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Short History Of Kenya and Culture
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Excavations in Kenya suggest that the region was the home to Homo habilis, from whom Homo sapiens descended, some 3.25 million years ago. Over millenniums Kenya was settled by a large number of migrating tribes from all over Africa. From the 8th century, the region became prosperous on the profits of trade from across the Indian Ocean. The Portuguese arrived in the early 16th century, but by 1720 had been driven out by the Arabs, and the region was then largely ruled by Omani Dynasties. The British arrived in the middle of the 19th century. By the 1890s they were able to penetrate into the highlands, and the Mombasa to Uganda railway line was constructed. Nairobi grew as a convenient staging point, and became the headquarters of the British administration.
By the early 20th century, the fertile lands to the north were attracting a large number of white settlers led by Lord Delamere who came into conflict with the local population. The movement for territorial, economic and political rights soon found an able leader in Jomo Kenyatta. The fight for independence gathered pace after World War II, but was sometimes a bloody affair, particularly the three-year guerrilla war in the 1950s between the Mau Mau and the British colonial authorities.
Kenya was granted independence in 1963, and the Kenyan African National Union (KANU), led by Kenyatta, took power. Kenyatta died in 1978, and was succeeded by Daniel Arap Moi, who consistently held the upper hand, and opposition parties were banned outright in 1982. In the 1990s, the Moi government was finally forced to concede to a multi-party democracy, but KANU and Moi again won the 1992 and 1997 elections, amid widespread allegations of corruption and malpractice.
With Moi constitutionally barred from contesting, the National Alliance Rainbow Coalition (NARC), which represented 15 opposition parties, won the 2002 election, and Mwai Kibaki was elected President.
At the end of 2007, explosive elections were held, which resulted in widespread violence across the county against disputed election results between the NARC and the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) led by Oginga Odinga. With the assistance of international mediators, a power agreement was negotiated placing Kibaki as President and Odinga as Prime Minister.
