The wealth of Africa
Kenya
Presentation
Supported by
The CarAf Centre
www.britishmuseum.org
How well did British
rule in Kenya work?
Front cover image: Wooden carving of a soldier, Kenya, about 1960s, British Museum.
KIKUYU WARRIORS IN KENYA
Source 1
In addition to shields used in battle, the Kikuyu
also made shields for dancing, called ndome.
They are carved out of a single piece of wood with
a hole for the arm instead of a hand grip, and were
worn on the upper left arm by boys prior to their
initiation as junior warriors. Each year the boys of
a particular territorial unit would choose a design
which they later used for their war shields once
they had achieved warrior status.
British Museum
Why are these young men dressed
like this?
Source 2: Kikuyu warriors, c. 1920s
British Museum
Source 3: Wooden shield (ndome)
British Museum
KIKUYU WARRIORS IN KENYA
Source 1
In addition to shields used in battle, the Kikuyu
also made shields for dancing, called ndome.
They are carved out of a single piece of wood with
a hole for the arm instead of a hand grip, and were
worn on the upper left arm by boys prior to their
initiation as junior warriors. Each year the boys of
a particular territorial unit would choose a design
which they later used for their war shields once
they had achieved warrior status.
British Museum
Why are these young men dressed
like this?
What might British colonists have
thought of these young men?
Source 2: Kikuyu warriors, c. 1920s
British Museum
Source 3: Wooden shield (ndome)
British Museum
WHERE IS KENYA?
Eastern Africa was a region of varied environments
which had been home to many different peoples
for thousands of years. In the 1800s, explorers
and missionaries began to take an interest in the
area. Then, in 1895, Britain set up the East African
Protectorate in what is now known as Kenya. From
the start the authorities faced problems.
Unsurprisingly, Africans resented being taken over
by a foreign power. There were particular issues
with societies like the Masai, who were nomadic –
a way of life that the British found unhelpful – and
the Kikuyu, who owned the most desirable farming
land. The structure of these societies, in which chiefs
were not really in charge, made control difficult.
Century AD
19th
What the British hadn’t expected was the
challenges that came from the white farmers
who they had encouraged to migrate to Kenya
to kick start the economy.
1895 – Britain forms East African Protectorate
1901 – Mombasa to Lake Victoria
railway completed
Which problem might have been
the most difficult for the British?
1904 – Treaty with Masai
1920 – Kenya declared a colony
1944 – Kenyan African Union
(KAU) formed
20th
1952–1959 – Mau Mau uprising
1963 – Kenya becomes independent
PROBLEM 1: THE WHITE SETTLERS
Source 4
The lack of farm workers was an early cause of
trouble to the settlers, while the labour regulations
led, during 1907–1908, to considerable friction
between the colonists and the government.
Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911
Source 5
By 1912 the settlers were demanding a reduction
of the native land reserves because more Africans
would then be obliged to earn their living by
paid labour. Against this demand, however, the
Government stood firm.
Historian’s account, in Harlow 1965: 230
What was the main problem for
the settlers?
Source 6: Tea Plantation, Kenya Highlands
© Vanessa Meadu
PROBLEM 1: THE WHITE SETTLERS
Source 4
The lack of farm workers was an early cause of
trouble to the settlers, while the labour regulations
led, during 1907–1908, to considerable friction
between the colonists and the government.
Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911
Source 5
By 1912 the settlers were demanding a reduction
of the native land reserves because more Africans
would then be obliged to earn their living by
paid labour. Against this demand, however, the
Government stood firm.
Historian’s account, in Harlow 1965: 230
What was the main problem for
the settlers?
Source 7
These settlers have consistently controlled
the policy of the local government and that
government has just as consistently treated
the native population with injustice, bigotry,
and unrestrained racial greed.
Elspeth Huxley, writer who grew up in colonial
Kenya 1944: 16
How might this become a problem
for the Government?
