MAPS OF HISTORY · HISTORY OF · Kenya

ONE LAND · 3 ATLASES

Kenya, on the map of history

What was Kenya before it was Kenya? Below, every era of this land in the Maps of History collection — who ruled it, what it was called, and when control changed — each line linked to the dated map that shows it. Modern borders stand in as an honest approximation; every atlas says so on the map itself.

Kenya · The Great War, 1914–1918

OPEN WWI ON THE LIVING MAP →

Kenya · The Cold War, 1945–1991

OPEN THE COLD WAR ON THE LIVING MAP →

Kenya · The Decolonization of Africa, 1945–1994

Kenya was a settler colony, and so its road ran through war: the Mau Mau uprising of the 1950s and its brutal suppression — detention camps, tens of thousands dead — preceded a negotiated independence in December 1963. Jomo Kenyatta, jailed by the British as a Mau Mau leader, took power preaching Harambee and reconciliation with the settlers who remained. Freedom bought with an insurgency the British fought savagely and long tried to forget.

OPEN THE DECOLONIZATION OF AFRICA ON THE LIVING MAP →