As the age of independence dawned in East Africa, the region’s political map narrowed. By the early 1960s, “East Africa” had come to mean four core territories: Uganda, Kenya, Tanganyika, and Zanzibar. Rwanda and Burundi, once loosely tied to regional affairs, had been politically rerouted by differing colonial masters. What remained was a quartet stumbling … Read more
Before East Africa could be economically exploited or politically managed, it had to be reached. And not just reached—it had to be connected. But this landmass, hemmed in by its geography and strangled by its infrastructure (or lack thereof), was stuck in a logistical stone age. What followed, then, was not just a feat of … Read more
When we talk about the Swahili, we talk about ghosts. Not of the dead, but of centuries of cross-oceanic whispers, of ships lost and found, of poetry buried under the sand, and of an identity forever stuck in translation. The Swahili are not a tribe. They are not even a “people” in the strict sense. … Read more
The name “Mau Mau” was never the original title used by the fighters themselves. Those who led the armed struggle in colonial Kenya organized under the name Kenya Land and Freedom Army. It was only after British authorities began labeling their insurgents as “Mau Mau” that the term entered widespread use to describe the rebellion … Read more
In the Nairobi of the 1950s, the question of who could move—and how—was never just a matter of infrastructure. It was a question of power. Like many other colonial cities, Nairobi’s transport system was built to carry some and constrain others. Buses moved bodies, yes, but more importantly, they reinforced the borders of race, class, … Read more
When most people think of the First World War, images of trench warfare in Europe dominate the imagination. But far from the battlefields of France and Belgium, a brutal and under-documented campaign raged across East Africa. Kenya, then part of the British East Africa Protectorate, played a central role in this “forgotten front,” not only … Read more
Kenya’s Indian Ocean coastline has long been a vital maritime corridor connecting the East African interior with the wider Indian Ocean world. From the arrival of Portuguese explorers in the 16th century to modern-day oil tankers and passenger ferries, these waters have been busy, strategic—and often perilous. Over the centuries, numerous shipwrecks and maritime disasters … Read more
Causes of the Uprising The Mau Mau Uprising was rooted in long-standing grievances among the Kikuyu and other communities over land dispossession, lack of political rights, and social inequalities under British colonial rule. “It was not simply a rebellion of peasants. It was also a battle of meaning: about land, rights, and justice.” – Anderson … Read more
The East African theater of World War I was unlike any other front in the conflict. Far removed from the muddy trenches of Europe, it was a vast, unforgiving landscape where colonial ambitions, ingenious guerrilla tactics, and the relentless forces of nature combined to create a protracted struggle that would sap the strength of even the … Read more
In the vast and inhospitable landscapes of East Africa during World War I, the railway emerged as a vital lifeline for the British colonial project—a technological marvel connecting the port of Mombasa to the interior. Yet for the German commander Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck and his motley force of askari and European soldiers, that very railway … Read more