Colonial Narratives and the Kenyan Environment, 1920–1945|journal=[[Journal of Southern African Studies|J. South. Afr. Stud.]]|volume=26|issue=4|pages=697–718|doi=10.1080/713683602| jstor=2637567| s2cid=145084039}}</ref>

Modernisation was accelerated by the Second World War. Among the [[Luo people|Luo]] the larger agricultural production unit was the patriarch's extended family, mainly divided into a special assignment team led by the patriarch, and the teams of his wives, who, together with their children, worked their own lots on a regular basis. This stage of development was no longer strictly traditional, but still largely self-sufficient with little contact with the broader market. Pressures of overpopulation and the prospects of cash crops, already in evidence by 1945, made this subsistence economic system increasingly obsolete and accelerated a movement to commercial agriculture and emigration to cities. The Limitation of Action Act in 1968 sought to modernise traditional land ownership and use; the act has produced unintended consequences, with new conflicts raised over land ownership and social status.<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Odenyo AO| date=1973| title=Conquest, Clientage, and Land Law among the Luo of Kenya|journal=[[Law & Society Review|Law Soc. Rev.]] |volume=7|issue=4|pages=767–778|doi=10.2307/3052969|jstor=3052969}}</ref>

As Kenya modernized after the war, the role of the British religious missions changed their roles, despite the efforts of the leadership of the [[Church Missionary Society]] to maintain the traditional religious focus. However the social and educational needs were increasingly obvious, and the threat of the Mau Mau uprisings pushed the missions to emphasize medical, humanitarian and especially educational programs. Fundraising efforts in Britain increasingly stressed the non-religious components. Furthermore, the imminent transfer of control to the local population became a high priority.<ref>John Stuart, "Overseas Mission, Voluntary Service and Aid to Africa: Max Warren, the Church Missionary Society and Kenya, 1945–63." ''Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History'' 36.3 (2008): 527–543.</ref><ref>David Anderson, ''Histories of the Hanged: Britain's Dirty War in Kenya and the End of the Empire'' (2005) pp. 35–41.</ref>

====Kenya African Union====
{{main|Kenya African Union}}
As a reaction to their exclusion from political representation, the [[Kikuyu people]], the most subject to pressure by the settlers, founded in 1921 Kenya's first African political protest movement, the [[Young Kikuyu Association]], led by [[Harry Thuku]]. After the Young Kikuyu Association was banned by the government, it was replaced by the [[Kikuyu Central Association]] in 1924.

In 1944 Thuku founded and was the first chairman of the multi-tribal Kenya African Study Union (KASU), which in 1946 became the Kenya African Union (KAU). 
It was an [[African nationalist]] organization that demanded access to white-owned land. KAU acted as a constituency association for the first black member of Kenya's legislative council, [[Eliud Mathu]], who had been nominated in 1944 by the governor after consulting élite African opinion. 
The KAU remained dominated by the Kikuyu ethnic group. However, the leadership of KAU was multitribal. [[Wycliff Awori]] was the first vice president followed by [[Tom Mbotela]]. In 1947 [[Jomo Kenyatta]], former president of the moderate Kikuyu Central Association, became president of the more aggressive KAU to demand a greater political voice for Africans. In an effort to gain nationwide support of KAU, Jomo Kenyatta visited [[Kisumu]] in 1952. His effort to build up support for KAU in Nyanza inspired [[Oginga Odinga]], the ''Ker'' (chief) of the Luo Union (an organisation that represented members of the Luo community in East Africa) to join KAU and delve into politics.<ref name=Kyle/>

