Kenya History Tag Archive

Why Kenya’s National Anthem is So Beautiful

For a song made from a lullaby, Kenya's national anthem is too lit! It sounds like something from the starting sequence of a movie. The anthem was made a committee, and chosen by a group of screaming fans. Citizens, I meant citizens.

The Racist Origins of the Word ‘Kyuk’ for Kikuyu

By Amol Awuor Long before the word ‘Kyuk’ or ‘Kiuk’ became a cool word to make reference to the Kikuyu community; it was a racist slur popularized by the colonial officers and settlers to demoralize and demonize members of the Kikuyu community.

How salvage from a World War I Naval Battle ended up at the Kenya Railway Museum

If you have ever been to the Kenya Railways Museum, chances are you have walked right past an unassuming dining set. Unknown to many a viewer, that is the Wardroom Dining Set that was salvaged from a German warship that lost the Battle of the Rufiji Delta.

How Kenya got The Ten-Mile Coastal Strip

The ownership of Kenya’s coastline has been a matter of contention since the Sultan of Zanzibar officially signed it away in 1963. The claims for secession are often accompanied by the history of the great Zanzibar sultanate which once stretched to what is today the Kenyan coastline.

7 Unsolved Murders of Young Women in Kenya

On the morning of Valentines Day 2012, Careen Chepchumba's brother accessed her apartment at Santonia Court, off Kirichwa Road. She had been incommunicado since February 12th. In the bedroom, he saw her in bed, tidily covered with a bed sheet. There was music playing from a laptop placed on the bedside table. Nothing looked amiss. Except that Careen had been dead for 18 hours.

In McMillan’s Underbelly: The Quest for Kenya’s History

This piece was originally published on the Medium Blog here.  I hadn’t planned to spend my entire afternoon like this. At least not at first. I was in town, with a few hours to kill and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them. I always know, but I never get round to …