Portal:Kenya

Location of Kenya

The flag of Kenya

Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya (Swahili: Jamhuri ya Kenya), is a country in East Africa. With a population of more than 47.6 million in the 2019 census, Kenya is the 27th most populous country in the world and 7th most populous in Africa. Kenya's capital and largest city is Nairobi, while its oldest, currently second largest city, and first capital is the coastal city of Mombasa. Kisumu City is the third-largest city and also an inland port on Lake Victoria. As of 2020, Kenya is the third-largest economy in sub-Saharan Africa after Nigeria and South Africa. Kenya is bordered by South Sudan to the northwest, Ethiopia to the north, Somalia to the east, Uganda to the west, Tanzania to the south, and the Indian Ocean to the southeast. Its geography, climate and population vary widely, ranging from cold snow-capped mountaintops (Batian, Nelion and Point Lenana on Mount Kenya) with vast surrounding forests, wildlife and fertile agricultural regions to temperate climates in western and rift valley counties and dry less fertile arid and semi-arid areas and absolute deserts (Chalbi Desert and Nyiri Desert).

Kenya's earliest inhabitants were hunter-gatherers, like the present-day Hadza people. According to archaeological dating of associated artifacts and skeletal material, Cushitic speakers first settled in Kenya's lowlands between 3,200 and 1,300 BC, a phase known as the Lowland Savanna Pastoral Neolithic. Nilotic-speaking pastoralists (ancestral to Kenya's Nilotic speakers) began migrating from present-day South Sudan into Kenya around 500 BC. Bantu people settled at the coast and the interior between 250 BC and 500 AD. European contact began in 1500 AD with the Portuguese Empire, and effective colonisation of Kenya began in the 19th century during the European exploration of the interior. Modern-day Kenya emerged from a protectorate established by the British Empire in 1895 and the subsequent Kenya Colony, which began in 1920. Numerous disputes between the UK and the colony led to the Mau Mau revolution, which began in 1952, and the declaration of independence in 1963. After independence, Kenya remained a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The current constitution was adopted in 2010 and replaced the 1963 independence constitution.

Kenya is a presidential representative democratic republic, in which elected officials represent the people and the president is the head of state and government. Kenya is a member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, COMESA, International Criminal Court, as well as other international organisations. With a GNI of 1,840, Kenya is a lower-middle-income economy. Kenya's economy is the largest in eastern and central Africa, with Nairobi serving as a major regional commercial hub. Agriculture is the largest sector: tea and coffee are traditional cash crops, while fresh flowers are a fast-growing export. The service industry is also a major economic driver, particularly tourism. Kenya is a member of the East African Community trade bloc, though some international trade organisations categorise it as part of the Greater Horn of Africa. Africa is Kenya's largest export market, followed by the European Union. (Full article...)

• ... that squatters were one of the groups that started the Mau Mau rebellion?
• ... that malaria is expected to become more prevalent due to the impacts of climate change in Kenya?
• ... that a European settler in Kenya who tortured a black employee to death in 1920 was sentenced to just two years' imprisonment?
• ... that Gloria Orwoba raised awareness about period poverty by appearing in the Senate of Kenya in apparently blood-stained trousers?
• ... that the first Olympic volleyball match in more than 16 years for Kenya's Malkia Strikers is being played today in Tokyo against Japan?
• ... that Tropical Storm Eliakim enhanced rainfall and brought flooding to Kenya despite the storm making landfall on Madagascar?

30 March 2023 –

A collision between a Pwani University bus and a minibus in Naivasha, Kenya, kills 14 people. (AA)

18 January 2023 – Spillover of the Somali Civil War

Ten Al-Shabaab militants are killed during a raid by security forces in the village of Galmagala, Garissa County, Kenya, after the group killed five civilians in the region last week. Rocket-propelled grenades and improvised explosive devices are recovered. (Al Jazeera)

7 January 2023 –

Twenty-one people are killed and 49 others are injured when a bus heading for Nairobi, Kenya, crashes after crossing the border from Uganda. (AFP via Barron's)

21 December 2022 – Spillover of the Somali Civil War

A vehicle travelling from Hayley Lapsset camp to Garissa, Kenya, hits a roadside bomb planted by Al-Shabaab militants, who then engage in a shootout with the car's occupants, killing two police officers and a civilian, and injuring several others. (Al Jazeera)

15 November 2022 –

At least three people are killed and six others are injured after a multi-storey building collapses in Nairobi, Kenya. (The Washington Post)

2 November 2022 – M23 offensive

Kenya officially deploys troops to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to assist an East African Community peacekeeping mission. (Reuters)

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