Portal:Kenya

Introduction

Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya (Swahili: Jamhuri ya Kenya), is a country in East Africa. A member of the African Union with a population of more than 47.6 million in the 2019 census, Kenya is the 28th most populous country in the world and 7th most populous in Africa. Kenya's capital and largest city is Nairobi, while its oldest and second largest city, is the major port city of Mombasa, situated on Mombasa Island in the Indian Ocean and the surrounding mainland. Mombasa was the capital of the British East Africa Protectorate, which included most of what is now Kenya and southwestern Somalia, from 1889 to 1907. Other important cities include Kisumu and Nakuru. Kenya is bordered by South Sudan to the northwest, Ethiopia to the north, Somalia to the east, Uganda to the west, Tanzania to the south, and the Indian Ocean to the southeast. Kenya's geography, climate and population vary widely, ranging from cold snow-capped mountaintops (Batian, Nelion and Point Lenana on Mount Kenya) with vast surrounding forests, wildlife and fertile agricultural regions to temperate climates in western and rift valley counties and further on to dry less fertile arid and semi-arid areas and absolute deserts (Chalbi Desert and Nyiri Desert).

Kenya's earliest inhabitants were hunter-gatherers, like the present-day Hadza people. According to archaeological dating of associated artifacts and skeletal material, Cushitic speakers first settled in Kenya's lowlands between 3,200 and 1,300 BC, a phase known as the Lowland Savanna Pastoral Neolithic. Nilotic-speaking pastoralists (ancestral to Kenya's Nilotic speakers) began migrating from present-day South Sudan into Kenya around 500 BC. Bantu people settled at the coast and the interior between 250 BC and 500 AD.

European contact began in 1500 AD with the Portuguese Empire, and effective colonisation of Kenya began in the 19th century during the European exploration of the interior. Modern-day Kenya emerged from a protectorate established by the British Empire in 1895 and the subsequent Kenya Colony, which began in 1920. Numerous disputes between the UK and the colony led to the Mau Mau revolution, which began in 1952, and the declaration of independence in 1963. After independence, Kenya remained a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The current constitution was adopted in 2010 and replaced the 1963 independence constitution.

Kenya is a presidential representative democratic republic, in which elected officials represent the people and the president is the head of state and government. Kenya is a member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, COMESA, International Criminal Court, as well as other international organisations. With a GNI of 1,840, Kenya is a lower-middle-income economy. Kenya's economy is the second largest in eastern and central Africa, after Ethiopia, with Nairobi serving as a major regional commercial hub. Agriculture is the largest sector; tea and coffee are traditional cash crops, while fresh flowers are a fast-growing export. The service industry is also a major economic driver, particularly tourism. Kenya is a member of the East African Community trade bloc, though some international trade organisations categorise it as part of the Greater Horn of Africa. Africa is Kenya's largest export market, followed by the European Union. (Full article...)

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Co-operative Bank of Kenya is a commercial bank in Kenya, the largest economy in the East African Community. It is licensed by the Central Bank of Kenya, the central bank and national banking regulator. The bank has introduced Agency banking model and has a deep customer base in Kenya with over 7.5 million accounts as of December 2018. In 2010, the bank was awarded "Best Bank of Kenya" by the London Financial Times due to their excellent growth. (Full article...)

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A photo of a section of Fort Jesus as the window to the sea in Old Town Mombasa, Mombasa County, Kenya.

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Narok County is a county in Kenya. Narok County has a population of 850,920. Its capital and largest town is Narok. (Read more...)

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Ruins of the Great Mosque at Gedi

The ruins of Gedi are a historical and archaeological site near the Indian Ocean coast of eastern Kenya. The site is adjacent to the town of Gedi (also known as Gede) in the Kilifi District and within the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest.

Gedi is one of many medieval Swahili coastal settlements that stretch from Barawa, Somalia to the Zambezi River in Mozambique. There are 116 known Swahili sites stretching from southern Somalia to Vumba Kuu at the Kenya-Tanzania border. Since the rediscovery of the Gedi ruins by colonialists in the 1920s, Gedi has been one of the most intensely excavated and studied of those sites, along with Shanga, Manda, Ungwana, Kilwa, and the Comoros. (Full article...)

