Kenya

1
Kenya

• Originally there was little imperial interest in
  East Africa per se.
• Britain was keen to control the control the
  source of the Nile, because it was thought to be
  the key to the survival of Cairo and hence the
  Suez Canal, which was the link to India.  India
  was thought to be important to UKs interests.

2
Kenya

• The Mombasa-Uganda railroad was built to
  facilitate movement of troops and material to the
  headwaters of the Nile (thought to be in Lake
  Victoria on the Ugandan side of the Lake).
• Indian laborers ("Coolies) were brought in to
  build the railroad, followed by shopkeepers etc. 
  
• They were forbidden from owning land, and were
  restricted to special areas of the cities in
  which they could live.

3
Kenya

• White farmers were given land in the highlands so
  they would use the railroad to ship out their
  products and the railroad could pay for itself. 
• White farmers were seen to be the productive
  backbone of the economy of the Kenya Colony.
• After the world wars, more British soldiers were
  given land in Kenya to reward their service.

4
Kenya

• Myth arose and persisted of the productive white
  farm, suggesting that the wealth of the colony
  rested on the high productivity of white-owned
  farms
• But in fact the productivity of the white farm
  rested largely on subsidies to white farmers from
  funds extracted from black farmers, and on
  underpayment of black labor. 
• The products of white farms rode on the railways
  at subsidized prices while transportation for
  things raised mostly by Africans was left more
  expensive.

5
Kenya

• City of Nairobi and nearby areas were developed
  for white farmers around the turn of the 20th
  century.
• Was established where the railroad builders
  paused while they worked on an elevator to take
  trains down into Great Rift Valley. 
• No cityexisted there before colonial times.

6
Kenya

• Areas near Lake Victoria were treated as "labor
  reserves" were left underdeveloped, with hut
  tax payable in cash to put squeeze on men to go
  work for whites, imposing a double burden on the
  women left behind. 
• Governing principle of the colony rested on
  racial hierarchy, from "Europeans" at top through
  gradations of skin color (Arabs, Indians) down to
  Africans at bottom with laws and privileges
  depending on race.

7
Kenya

• Infrastructure was (mis)developed aimed to
  promote export, not to link with other African
  countries, and not even to produce an integrated
  internal economy. 
• In common with almost all African colonies,
  railroads went only from interior of country to
  the port, to carry (largely raw-material) exports
  out of the country and (largely manufactured
  goods) imports back in. 
• There was little linking of one part of the
  country with another for a better internal
  economy.

8
Kenya

• African discontent over lack of influence on
  politics and loss of land to the whites
  eventually led to a guerrilla war, which came to
  be known as Mau Mau. 
• Was a nationalist guerrilla struggle rebels
  called themselves the Land and Freedom Army.
• Definitely not the return to savagery the whites
  portrayed it.
• Fought largely in Kikuyu areas because of
  mountain hiding places there.
• Rebels had little connection with forces outside
  the country, so odds of success were low.

9
Kenya

• They were opposed with much hysteria and
  brutality by British troops, flying planes and
  dropping bombs, using "protective villages" and
  putting Mau Mau believers through re-education to
  return them to civilization. 
• Re-education often involved torture of one kind
  or another, some so bad it eventually caused
  concern in the British Parliament.

10
Kenya

• Tremendous violence of African against African
• Use of homeguards" loyalists who collaborated
  with British. 
• Jomo Kenyatta and other presumed leaders became
  revered martyrs when sent to a desert
  prison-camp. 
• They were actually more moderate than radical
  true leaders, such as Dedan Kimathi. 

Dedan Kimathi
11
Kenya

• In 1960 the state of emergency was lifted.
• LFA death toll during the emergency was 11,500,
  of whom around 1,000 were hanged.
• 80,000 Kikuyu were imprisoned in concentration
  camps.
• 150,000 Africans, mostly Kikuyu, lost their
  lives, with many dying of disease and starvation
  in the "protected villages".
• On the other side, the LFA killed around 2,000
  people, including 32 European civilians and 63
  members of the security forces.

12
Kenya

• In 1960 the state of emergency was lifted.
• LFA death toll during the emergency was 11,500,
  of whom around 1,000 were hanged.
• 80,000 Kikuyu were imprisoned in concentration
  camps.
• 150,000 Africans, mostly Kikuyu, lost their
  lives, with many dying of disease and starvation
  in the "protected villages".
• On the other side, the LFA killed around 2,000
  people, including 32 European civilians and 63
  members of the security forces.

13
Kenya

• Led to independence by damaging Britain in world
  public opinion and raising cost of continuing
  colonial domination.
• 1963/64 Kenyatta becomes first Prime Minister and
  then President.
• Moderates and homeguards got the spoils of
  victory when independence came
• The Land and Freedom Army got nothing.

14
Kenya

• Myth of productive white farms meant that white
  farms were largely kept intact, going usually to
  the new African elite.
• Sometimes run as cooperatives by small farmers
  until they were unable to pay their debt the
  elite then purchased them. 
• Land concentration increased dramatically.

15
Kenya

• Under his slogan harambee lets all pull
  together the first years of Kenyattas
  leadership reflected the euphoria that pervaded
  post-independence Africa.
• While Tanzania to the south took a more
  socialistic approach to development called ujamaa
  or familyhood, based upon the vision of
  President Julius Nyerere, Kenya under Kenyatta
  took an unbridled capitalistic tack

16
Kenya

• National income doubled as coffee and tea exports
  did well on world markets.
• Schools based upon the harambee principle
  flourished, establishing a basis for universal
  primary education.

17
Kenya

• Conversely, wealth disparities between rich and
  poor grew alongside nepotism and political
  patronage.
• Ultimately a new label wabenzi (literally
  people of the Mercedes Benz) came to describe
  members of the new black elite.