In response to the rising pressures, the British Colonial Office broadened the membership of the Legislative Council and increased its role. By 1952 a multiracial pattern of quotas allowed for 14 European, 1 Arab, and 6 Asian elected members, together with an additional 6 Africans and 1 Arab member chosen by the governor. The council of ministers became the principal instrument of government in 1954.
In 1952, [[Queen Elizabeth II|Princess Elizabeth]] and her husband [[Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh|Prince Philip]] were on holiday at the [[Treetops Hotel]] in Kenya when her father, [[King George VI]], died in his sleep. Elizabeth cut short her trip and returned home immediately to assume the throne. She was crowned Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey in 1953 and as British hunter and conservationist [[Jim Corbett]] (who accompanied the royal couple) put it, she went up a tree in Africa a princess and came down a queen.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Vickers |first=Hugo |date=29 January 2012 |title=Diamond Jubilee: the moment that Princess Elizabeth became Queen |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/the_queens_diamond_jubilee/9046958/Diamond-Jubilee-the-moment-that-Princess-Elizabeth-became-Queen.html |url-status=live |access-date=5 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180104201217/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/the_queens_diamond_jubilee/9046958/Diamond-Jubilee-the-moment-that-Princess-Elizabeth-became-Queen.html |archive-date=4 January 2018}}</ref>

====Mau-Mau Uprising====

{{main|Mau Mau Uprising}}
{{See also|Dedan Kimathi|Forty Group}}
A key watershed came from 1952 to 1956, during the [[Mau Mau Uprising]], an armed local movement directed principally against the colonial government and the European settlers.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Clough, Marshall S.|title=Mau Mau memoirs : history, memory, and politics|date=1998|publisher=Lynne Rienner|isbn=1-55587-537-8|oclc=605625460}}</ref> It was the largest and most successful such movement in British Africa. Members of the [[Forty Group|forty group]], [[World War II]](WW2) veterans, including [[Stanley Mathenge]], [[Bildad Kaggia]] and [[Fred Kubai]] became core leaders in the rebellion. Their experiences during the WW2 awakened their political consciousness, giving them determination and confidence to change the system. Key leaders of KAU known as the [[Kapenguria Six|Kapenguria six]] were arrested on the 21st of October. They include [[Jomo Kenyatta]], [[Paul Ngei]], [[Kungu Karumba]], [[Bildad Kaggia]], [[Fred Kubai]] and [[Achieng Oneko]]. Kenyatta denied he was a leader of the Mau Mau but was convicted at trial and was sent to prison in 1953, gaining his freedom in 1961.

An intense propaganda campaign by the colonial government effectively discouraged other Kenyan communities, settlers and the international community from sympathising with the movement by emphasising on real and perceived acts of barbarism perpetrated by the Mau Mau. Although a much smaller number of Europeans died compared to Africans during the uprising, each individual European loss of life was publicised in disturbing detail, emphasising elements of betrayal and bestiality.<ref name=Kyle/> As a result, the protest was supported almost exclusively by the Kikuyu, despite issues of land rights and anti-European, anti-Western appeals designed to attract other groups. The Mau Mau movement was also a bitter internal struggle among the Kikuyu. [[Harry Thuku]] said in 1952, "To-day we, the Kikuyu, stand ashamed and looked upon as hopeless people in the eyes of other races and before the Government. Why? Because of the crimes perpetrated by Mau Mau and because the Kikuyu have made themselves Mau Mau." That said, other Kenyans directly or indirectly supported the movement. Notably, [[Pio Gama Pinto]], a Kenyan of Goan descent, facilitated the provision of firearms to forest fighters. He was arrested in 1954 and detained until 1959.<ref name=Kyle/> Another notable example was the pioneering lawyer [[Argwings Kodhek]], the first East African to obtain a law degree. He became known as the Mau Mau lawyer as he would successfully defend Africans accused of Mau Mau crimes pro bono.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://globaleastafrica.org/global-lives/argwings-kodhek-1923-69|title=Argwings Kodhek (1923-69) &#124; Another World? East Africa and the Global 1960s|access-date=5 November 2020|archive-date=31 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031161414/https://www.globaleastafrica.org/global-lives/argwings-kodhek-1923-69|url-status=live}}</ref> 12,000 militants were killed during the suppression of the rebellion, and the British colonial authorities also implemented policies involving the incarceration of over 150,000 suspected Mau Mau members and sympathizers (mostly from the Kikuyu people) into [[Internment|concentration camps]].<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Blacker J|date=2007|title=The demography of Mau Mau: Fertility and mortality in Kenya in the 1950s: A demographer's viewpoint|journal=[[African Affairs|Afr. Aff.]]|volume=106|issue=425|pages=751|doi=10.1093/afraf/adm066|doi-access=free}} According to John Blacker, demographers have refuted the often repeated allegation that 300,000 Kikuyu died in the uprising. The number was exaggerated by a factor of 10.</ref> In these camps, the colonial authorities also used various forms of [[torture]] to attempt information from the detainees.<ref>{{cite news| url = https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-02-16/churchill-was-more-villain-than-hero-in-britain-s-colonies| title = Churchill Was More Villain Than Hero in Britain's Colonies - Bloomberg| website = [[Bloomberg News]]| date = 16 February 2019| access-date = 3 May 2019| archive-date = 2 May 2019| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190502083923/https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-02-16/churchill-was-more-villain-than-hero-in-britain-s-colonies| url-status = live}}</ref> In 2011, after decades of waiting, thousands of secret documents from the British Foreign Office were declassified. They show that the Mau Mau rebels were systematically tortured and subjected to the most brutal practices, men were castrated and sand introduced into their anus, women were raped after introducing boiling water into their vaginas. The Foreign Office archives also reveal that this was not the initiative of soldiers or colonial administrators but a policy orchestrated from London.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/africa-travel/south-africa/new-documents-show-how-britain-sanctioned-mau-mau-torture-rcjwwhjhwb2 | title=New documents show how Britain sanctioned Mau Mau torture | access-date=17 July 2022 | archive-date=2 November 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221102074320/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/new-documents-show-how-britain-sanctioned-mau-mau-torture-rcjwwhjhwb2 | url-status=live }}</ref>

