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    History: of Kenya

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    Hailemariam Mekonen
    The history of Kenya dates back millions of years based on early hominid fossil discoveries. In the 18th-19th centuries, the Maasai migrated south and dominated the region through raiding, while groups like the Kikuyu retreated to forests and mountains for protection. By the late 19th century, the Kikuyu reached limits imposed by the Maasai to the north and south and the Aberdare Range to the west. Famine and disease in the 1890s compelled the Kikuyu to withdraw further north and weakened the Maasai through cattle epidemics and smallpox, coinciding with the arrival of European traders and administrators who gained control of the

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    History: of Kenya

    Uploaded by

    Hailemariam Mekonen
    37 views1 page
    The history of Kenya dates back millions of years based on early hominid fossil discoveries. In the 18th-19th centuries, the Maasai migrated south and dominated the region through raiding, while groups like the Kikuyu retreated to forests and mountains for protection. By the late 19th century, the Kikuyu reached limits imposed by the Maasai to the north and south and the Aberdare Range to the west. Famine and disease in the 1890s compelled the Kikuyu to withdraw further north and weakened the Maasai through cattle epidemics and smallpox, coinciding with the arrival of European traders and administrators who gained control of the

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    The history of Kenya dates back millions of years based on early hominid fossil discoveries. In the 18th-19th centuries, the Maasai migrated south and dominated the region through raiding, while groups like the Kikuyu retreated to forests and mountains for protection. By the late 19th century, the Kikuyu reached limits imposed by the Maasai to the north and south and the Aberdare Range to the west. Famine and disease in the 1890s compelled the Kikuyu to withdraw further north and weakened the Maasai through cattle epidemics and smallpox, coinciding with the arrival of European traders and administrators who gained control of the

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    37 views1 page

    History: of Kenya

    Uploaded by

    Hailemariam Mekonen
    The history of Kenya dates back millions of years based on early hominid fossil discoveries. In the 18th-19th centuries, the Maasai migrated south and dominated the region through raiding, while groups like the Kikuyu retreated to forests and mountains for protection. By the late 19th century, the Kikuyu reached limits imposed by the Maasai to the north and south and the Aberdare Range to the west. Famine and disease in the 1890s compelled the Kikuyu to withdraw further north and weakened the Maasai through cattle epidemics and smallpox, coinciding with the arrival of European traders and administrators who gained control of the

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 1

    History 

    of Kenya
    It is known that human history in Kenya dates back millions of years, because it is there
    that some of the earliest fossilized remains of hominids have been discovered. Among
    the best-known finds are those by anthropologist Richard Leakey and others in
    the Koobi Fora area along the shore of Lake Rudolf that have included portions
    of Australopithecus boisei and Homo habilis skeletons. The following discussion,
    however, covers the history of Kenya only from the 18th century. For coverage of earlier
    periods and for a treatment of the country in its regional context, see Eastern Africa.
    The 18th and 19th centuries
    Maasai and Kikuyu
    The Maasai moved into what is now central Kenya from an area north of Lake Rudolf
    sometime in the mid-18th century. Their southward advance was checked about 1830 by
    the Hehe people from what is now Tanzania, but their raiding parties continued to range
    widely and even reached the coast south of Mombasa in 1859. The
    Maasai moran (“warrior”) prepared for war under the spiritual direction of
    the laibon (“medicine man”). Although not particularly numerous, the Maasai were able
    to dominate a considerable region because the Bantu-speaking inhabitants offered little
    effective resistance to their raids. The Nandi, who inhabited the escarpment to the west
    of the Maasai, were equally warlike and were relatively undisturbed by their predatory
    neighbours. Another group, the Taveta, took refuge in the forest on the eastern slopes of
    Mount Kilimanjaro, while the Taita, who were farther east, used the natural strongholds
    provided by their mountainous homeland to resist the Maasai raiders.

    The Kikuyu, who were far more numerous than the Maasai, also looked to the
    mountains and forests for protection against Maasai war parties. The Kikuyu had
    expanded northward, westward, and southward from their territory in the Fort Hall area
    of present-day Central province, where they cleared the forests to provide themselves
    with agricultural land. Toward the end of the 19th century, however, they had reached
    the limits imposed by the presence of the Maasai to the north and south and by the
    upper slopes of the Aberdare Range to the west.

    Famine and smallpox in the 1890s compelled the Kikuyu to vacate much of the land in
    what is now Kiambu district (in Central province) as they withdrew northward. The
    Maasai too were passing through a difficult period. An outbreak of disease, either
    pleuropneumonia or rinderpest, attacked their cattle in 1883; further infestations in
    1889–90 continued to decimate their herds, while the Maasai themselves were
    overwhelmed by epidemics of smallpox. Simultaneously, the death of Mbatian, their
    great laibon, split the group into warring factions, and it was some time before his
    younger son, Lenana, was able to restore order. Power was never revived, however,
    because their problems coincided with the arrival of European traders and
    administrators who eventually gained control of the region.

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