Editing History of Kenya (section)

===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"/>