Colonial Kenya Research Paper

Before the nineteenth century, Britain had relatively little to do with Africa, besides naval outposts and the slave trade (1562-1807.) (David 2011) By the 1870’s only ten percent of Africa was under a European nation’s control, yet in 1900 European countries controlled ninety percent of Africa. (David 2011) The British Empire experienced a sudden shift to imperialism in the 19th century in order to compete as a world power against other European nations. Britain was effectively able to run their African colonies with limited resources and manpower through a system of indirect rule. The British colonial model was ultimately defeated in Africa because a shift of ideals after World War Two and African nationalism.

The city of Nairobi was established at the end of the 19th century as a small primitive town that is located on the rout of the railway connecting Uganda with Mombasa in Kenya. The town kept on developing to become the capital of the Eastern Africa British Colony in 1907. In 1963, Nairobi became the capital of the Republic of Kenya and one of the interesting cities many tourists who travel to Kenya would pay a visit.

There was a great question asked by numerous individuals in the eighteenth century with what happens to people’s lives when their country is a colony of another country. This was very important to Americans when they were being ruled by Great Britain, and even to this day it remains important when countries find themselves controlled by more powerful outsiders. But what is colonialism? Colonialism occurs when one nation takes control of another. Kenya’s experience as a colony of Great Britain gives us more of an idea of what being colonized meant both to the people being controlled and to those who control them. Although it seems hard to believe, Kenya was created by the Europeans and generally this had a positive on effect on Kenyans because it began development.

“The sun never sets on the British Empire,” is an ancient saying, referring to the immense territory Britain has conquered throughout its years of Imperialism.. Often times, many countries that colonize other nations usually have a purpose of doing so, such as the want for money, resources, humanitarian aid, greed, and or power. However, Britain wasn’t the only country responsible for Imperialization. Other countries such as France, America, and Japan also played their parts in Imperialism. The driving force of European Imperialism was power over a people in colonized nations. The reasons for these include the beliefs that Caucasoid Europeans were the superior beings and the European continent being the most superior civilization on the face of the planet.

During the 1800s western society began to take an interest in creating political emprise all around the world. With this in mind, many European nations started looking at Africa. In 1880s only 10 percent of Africa was controlled by some European nation. Some of the 10 percent included the French who were in control of Algiers, Portuguese in parts of western Africa and British and Dutch colonies in South Africa. However that small percentage quickly grow with European nations started to gain control of almost all of Africa. By the 1900 European countries, control the majority of African

British Imperialism in Kenya Colonialism is when one nation takes control of another. The British wanted the raw resources in Africa such as diamond, gold, copper, tin, and wool. They also wanted new market where they could sell their products. The Europeans solution to this was stealing the African’s land and making the people produce the resources for them. The colonization in Africa changed the African society, economy, intellect, and politics by stripping culture, expanding railroads, and making new laws.

Missionaries have had a profound and resounding effect on southeastern Nigeria that remains today, missionaries still playing a significant role in the culture of the Igbo. Although missionaries were initially synonymous with colonization, European coloniasts enforcing Christian ideals on the ‘save’ natives in an effort to civilize them, missionaries remained in Nigeria even after it gained its independence on October 1, 1960 through a series of constitutions legislated by the British government. Despite the abolition of British colonial forces, missionaries remained, exerting extensive influence on local culture. Missionaries promoted western education, which was widely popular among the Igbo and viewed as a method to move up the social ladder.

The new imperialism was a major thing in the late 19th and 20th centuries in Africa. There were a lot of negative and positive effects because of the imperialism. The people in Africa during the time of imperialism suffered a lot. Most of which were the negative aspects of the imperialism. The negative aspects caused things like a lot of wars between countries. The negative effect also led to all of the Africans to do labor all of their lives no matter what time of the day or night it is. All of the Africans had to labor to get food for their family and themselves. Many of the colonizers wanted to expand their empire.

Somalia was colonized by many different countries. It was colonized by Britain, France, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Italy. Egypt had taken over the coast in 1875. Britain colonized it in 1887. They did this because they wanted to guard the Suez canal. France took over a part of Somalia because they didn’t get any land in Egypt. In the early 1900’s, Italy gained control of Southern Somalia. They had control of Southern Somalia until July 1st, 1960 when they gained their own independence. Life during these colonial times was bad in some places but not all. They were treated unfairly in most places and their individual culture was not given respect. This was mainly due to Europe wanting it only for the resources they would get. Italy treated them very well and fairly for a while until they decided to make the natives adjust to Italian law. They treated them well at first because they were trying not to disturb the colonies.

Somalia is located on the Horn of Africa, a peninsula on the eastern coast of Africa that separates the Gulf of Aden to the north and the Indian Ocean to the east and south. The country also shares borders with Kenya, Ethiopia, and Djibouti.

Africa is a place thriving with adventure. Across the land no matter where you go there will be a new sight to see and a new thing to experience. These wonderful opportunities are available due to the variety of intricate aspects that make up Africa. Africa’s diversity can be seen by its help in mankind’s early life, physical regions, wildlife, and the inhabitants.

The British colonization of Kenya destroyed the culture and economy of the native people, but it established a democratic government and left Kenya a more modernized country.[1] During the 1880’s through 1914, the start of WWI, was an age of imperialism. One place that felt victim to this imperialism was Africa. At this time Africa was a wholly unmodernized continent. The reason the Europeans went after Africa was the introduction of the idea of social Darwinism and the “white man’s burden”. Social Darwinism is the belief that only the strongest and the most cunning can make it to the top of the social ladder, and it was the White Man’s Burden to step in for these undeveloped countries

Though Kenya’s impoverished and underdeveloped conditions were certainly not highlighted in the film, I believe it is important to observe. These conditions are best displayed by the state of the primary school. In the film, students were forced to sit 5 students to a desk and were crammed into a tiny room. Moreover, the Kenyans were highly grateful for the concept of free education. This highly contrasts the state of American schools, which are typically well funded. Americans are used to the concept of free education, so much so, that people now desire free higher education. I believe this theme is important to note because it is the key difference between the Kenyan and American

Article 16 of the International Criminal Court statute gives the United Nations Security Council power to stop or suspend any investigations or prosecutions before the ICC for a period of one year that is renewable. It reads as follows; ‘No investigation or prosecution may be commenced or proceeded with under this Statute for a period of 12 months after the Security Council, in a resolution adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations has requested the Court to that effect; that request may be renewed by the Council under the same conditions’.

Jomo Kenyatta’s ethnography, Facing Mt. Kenya was written in the 1930’s about Kikuyu society during 1890-1910, the early years of British colonialism in Kenya. Since the coming of the early colonization the Kikuyu people have tried to develop a religious attitude that would define it’s own culture while adapting forcefully to the European conforms of religion.