Early History
before 1815 		1886-1918







Kenya 1815-1886



First, Kenya as a geographical and political entity did not take shape before the period of High Imperialism. What is referred to here therefore is the history of the region that was to become Kenya.

In 1824-1826, Mombasa was under a British Protectorate. In 1837, a fleet from Zanzibar took Mombasa, which it regarded a renegade city. Members of the ruling MAZRU'I DYNASTY were arrested and executed, Mombasa made a part of the Sultanate of Zanzibar.
Throughout the 19th center the British undertook steps to suppress slavery. In 1845, the Sultan of Zanzibar accepted that slave trade was restricted to the region between Kilwa and Lamu (i.e. his realm). In 1877, inland slave caravans were outlawed as well. Slave traders, outraged over British interference in Zanzibari affairs, attacked a British mission station in Mombasa in 1880; missionaries had come to Mombasa as early as 1846.
Late in the 19th century, colonial powers were interested in the region. The British could claim an interest in Mombasa (reaching back to 1824); British explorers such as J.H. SPEKE had explored the interior venturing out from Mombasa. Meanwhile, German colonial politicians gained treaties from African chiefs from WITULAND, in which the African chiefs asked for German protection.
In 1886, Britain and Germany signed a treaty according to which German East Africa (Tanganyika, with Zanzibar and Pemba) would be German, British East Africa (Kenya, with the Wituland) would be British.







EXTERNAL
FILES 		Articles from Infoplease : Kenya
Kenyan History, by Timothy F. Bliss
Mombasa's History, from Mombasa Online
Kenyan History : the Omani Hegemony, from Timothy F. Bliss Links on Kenyan History from Looksmart
DOCUMENTS Map of Kenya, from Timothy F. Bliss
REFERENCE The History of the Mazru'i Dynasty of Mombasa, by Shaykh al-Amin bin Ali al Mazru'i, edited by Oxford University Press in Engl. translation



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2001, last revised on November 7th 2004

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