Portal:Kenya

Kenya portal
Kenya portal

Introduction

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 28th-most-populous country in the world and 7th most populous in Africa. Kenya's capital and largest city is Nairobi, while its oldest and second-largest city, is the major port city of Mombasa, situated on Mombasa Island in the Indian Ocean and the surrounding mainland. Mombasa was the capital of the British East Africa Protectorate, which included most of what is now Kenya and southwestern Somalia, from 1889 to 1907. Other important cities include Kisumu and Nakuru. 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. Kenya's 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 further on to 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 Africa. 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, the Commonwealth, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization, COMESA, International Criminal Court, as well as other international organisations. It is also a major non-NATO ally of the United States. With a GNI of 1,840, Kenya is a lower-middle-income economy. Kenya's economy is the second largest in eastern and central Africa, after Ethiopia, 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...)


Benga is a genre of Kenyan popular music. It evolved between the late 1940s and late 1960s, in Kenya's capital city of Nairobi. In the 1940s, the African Broadcasting Service in Nairobi aired a steady stream of soukous, South African kwela, Congolese finger-style guitar and various kinds of Cuban dance music that heavily influenced emergence of benga. There were also popular folk songs of Tanzania and Kenya's Luo peoples that formed the base on benga creation. (Full article...)

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Nairobi skyline

Nairobi /nˈrbɪ/ is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name Nairobi comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyorobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun." Founded in 1899, the city was handed capital status from Mombasa in 1905. Nairobi is also the capital of the Nairobi County. The city lies on the Nairobi River, in the south of the nation, and has an elevation of 1661 m (5450 ft) above sea-level.

Nairobi is the most populous city in East Africa, with an estimated urban population of between 3 and 4 million. According to the 2009 Census, in the administrative area of Nairobi, 3,138,295 inhabitants lived within 696 km². Nairobi is currently the 4th largest city in Africa. Nairobi is now one of the most prominent cities in Africa politically and financially. Home to many companies and organizations, Nairobi is established as a hub for business and culture. The Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) defines Nairobi as a prominent social centre. (Read more...)

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Kenya sent a delegation to compete at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, from 10–26 February 2006. This was Kenya's third time participating in a Winter Olympic Games. The Kenyan delegation consisted of one athlete, cross-country skier and three-time Olympian Philip Boit. In his only event, he finished 91st in the men's 15 kilometre classical. (Full article...)

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David Harvey Dunford (born 29 September 1988) is a swimmer from Kenya who specializes in sprint freestyle. He is an African champion, Commonwealth Games finalist and the second Kenyan swimmer in history to qualify for the Olympic Games (the first was his older brother Jason Dunford). (Full article...)

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In the news

Wikinews Kenya portal
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13 September 2024 – Germany–Kenya relations, Immigration to Germany
Germany and Kenya agree on a labour migration deal which will see 250,000 skilled and semi-skilled Kenyan workers go work in Germany amid a shortage of skilled labour in the German economy. The agreement will also simplify the return of illegal migrants to Kenya. (BBC News)
11 September 2024 –
Hundreds of workers at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya, go on strike to protest against a planned deal to lease the airport to the Indian conglomerate Adani Group for 30 years. (Al Jazeera)
6 September 2024 –
Eighteen students are killed and 27 others are injured in a fire at a boarding school in Nyeri, Kenya. (Al Jazeera)
5 September 2024 – Domestic violence in Kenya
Ugandan marathoner Rebecca Cheptegei dies at a hospital in Eldoret, Kenya, after sustaining burns from a gasoline attack by her former partner almost a month after participating in the women's marathon at the 2024 Summer Olympics. (BBC News)
28 August 2024 – Haitian crisis
Haitian National Police and Kenya Police, along with other foreign police forces as part of the Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti, launch a joint operation to oust violent gangs from parts of the Haitian capital city Port-au-Prince. (AP)
20 August 2024 –
Suspected serial killer Collins Jumaisi Khalusha, accused of murdering 42 women, escapes from police custody in Nairobi, Kenya. (Al Jazeera)

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Credit: Nite Owl
Nairobi is the largest city in East and Central Africa. Nairobi is one of the most prominent cities in Africa both politically and financially. Home to thousands of Kenyan businesses and over 100 major international companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the main co-ordinating and headquarters for the UN in Africa & Middle East, the United Nations Office in Nairobi (UNON), Nairobi is an established hub for business and culture. The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is one of the largest in Africa and the second oldest exchange on the continent.

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