Source 6: Tea Plantation, Kenya Highlands
© Vanessa Meadu
PROBLEM 2: THE MASAI
Source 8
The one people who might seriously have
frustrated British ambitions in the interior were
the Masai. No-one, however, realised this better
than the British, who were generally most careful
to avoid any conflict with them.
Harlow 1965: 12
Source 9
There can be no doubt that the Masai and many other
tribes must go under. It is a prospect which I view with
a clear conscience... [Masaidom] is a beastly, bloody
system founded on raiding and immorality.
Commissioner Eliot writes to the Foreign
Secretary, quoted in Harlow 1965: 270–271
Source 10
By the Masai Agreement of 1904, the Masai agreed
to move into two reserves... for ‘so long as the Masai
as a race should exist’... As early as 1908 the idea
began for the removal of the northern Masai to a
single extended southern reserve south of the railway.
This operation was eventually accomplished by 1913.
Harlow 1965: 36
Source 11
Of the 12,000 square miles of European settled
land, 7000 consisted of old Masai grazing grounds,
evacuated under agreements between 1904 and 1913.
Morgan 1963: 146
How did the British solve the
‘Masai problem’?
Source 12: Masai warrior
British Museum
PROBLEM 3: THE ECONOMY
Source 13
It was believed that a railway would help improve
British trade in the interior as well as to provide
the means for maintaining British control over
the source of the Nile. Politicians in Britain also
justified the construction of the railway by arguing
that it would help to wipe out the slave trade in
the region.
Shillington 2005: 745
Source 14
The railway’s objective was Uganda. But its
construction also made possible the economic
development of Kenya. The costs of porter transport
were such that so far no item except ivory had been
or could have been exported from any part of Kenya
other than the narrow coastal belt.
Harlow 1965: 210
Source 15
Between 1910 and 1914 revenue increased from
£503,000 to £1,123,000 and expenditure from
£669,000 to £1,115,000. In 1912 the protectorate
became self-supporting. Railway receipts, licences,
taxes and customs are the chief sources of revenue.
Encyclopedia Britannica 1911
How important was the railway
to the colony?
Source 16: Tsavo station, Kenya-Uganda railway
© Ralph Pina
PROBLEM 4: RUNNING THE COLONY
What problems did the British face?
Source 17
From the beginning the British administration was
hindered by the inferior quality of many of the
earliest British colonial administrators... Most had
little education, and at least one was on record as
being illiterate.
Pickens 2004: 59
Source 18
Kitvi District was about two-thirds the size of
England, and in the early years there were rarely
more than three British officials stationed there.
Harlow 1965: 39
Source 19
In the East African Protectorate there was virtually
no existing political authorities... So, the major
task was to try and create a political order which
might be looked at by Africans as having legitimate
authority over them.
Harlow 1965: 41–42
What does Source 20 tell you
about how the British ruled Kenya?
Source 20: Wooden figure of
a policeman riding a bicycle
British Museum
PROBLEM 5: THE KIKUYU AND
MAU MAU
Between 1952 and 1959 there was a major rebellion
against British rule. The rebels (Mau Mau) came
mainly from the Kikuyu.
Source 21
The Kikuyus alone lost over 500,000 acres, for
which they received not a penny of compensation.
Padmore 1953: 358
Source 22
An even more serious rift took place in 1929 when
[missionaries] attempted to prohibit the traditional
Kikuyu practice of circumcising girls prior to marriage...
The Kikuyu, like many other African societies, made
female circumcision a requirement for marriage and
for full participation in the traditional world of women.
Edgerton 1990: 40
Source 23
Most of Mau Mau’s leaders had come from
among the squatter population. Much of their
bitterness and hatred towards the Europeans and
their readiness to resort to violence must have
stemmed from their past experience as squatters.
Tamarkin 1976: 129
Why should the Kikuyu want
to rebel against the British?
Does the rebellion suggest that
the British were not successful
in ruling Kenya?
Source 24: Kikuyu warriors
British Museum
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