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Kenya Airways Mount Kenya Nairobi National Park Msambweni Lamu Fort Kenya at the 2006 Winter Olympics 2013 CECAFA Cup

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Ochola Ogaye Mak'Anyengo, also known as George Philip Ochola (1930–1990) was a Kenyan trade unionist and Member of Parliament for Ndhiwa, South Nyanza, Kenya. He was involved in the fight for Kenya's independence and was a beneficiary of the Mboya-Kennedy airlifts. (Full article...)

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... that in 2009, Doreen Nabwire became the first Kenyan woman to play professional football in Europe?
... that British outrage at the sentencing of a white Kenyan settler to just two years' imprisonment for the 1923 killing of a black employee eventually led to the replacement of the colony's legal code?
... that Tropical Storm Eliakim enhanced rainfall and brought flooding to Kenya despite the storm making landfall on Madagascar?
... that Kenya Grace shot her first music video after becoming a finalist in a competition?
... that Anthony Vaz was the first flag bearer and team captain for Kenya at the Olympics?
... that a European settler in Kenya who tortured a black employee to death in 1920 was sentenced to just two years' imprisonment?

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In the news

Wikinews Kenya portal

25 April 2024 – 2023–2024 El Niño event: 2024 Kenya floods; Floods caused by weeks of heavy rains in Kenya have killed at least 38 people, according to the Red Cross. (Reuters) (The Washington Post)
24 April 2024 – 2024 Kenya floods: Widespread flooding occurs in Nairobi, Kenya, with tens of thousands of people affected. (BBC News)
18 April 2024 –: A Kenya Air Force Bell UH-1H Huey II crashes in Elgeyo-Marakwet County, Kenya, killing ten people, including Chief of Defence Forces Francis Omondi Ogolla. President William Ruto declares three days of national mourning. (BBC News)
15 April 2024 –: Fifty-eight people have been killed in Tanzania and 13 people have been killed in Kenya in the past two weeks by flooding caused by torrential rains, with more than 125,000 people in coastal areas of East Africa affected by the flooding. Tanzania announces plans to construct fourteen dams in an attempt to reduce the damage from future floods. (AP)
1 March 2024 – Haitian crisis: Kenyan president William Ruto announces an agreement with Haiti to deploy 1,000 police officers as part of a mission approved by the United Nations to combat gang violence in the Caribbean nation. (Reuters)

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Credit: Matt Rudge

Mombasa is the largest urban centre in Kenya's coastal region and the 2nd largest city in the country it also hosts East and Central Africa's Largest port.

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The following are images from various Kenya-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Ugali, served here with beef and sauce, is a mainstay of the cuisine throughout the African Great Lakes region. (from Culture of Kenya)
Image 2The Diocese of Mombasa (from Culture of Kenya)
Image 3A traditional Kenyan drum, similar to the Djembe of West Africa. (from Culture of Kenya)
Image 4Traditional Kenyan decorative calabashes (from Culture of Kenya)
Image 5Mwai Kibaki and (the late) Mrs. Lucy Kibaki with US President George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush at the White House during a state visit in 2003. (from History of Kenya)
Image 6Filmmaker Nathan Collett (with camera) shooting feature film Togetherness Supreme in collaboration with Kibera youth trainees. (from Culture of Kenya)
Image 7Kenya demography (1961–2003) (from History of Kenya)
Image 8Kenyan dancers performing a traditional dance (from Culture of Kenya)
Image 9BMJ, A US-based award-winning Kenyan actor. His role in South African Post Apartheid play 'Sizwe Bansi is Dead' by Arthol Fugard earned him the best actor award in Oslo, Norway. (from Culture of Kenya)
Image 10Orange Democratic Movement leader Prime Minister Omolo Odinga speaking with the Kenyan media. (from History of Kenya)
Image 11Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga speaking to the Kenyan media. (from Culture of Kenya)
Image 12Maasai woman in traditional headdress and attire. (from Culture of Kenya)
Image 131911 map (from History of Kenya)
Image 14President Daniel arap Moi in 1979 (from History of Kenya)
Image 15Traditional dancers in Nairobi (from Culture of Kenya)