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, and a population projection as of mid-2024 of 52.4 million, 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. (Full article...)


Coat of arms of the Kenya Defence Forces

The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) (Swahili: Majeshi ya Ulinzi ya Kenya, stylized as "KENYA ARMED FORCES" capitalized on its coat of arms) are the armed forces of the Republic of Kenya. They are made up of the Kenya Army, Kenya Navy, and Kenya Air Force. The current KDF was established, and its composition stipulated, in Article 241 of the 2010 Constitution of Kenya; it is governed by the KDF Act of 2012. Its main mission is the defence and protection of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Kenya, recruitment to the KDF is done on yearly basis. The President of Kenya is the commander-in-chief of the KDF, and the Chief of Defence Forces is the highest-ranking military officer, and the principal military adviser to the President of Kenya.

The Defence Forces, like many Kenyan government institutions, has been tainted by corruption. Because the military have been traditionally cloaked by the blanket of "state security", the corruption has been less in public view, and thus less subject to public scrutiny and notoriety. But in 2010, credible claims of corruption were made with regard to recruitment, and procurement of Armoured Personnel Carriers. The decision on the Northrop F-5 "Tiger" aircraft procurement have been publicly questioned. In 2015, credible allegations were made that the KDF is involved with sugar smuggling from southern Somalia into Kenya, to avoid import dues. (Full article...)

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Kenyan Highway
Kenyan Highway

A woman walks along Kenyan highway A104, which dwarfs Mount Longonot in Nakuru County in the background.

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Sunset at Tsavo East National Park mostly located in Kitui County
Sunset at Tsavo East National Park mostly located in Kitui County

Kitui County is a county of Kenya. Its capital and largest town is Kitui, although Mwingi is also another major urban centre. The county has a population of 1,012,709 (2009 census) and an area of 20,402 km². (Read more...)

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Ruins of the Great Mosque at Gedi

The ruins of Gedi are a UNESCO World Heritage site near the Indian Ocean coast of eastern Kenya. The site is adjacent to the town of Gedi (also known as Gede) in the Kilifi District and within the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest.

Gedi is one of many medieval Swahili coastal settlements that stretch from Barawa, Somalia to the Zambezi River in Mozambique. There are 116 known Swahili sites stretching from southern Somalia to Vumba Kuu at the Kenya-Tanzania border. Since the rediscovery of the Gedi ruins by colonialists in the 1920s, Gedi has been one of the most intensely excavated and studied of those sites, along with Shanga, Manda, Ungwana, Kilwa, and the Comoros. (Full article...)

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Kiplagat at the 2013 World Championships

Edna Ngeringwony Kiplagat (born 15 November 1979) is a Kenyan professional long-distance runner. She was the 2011 and 2013 World Champion in the marathon. She established herself as an elite marathon runner with wins at the Los Angeles and New York City Marathons in 2010. Her personal best for the distance is 2:19:50 hours, set at the London Marathon in 2012. At age 37, Kiplagat won the 2017 Boston Marathon in a time of 2:21:52 hours, and won the marathon silver medal at the IAAF World Championships in London. At age 39, she was second at the 2019 Boston Marathon and fourth in the event at the following World Championships. At age 41, she won the 2021 Boston Marathon, becoming the oldest-ever winner of a World Marathon Major (male or female). (Full article...)

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In the news

Wikinews Kenya portal
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10 January 2025 –
Three people on the ground are killed and three others are injured when a Cessna 172 aircraft crashes into a road near Malindi, Kenya. (AP)
30 December 2024 –
Kenya Police fire tear gas at demonstrators in Nairobi protesting against alleged government extrajudicial abductions in the past few months. (Al Jazeera)
10 December 2024 –
Kenya Police fire tear gas at hundreds of demonstrators in Nairobi, Kenya, protesting against gender-based violence and femicide. Protests also took place in Mombasa and Lodwar, with at least three people arrested. (Al Jazeera) (Africanews)
3 November 2024 – 2024 New York City Marathon
Somali-Dutch distance runner Abdi Nageeye wins the 53rd New York City Marathon men's race with a time of 2:07:39. Kenyan distance runner Sheila Chepkirui wins the women's race with a time of 2:24:35. (The New York Times)
1 November 2024 –
Kenyan Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki is sworn in as Deputy President of Kenya after the High Court lifted an order that prevented Kindiki's swearing-in yesterday. (AP)
18 October 2024 –
Kenya's National Assembly unanimously approves Interior Secretary Kithure Kindiki as the new Deputy President following his nomination by President William Ruto. However, the High Court temporarily suspends the impeachment of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua in order to hear challenges. (AP)

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