Kenyan Timeline

The East Africa Protectorate in the 1920’s was turned into a colony and quickly named Kenya. The colonial government began to concern itself with African people. They noticed that an area of improvement was needed in education for the Africans. The missionaries had to offer help to educate.Those who received a better education before had no place in Kenya’s legislature

The more Africans worked on European farms they began to copy the political ways of the European as they were looking to gain a better perspective in the political world. Different groups came together and won support from younger men while demanding African legislature. They had disagreements with a lot of different different situations like realizing that the missionaries weren’t helping them, the low wages, and the prohibition of coffee to the Africans.

World War II made the focus of the colonies to their borders. Specifically for Kenya, they were to focus on Ethiopia and Somaliland. The colonial government noticed the African political representation and Kenya became the first East African territory to include an African on its legislative council in 1944. The number had finally increased to 8 Africans in 1951. Although this was progress, this did not satisfy the taste of political equality for the Africans.

Things changed economically and socially and allowed Mau Mau to become popular. A land-consolidation program centralized the Kikuyu into large villages. It was brought along Lake Victoria and grew from there and Africans were resettled in detention camps. In the 1950’s foreign investment in Kenya continued, and slowed industrial growths occurred along with agricultural expansion.