Did you know that the discovery of prehistoric human artefacts dated to roughly 3.4 million BC led archaeologists to conclude that human life as we know it began in Kenya? Or that contacts between Arab traders and the Bantu speakers who lived on Kenya's east coast led to the development of the Swahili language? 

the origin of humanity

The human race has lived in Kenya for millions of years. In reality, in Kenya's Turkana Basin, the bones of one of our early human relatives were found in 1984. The skeleton, now referred to as "Turkana Boy," was estimated to have existed more than 1.4 million years ago. Recent discoveries near Lake Turkana include the oldest stone tools ever discovered, which existed 3.2 million years back.

In Kenya, tribal groupings have existed for countless years. It is believed that Cushitic-speaking people moved to what is now Kenya from northern Africa in the year 2000 BC, and Bantu tribes followed in the year 500 BC.

All of this, however, changed in the first century AD when traders from Arabia and Persia arrived on the coast of Kenya.

A time of trade

As the commerce in gold and ivory along Kenya's coast grew, Arab and Persian merchants started establishing in strategically significant coastal settlements like Mombasa, which is the oldest city in Kenya. 

Over the years, they established trading hubs that permitted communication with India, Persia, and the Arab world. Between these traders and Kenya's Bantu-speaking interior population, Swahili emerged as a lingua franca, or common tongue. 

In fact, the earliest Swahili manuscripts that are still extant were written around this time and use an Arabic-inspired character.

A broad and diversified culture with elements from Arabic, Persian, Indian, Malaysian, and Chinese resulted from the inflow of traders into the so-called city states along Kenya's coast.

British, Portuguese, and Omani rulers

Vasco da Gama's arrival in Mombasa in April 1498, a Portuguese explorer, signaled the beginning of more transformation. 

Da Gama's successful landing in India the following month gave the Portuguese the chance to establish trade routes between Europe and Asia. 

A naval base and trading post were established in Mombasa, which contributed to the decline of Arabian dominance along the coast. 

The Portuguese used Kenya's coastal region as an important stopping point along this route.

After centuries of assaults on Portuguese strongholds, the Portuguese were finally driven from Kenya by Omani forces in the early 1700s. 

The Omani ruler relocated to Zanzibar in 1824 (read part one of our blog series for more information!) and the Arabs established long-distance trading routes into Africa's interior. 

Under Omani authority, slave markets with slaves recruited from all across Africa were formed in Zanzibar and clove and spice plantations were established, greatly boosting the Sultan's riches.

However, the annexation of important ports by Germany and Britain in the 1880s and the establishment of the East Africa Protectorate by the British government in 1895 limited Omani influence in Kenya.

The protector was recognized as a legitimate crown colony in 1920. The most productive farming grounds in Kenya, the Highlands and Rift Valley, were designated for European immigrants who established enormous coffee farms, fueling simmering racial tensions between the colonizers and the colonized.

In order to build a new railway line across Kenya, the British also imported laborers from India, which resulted in a sizable Indian settlement and heightened racial tensions between the European colonizers, various indigenous communities, and Indian laborers. 

To further add insult to injury, many Kenyans were formally evicted from their homes and forced onto reservations between 1920 and 1963.

The political system also displayed these racial tensions. In 1919, European settlers gained access to a privilege denied to Kenyans and Indians: the ability to choose members of The Legislative Council of Kenya. In reaction, the Kikuyu Central Association was founded in 1921 to advance Kenyan rights and reclaim property that had been wrongfully taken. 

A youthful Jomo Kenyatta—who would go on to become Kenya's President—became the Association's General Secretary in 1928.

In the years that followed, Kenyatta waged campaigns on a variety of issues, including representation in formal political institutions, access to education, and land rights.

As a result, the British started authorizing the appointment of Africans to the Legislative Council. However, this was mostly regarded as a symbolic action, and it wasn't until the early 1950s that the Mau Mau movement arose as a serious threat to British control.

The Mau Mau Insurrection

An armed, militant gang revolted against the British monarchy and European colonizers in October 1952, calling for political representation and independence.

 When the British unexpectedly proclaimed a state of emergency, Jomo Kenyatta was detained and given a seven-year prison term. In the course of the four-year insurrection, 11,000 Mau Mau and 100 Europeans perished.

The uprising ultimately paved the way for Kenya's independence from British rule, even though the fighting had mostly subsided by 1956. 

Nevertheless, the state of emergency persisted until 1960. Kenyans were finally handed the majority of seats in the Legislative Council during a meeting held in London in 1960, and the country's first African political parties were established.

Independence

Following his release from prison in 1961, Jomo Kenyatta served as the head of the newly established Kenya Africa National Union and oversaw the negotiations for Kenya's independence.

 Kenyatta's party gained the majority of seats in the elections held in May 1963, and independence was formally proclaimed that same year.

Kenya was proclaimed a republic the next year, and Kenyatta was chosen president.

Kenyans continue to observe Jamhuri Day on December 12 every year. The national holiday, known in Swahili as jamhuri, commemorates the day Kenya officially became a republic on December 12, 1964, 18 months after obtaining independence from the British.