The Mau Mau uprising set in play a series of events that expedited the road to Kenya's Independence. A Royal Commission on Land and Population condemned the reservation of land on a racial basis. To support its military campaign of counter-insurgency the colonial government embarked on agrarian reforms that stripped white settlers of many of their former protections; for example, Africans were for the first time allowed to grow coffee, the major cash crop. Thuku was one of the first Kikuyu to win a coffee licence, and in 1959 he became the first African board member of the Kenya Planters Coffee Union. The East African Salaries Commission put forth a recommendation – 'equal pay for equal work' – that was immediately accepted. Racist policies in public places and hotels were eased. [[John David Drummond, 17th Earl of Perth]] and [[Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies|Minister of State for Colonial affairs]] stated: "The effort required to suppress Mau Mau destroyed any settlers illusions that they could go it alone; the British Government was not prepared for the shedding of [more] blood in order to preserve colonial rule."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Human Rights in the Shadow of Colonial Violence: The Wars of Independence in Kenya and Algeria|last=Klose|first=Fabian|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|year=2013|isbn=9780812244953|translator-last=Geyer|translator-first=Dona|jstor=j.ctt3fhw4p|name-list-style=vanc|chapter=The Wars of Independence in Kenya and Algeria}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Cooper F|date=2014|title=Fabian Klose. Human Rights in the Shadow of Colonial Violence: The Wars of Independence in Kenya and Algeria.|journal=[[The American Historical Review|Am. Hist. Rev.]]|volume=119|issue=2|pages=650–651|doi=10.1093/ahr/119.2.650}}</ref><ref name=Kyle/>

====Trade Unionism and the struggle for independence====
{{See also|Makhan Singh (Kenyan trade unionist)|Fred Kubai|Bildad Kaggia|Tom Mboya}}
The pioneers of the trade union movement were [[Makhan Singh (Kenyan trade unionist)|Makhan Singh]], [[Fred Kubai]] and [[Bildad Kaggia]]. In 1935, [[Makhan Singh (Kenyan trade unionist)|Makhan Singh]] started the [[Labour trade union of Kenya]]. In the 1940s, Fred Kubai started the [[Transport and Allied Workers Union]] and Bildad Kaggia founded the [[Clerks and Commercial Workers Union]]. In 1949, Makhan Singh and Fred Kubai started the [[East Africa Trade Union Congress]]. They organised strikes including the railway workers strike in 1939 and the protest against granting of a Royal Charter to Nairobi in 1950. These pioneering trade union leaders were imprisoned during the crackdown on Mau Mau.<ref name=cotu/><ref name=Kyle/> Following this crackdown, all national African political activity was banned. This ban was in place even when the first African members of the legislative council (MLCs) were elected. To manage and control African political activity, the colonial government permitted district parties starting in  1955. This effectively prevented African unity by encouraging ethnic affiliation. Trade unions led by younger Africans filled the vacuum created by the crackdown as the only organisations that could mobilise the masses when political parties were banned.<ref name=cotu>History of COTU. https://cotu-kenya.org/history-of-cotuk {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326180400/https://cotu-kenya.org/history-of-cotuk/ |date=26 March 2023 }}</ref><ref name=Kyle/>

