Kenya

HISTORY OF KENYA

Cushitic-speaking people from northern Africa first moved into the area that is now Kenya around 2000 BC.

During the first millennium AD, Nilotic and Bantu peoples moved into the region, and the latter now comprises three-quarters of Kenya's population.

Arab traders began frequenting the Kenya coast around the first century AD. By the Eighth Century, Arab and Persian settlements had sprouted along the coast.

Vasco Da Gama and his crew were the first known Europeans to visit the Kenya port of Mombasa.They landed there on April 7, 1498, but were met with hostility and soon departed.

Vasco Da Gama

Vasco da Gama later stopped off in Malindi, a town at the mouth of the Galana River 120 kilometres northeast of Mombasa. He met Malindi authoritiesto sign a trade agreement and hired a guide for the voyage to India, when he erected a coral pillar. Da Gama was given a warm reception from Shiek of Malindi, which contrasted with hostile reception he encountered in Mombasa. The pillar stands to this day.

European settlers began establishing themselves as large-scale farmers in the Kenyan highlands in the early 1900s, taking lands from local tribes like the Kikuyu and Masai. In 1920, the British designated the interior of the region Kenya Colony and a coastal strip the Protectorate of Kenya.

The Kikuyu staged an armed revolt in the 1950s. Britain eventually put down the rebellion, but Kenya gained its independence on December 12, 1963.

Jomo Kenyatta was elected the first President of Kenya on December 12, 1964. Kenyatta was the leader of Kenya from independence in 1963 to his death in 1978, serving first as Prime Minister (1963–64) and then as President (1964–78). He is considered the founding father of the Kenyan nation.

FUN KENYA FACTS

The Republic of Kenya is named after Mount Kenya, the country's highest mountain and the second-highest in Africa, after Mount Kilimanjaro.

The town of Kericho in Kenya has more frequent hail than anywhere else on Earth, falling on an average of 132 days a year.

67 different languages are spoken in Kenya. English and Kiswahili are the official languages with the latter being the national language.

In Kenya, there is a Camel Mobile Library. Camels transport books from the Kenyan capital Nairobi to surrounding villages that are up to 248 miles away.

Kate Middleton and Prince William got engaged in a remote hut in Kenya, during a ten day trip to the country's Lewa Wildlife Conservancy.

Kenya is famous for its dominance in middle-distance and long-distance track and field, having consistently produced Olympic and Commonwealth Games champions. The country's best-known athletes include 800m world record holder David Rudisha, former Marathon world record-holder Paul Tergat.

In Kenya, one in three people lives below the poverty line on less than $2.4 (£2).

The average American consumes the same amount of resources as 32 Kenyans in a year.

Kenya is a coastal country, with a national shipping company, but not a single ship.

Source About.com