Jomo Kenyatta stands as one of the most consequential figures in African political history. To many Kenyans, he remains the “Father of the Nation,” the leader who guided Kenya from colonial rule to independence in 1963. Yet, Kenyatta’s life also reflects the paradoxes of decolonization—he was both a symbol of anti-colonial resistance and an architect … Read more
On the morning of February 24, 1965, Nairobi woke to a silence that would last decades. A car rolled out of the driveway of a modest home in Westlands. Inside sat Pio Gama Pinto, journalist, activist, socialist, and one of the most dangerous men to Kenya’s new ruling class. Moments later, three shots rang out. … Read more
Early Life and Education Mwai Kibaki was born on November 15, 1931, in Gatuyaini village in Kenya’s central highlands, the youngest of eight children in a farming family. Showing academic promise, Kibaki attended top local schools before earning a scholarship to Makerere University in Uganda, where he studied economics, history, and political science, graduating in … Read more
In the early 19th century, long before colonial railways and highways carved through Kenya, the Akamba (Kamba) people blazed an inland trail from the coast deep into the highlands. Caravans of Kamba traders regularly trekked from Mombasa through the arid Taru Desert into Ukambani (Kamba territory) and beyond, ferrying prized ivory tusks and other goods … Read more
On the afternoon of July 5, 1969, Tom Joseph Mboya stepped out of Chhani’s Pharmacy on Government Road, Nairobi. He had just bought a bottle of lotion. As he walked to his car, a man approached, pulled a revolver, and fired. Mboya collapsed on the pavement, bleeding out at just 39 years old. By the … Read more
On October 8, 2004, in Oslo, a woman from the ridges of Nyeri walked onto a stage and made history. The Nobel Committee awarded Wangari Maathai the Peace Prize, the first African woman to win it, for “her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.” The world saw an environmentalist. Kenyans knew her as something … Read more
The Man in the Leopard Skin On October 21, 1956, colonial police dragged a bleeding man out of the Aberdare forest. His hair was matted into dreadlocks, his body wrapped in a leopard skin, and his leg shattered by a bullet. The British press paraded him as a terrorist finally captured; Africans whispered his name … Read more
Every empire begins by pretending it brings order. The British said they were bringing “civilization” to Kenya; what they brought to Kisii in 1908 was the hut tax, whips, and the rifle. Today, when Kenyans talk about colonial resistance, the story usually jumps straight to the Mau Mau in the 1950s, or maybe the Giriama … Read more
History remembers the center. Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu — the big names, the capital cities, the ports. But history also lives at the margins, in places where borders were drawn with a ruler across grazing lands, and where clans survived by their spears, their cattle, and their suspicion of authority. On the western edge of Kenya … Read more
The Kamba, or Akamba, are one of Kenya’s largest Bantu-speaking communities, traditionally inhabiting the semi-arid plateau region of Ukambani in south-eastern Kenya. This homeland today covers Machakos, Kitui, and Makueni counties, though significant Kamba populations have migrated to Nairobi, Mombasa, and overseas. Over centuries, the Kamba earned a reputation as long-distance traders, skilled craftsmen, and … Read more