The [[Kenya Federation of Registered Trade Unions (KFRTU)]] was started by [[Aggrey Minya]] in 1952 but was largely ineffective.<ref name=cotu/> [[Tom Mboya]] was one of the young leaders who stepped into the limelight. His intelligence, discipline, oratory and organisational skills set him apart. After the colonial government declared a state of emergency on account of Mau Mau, at age 22, Mboya became the Director of Information of KAU. After KAU was banned, Mboya used the KFRTU to represent African political issues as its Secretary General at 26 years of age. The KFRTU was backed by the [[Western Bloc|western leaning]] [[International Confederation of Free Trade Unions|International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU)]]. Tom Mboya then started the [[Kenya Federation of Labour|Kenya Federation of Labour (KFL)]] in place of KFRTU, which quickly became the most active political body in Kenya, representing all the trade unions. Mboya's successes in trade unionism earned him respect and admiration. Mboya established international connections, particularly with labour leaders in the [[United States of America]] through the ICFTU. He used these connections and his international renown to counter moves by the colonial government.<ref name=cotu/><ref name=Kyle/>

Several trade union leaders who were actively involved in the independence struggle through KFL would go on to join active politics becoming members of parliament and cabinet ministers. These include [[Arthur Ochwada|Arthur Aggrey Ochwada]], [[Dennis Akumu]], [[Clement Lubembe]] and [[Ochola Ogaye Mak'Anyengo]].<ref name=cotu/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://cotu-kenya.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/WEBSITE-Labour-Day-Speech-2018.pdf|title=Labour Day Speech 2018|website=cotu-kenya.org|access-date=1 August 2023|archive-date=24 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230424071341/https://cotu-kenya.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/WEBSITE-Labour-Day-Speech-2018.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.president.go.ke/2017/05/01/speech-by-his-excellency-hon-uhuru-kenyatta-c-g-h-president-of-the-republic-of-kenya-and-commander-in-chief-of-the-defence-forces-during-the-2017-labour-day-celebrations-at-uhuru-park-grounds-nai/| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170504114639/http://www.president.go.ke/2017/05/01/speech-by-his-excellency-hon-uhuru-kenyatta-c-g-h-president-of-the-republic-of-kenya-and-commander-in-chief-of-the-defence-forces-during-the-2017-labour-day-celebrations-at-uhuru-park-grounds-nai| archive-date = 4 May 2017| title = Speech by His Excellency Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta, C.G.H., President of the Republic of Kenya and Commander in Chief of the Defence Forces During the 2017 Labour Day Celebrations at Uhuru Park Grounds, Nairobi – Presidency}}</ref> The trade union movement would later become a major battlefront in the proxy [[Cold War]] that would engulf Kenyan politics in the 1960s.<ref>Kwame Nkurumah's Theory and Practice of Labour and Their Manifestation in the Kenyan Trade Unionism to 1966. by Peter Mwangi Kagwanja. Available from: https://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/4904 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230424071342/https://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/4904 |date=24 April 2023 }}</ref>

