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 the interior. 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...)


Lake Baringo is, after Lake Turkana, the most northern of the Kenyan Rift Valley lakes, with a surface area of 130 square kilometres (50 sq mi) and an elevation of 970 metres (3,180 ft). The lake is fed by several rivers: the Molo, Perkerra and Ol Arabel. It has no obvious outlet; the waters are assumed to seep through lake sediments into the faulted volcanic bedrock. It is one of the two freshwater lakes in the Rift Valley in Kenya, the other being Lake Naivasha.

The lake is in a remote hot and dusty area with over 470 species of birds, occasionally including migrating flamingos. A Goliath heronry is located on a rocky islet in the lake known as Gibraltar. (Full article...)
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Sunrise in Mombasa
Sunrise in Mombasa

Sunrise in Mombasa, Kenya over the Indian Ocean. Mombasa is currently 2nd largest city in Kenya. It is located in Mombasa County.

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Lake Michaelson is in the background
Lake Michaelson is in the background

Meru County is one of the 47 counties of Kenya, located in the former Eastern Province. In 1992, it was split from the large Meru District, along with Meru North District, Meru South District, and Tharaka-Nithi County. Its capital and largest town is Meru. Its population is 1,356,301 as of 2009. (Read more...)

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Mount Kenya (Meru: Kĩrĩmaara, Kikuyu: Kĩrĩnyaga, Kamba: Ki Nyaa, Embu: Kirinyaa) is an extinct volcano in Kenya and the second-highest peak in Africa, after Kilimanjaro. The highest peaks of the mountain are Batian (5,199 metres (17,057 feet)), Nelion (5,188 m (17,021 ft)) and Point Lenana (4,985 m (16,355 ft)). Mount Kenya is located in the former Eastern and Central provinces of Kenya; its peak is now the intersection of Meru, Embu, Kirinyaga, Nyeri and Tharaka Nithi counties, about 16.5 kilometres (10.3 miles) south of the equator, around 150 km (90 mi) north-northeast of the capital Nairobi. Mount Kenya is the source of the name of the Republic of Kenya.

Mount Kenya is a volcano created approximately 3 million years after the opening of the East African Rift. Before glaciation, it was 7,000 m (23,000 ft) high. It was covered by an ice cap for thousands of years. This has resulted in very eroded slopes and numerous valleys radiating from the peak. There are currently 11 small glaciers, which are shrinking rapidly, and may disappear by 2050. The forested slopes are an important source of water for much of Kenya. (Full article...)

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Jua Cali during a photo shoot for his album, Ngeli ya Genge in 2009
Paul Julius Nunda (born 12 September 1979), better known by his stage name Jua Cali, is a Kenyan rapper and record producer. In 2000, together with record producer Clemo, he founded Calif Records where he has been ever since, producing music which dominated East African music alongside Jose Chameleone of Uganda and Mr. Nice of Tanzania. Jua Cali performs in Swahili and Sheng in a popular Kenyan style of rapping called genge. (Full article...)
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  • ... that squatters were one of the groups that started the Mau Mau rebellion?
  • ... that British outrage at the sentencing of a white Kenyan settler to just two years' imprisonment for the 1923 killing of a black employee eventually led to the replacement of the colony's legal code?
  • ... that Kenyan theologian Mary Getui was named a Moran of the Burning Spear?
  • ... that Gloria Orwoba raised awareness about period poverty by appearing in the Senate of Kenya in apparently blood-stained trousers?
  • ... that Kenyan coffee farmer "Pinkie" Jackson amassed Africa's largest collection of native butterflies?
  • ... that Kenya Grace shot her first music video after becoming a finalist in a competition?

In the news

Wikinews Kenya portal
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16 July 2024 – Kenya Finance Bill protests
Police fire tear gas and water cannons at anti-government protestors as demonstrations continue in cities across Kenya, calling for the removal of President William Ruto. (Al Jazeera)
15 July 2024 –
The prime suspect arrested over the discovery of nine mutilated female bodies in a rubbish dump in the Mukuru slums of Nairobi, Kenya, confesses to killing 42 women. Another man is also arrested. (Al Jazeera)
11 July 2024 – Kenya Finance Bill protests
Kenyan President William Ruto dismisses all of his cabinet ministers as well as the attorney general in response to deadly protests against a finance bill drafted by his administration. (BBC News)
2 July 2024 – Kenya Finance Bill protests
Protests against the controversially rejected Kenyan finance bill and President William Ruto continue in major cities in the country, with the National Commission on Human Rights reporting at least 39 people killed and 361 injured in the protests. (Al Jazeera)
27 June 2024 – Kenya Finance Bill protests
Thousands of people protest in cities across Kenya, calling for the removal of President William Ruto. (Al Jazeera)
26 June 2024 – Kenya Finance Bill protests
President William Ruto withdraws the controversial Kenya Finance Bill 2024 following an assault on the parliament that killed multiple people. (Reuters)

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