====Constitutional Debates and the Path to Independence====
{{See also|Jaramogi Oginga Odinga|Nairobi People's Convention Party|Lancaster House Conferences (Kenya)|The Kennedy Airlift}}
After the suppression of the Mau Mau rising, the British provided for the election of the six African members to the Legislative Council (MLC) under a weighted franchise based on education. Mboya successfully stood for office in the first election for African MLCs in 1957, beating the previously nominated incumbent, [[Argwings Kodhek]]. [[Daniel Arap Moi]] was the only previously nominated African MLC who kept his seat. [[Oginga Odinga]] was also elected and shortly afterwards nominated as the first chairman of the African elected members. Mboya's party, the [[Nairobi People's Convention Party|Nairobi People's Convention Party (NPCP)]], was inspired by [[Kwame Nkrumah|Kwame Nkurumah's]] [[People's Convention Party]]. It became the most organised and effective political party in the country. The NPCP was used to effectively mobilise the masses in Nairobi in the struggle for greater African representation on the council. The new colonial constitution of 1958 increased African representation, but African nationalists began to demand a democratic franchise on the principle of "one man, one vote." However, Europeans and Asians, because of their minority position, feared the effects of universal suffrage.

In June 1958, [[Oginga Odinga]] called for the release of Jomo Kenyatta. This call built momentum and was taken up by the NPCP. Agitation for African suffrage and self-rule picked up in pace. One major hindrance to self-rule was the lack of African human capital. Poor education, economic development and a lack of African technocrats were a real problem. This inspired Tom Mboya to begin a programme conceptualised by a close confidante [[Blasio Vincent Ndale Esau Oriedo|Dr. Blasio Vincent Oriedo]], funded by Americans, of sending talented youth to the United States for higher education. There was no university in Kenya at the time, but colonial officials opposed the programme anyway. The next year Senator [[John F. Kennedy]] helped fund the programme, hence its popular name  – [[The Kennedy Airlift]].<ref>''Airlift to America. How Barack Obama Sr., John F. Kennedy, Tom Mboya, and 800 East African Students Changed Their World and Ours'', by Tom Shachtman</ref> This scholarship program trained some 70% of the top leaders of the new nation, including the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, environmentalist [[Wangari Maathai]] and [[Barack Obama]]'s father, [[Barack Obama Sr.]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/29/AR2008032902031.html?hpid=topnews|title=Obama Overstates Kennedys' Role in Helping His Father|last=Dobbs M|date=2008|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=1 February 2010|archive-date=30 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430131754/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/29/AR2008032902031.html?hpid=topnews|url-status=live}}</ref>

At a conference held in 1960 in London, agreement was reached between the African members and the British settlers of the [[New Kenya Group]], led by [[Michael Blundell]]. However many whites rejected the New Kenya Group and condemned the London agreement, because it moved away from racial quotas and toward independence. Following the agreement a new African party, the [[Kenya African National Union|Kenya African National Union (KANU)]], with the slogan "Uhuru," or "Freedom," was formed under the leadership of Kikuyu leader [[James Gichuru|James S. Gichuru]] and labour leader [[Tom Mboya]]. KANU was formed in May 1960 when the [[Kenya African Union|Kenya African Union (KAU)]] merged with the [[Kenya Independence Movement|Kenya Independence Movement (KIM)]] and [[Nairobi People's Convention Party|Nairobi People's Convention Party (NPCP)]].<ref>The Politics of The Independence of Kenya by Kyle Keith. Palgrave MacMillan 1999 p 93-111</ref> Mboya was a major figure from 1951 until his death in 1969. He was praised as nonethnic or antitribal, and attacked as an instrument of Western capitalism. Mboya as General Secretary of the Kenya Federation of Labour and a leader in the Kenya African National Union before and after independence skilfully managed the tribal factor in Kenyan economic and political life to succeed as a Luo in a predominantly Kikuyu movement.<ref>{{Cite journal|vauthors=Goldsworthy D|date=1982|title=Ethnicity and Leadership in Africa: The 'Untypical' Case of Tom Mboya|journal=[[Journal of Modern African Studies|J. Mod. Afr. Stud.]]|volume=20|issue=1|pages=107–126|jstor=160378|doi=10.1017/S0022278X00000082|s2cid=154841201 }}</ref> A split in KANU produced the breakaway rival party, the [[Kenya African Democratic Union|Kenya African Democratic Union (KADU)]], led by [[Ronald Ngala]] and [[Masinde Muliro]]. In the [[Kenyan legislative election, 1961|elections of February 1961]], KANU won 19 of the 33 African seats while KADU won 11 (twenty seats were reserved by quota for Europeans, Asians and Arabs). Kenyatta was finally released in August and became president of KANU in October.