Transport in Kenya
Transport in Kenya refers to the transportation structure in Kenya. The country has an extensive network of unpaved roads. Kenya's railway system links the nation's ports and major cities and connects Kenya with neighbouring Uganda. There are 15 airports with paved runways. According to the Kenya Roads Board, Kenya has 160,886 kilometres of roads. 13,900 kilometres of this are paved. They are classified into the following categories: There are around 100,000 matatus, which constitute the bulk of the country's public transport system. Once the largest bus company in Kenya, Kenya Bus Services, ran into financial difficulties, forcing them to reduce the number of buses operated, they are operating minibuses within Nairobi city, although new, city buses offering passengers higher standards of comfort and safety have been introduced on some inner-city routes. Coast Bus, the oldest bus operator in Kenya, runs a day and night service between Nairobi and the coastal city of Mombasa. Ascott operates minivans offering shuttle service between Kisii.
The Guardian bus co. Ltd, a private company which runs the Guardian Bus service, operates day and night passenger bus and courier services to a number of destinations in Western Kenya, Rift Valley and East African towns of Kampala and Mwanza. A new service has been started from Kisumu to Kigali in Rwanda. Other bus companies in Kenya include Modern Coast, Nyamira Express, Otange, MASH, Simba coach, Xenon dreamline, Messina, MAslah, Amani coaches, west coaches, Horizon, 2nk sacco, Chania Comfort, chania genesis, parrot line, x calibur and Crown Bus but there are a number of other companies which offer inter-city services such as Eldoret Express,Kawere, Greenline, Western Express, Kalita Coaches and Palmdam. There number of shuttle companies operating van to western Kenya such as Sasaline, Classic, Royal Rift, Transline msafiri, Transline classic, Premium shuttles, Nyanza shuttle, North Rift, Molo Line and Mash Poa. Taxedo In February 2004 the Ministry of Transport in Kenya introduced new regulations governing the operation of Matatus.
These regulations include: the compulsory fitting of safety belts and speed governors. In addition, standing on matatus was banned; as a result of these regulations, many matatus were taken off the road, which caused great disruption to public transport, forcing many people to walk to work. Now the situation has stabilised, the new regulations have resulted in a great reduction of the number of people killed and injured in accidents. Due to lax enforcement after the initial push, the number of deaths in road accidents had increased in recent years. On 1 December 2012 the government will begin to enforce the amended traffic act which has increased the penalties for offences. Matatu operators have protested the move through strike action. Two routes in the Trans-African Highway network pass through Kenya and the capital, Nairobi: The Cairo-Cape Town Highway, Trans-African Highway 4, linking North Africa, East Africa and Southern Africa. From Nairobi southwards this is one of the most used routes in the network, includes one of the longest complete paved sections.
However, it still has missing links to the north and it is not practical to travel to Cairo without off-road vehicles. This part will be completed as part of the LAPSSET project; the Lagos-Mombasa Highway, Trans-African Highway 8, links West Africa. It is only complete between the Ugandan–DR Congo border and Mombasa, linking the African Great Lakes region to the sea, it is named the'Trans-African Highway'. total: 16 over 3,047 m: 5 2,438 to 3,047 m: 2 1,524 to 2,437 m: 2 914 to 1,523 m: 6 under 914 m: 1 Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, is Kenya's largest airport and serves the most destinations. Some international flights go to Moi International Airport in Mombasa. Kisumu Airport was upgraded to an international airport in 2011 and a second phase of expansion is under way. In 2012, US Navy Seebees built a major new tarmac runway at Wajir Airport that can take heavy aircraft. Total: 181 1,524 to 2,437 m: 14 914 to 1,523 m: 107 under 914 m: 60 Many airports with unpaved runways serve private purposes, such as private game parks and safari lodges, but are still serviced by airlines like AirKenya Total: 2,066 km 1,000 mm metre gauge: 2,066 km The former Uganda Railway, was run by the company East African Railways.
It jointly served the present countries of Uganda and Kenya. Since the dissolution of the EAR corporation in 1977, the national company Kenya Railways Corporation runs the former Uganda Railway and its branches in Kenya; the most important line in the country runs between the port of Mombasa and Nairobi, sleeping car accommodation is offered for tourists. In 2006, the Rift Valley Railways Consortium led by South African companies took over the operation of the Kenyan and Ugandan railway network on a contract lasting 25 years, with the opportunity of renewal. After criticism from the Kenya Railways Corporation, RVR doubled the frequency of service, imposed restrictions to reduce train derailments caused by the ageing infrastructure. RVR run passenger trains within Kenya only from Nairobi to Mombasa but to local towns such as Kisumu. Passenger services on these lines are offered on peak periods only. Freight services are the bulk of RVR's operations. In 2008, agreements were made with Uganda about gauge standardisation.
African Great Lakes South Sudan – none – proposed link to Juba break-of-gauge 1,000 mm /1,067 mm Tanzania – same 1,000 mm (3 f
Uganda
Uganda the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East-Central Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, to the south by Tanzania; the southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, shared with Kenya and Tanzania. Uganda is in the African Great Lakes region. Uganda lies within the Nile basin, has a varied but a modified equatorial climate. Uganda takes its name from the Buganda kingdom, which encompasses a large portion of the south of the country, including the capital Kampala; the people of Uganda were hunter-gatherers until 1,700 to 2,300 years ago, when Bantu-speaking populations migrated to the southern parts of the country. Beginning in 1894, the area was ruled as a protectorate by the UK, who established administrative law across the territory. Uganda gained independence from the UK on 9 October 1962; the period since has been marked by intermittent conflicts, including a lengthy civil war against the Lord's Resistance Army in the Northern Region led by Joseph Kony, which has caused hundreds of thousands of casualties.
The official languages are English and Swahili, although "any other language may be used as a medium of instruction in schools or other educational institutions or for legislative, administrative or judicial purposes as may be prescribed by law." Luganda, a central language, is spoken across the country, several other languages are spoken including Runyoro, Rukiga and Lusoga. The president of Uganda is Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, who came to power in January 1986 after a protracted six-year guerrilla war, he has since eliminated the presidential term limits and the presidential age limit, becoming president for life. The residents of Uganda were hunter-gatherers until 1,700–2,300 years ago. Bantu-speaking populations, who were from central Africa, migrated to the southern parts of the country. According to oral tradition, the Empire of Kitara covered an important part of the great lakes area, from the northern lakes Albert and Kyoga to the southern lakes Victoria and Tanganyika. Bunyoro-Kitara is claimed as the antecedent of the Buganda, Toro and Busoga kingdoms.
Some Luo invaded the area of Bunyoro and assimilated with the Bantu there, establishing the Babiito dynasty of the current Omukama of Bunyoro-Kitara. Arab traders moved inland from the Indian Ocean coast of East Africa in the 1830s, they were followed in the 1860s by British explorers searching for the source of the Nile. British Anglican missionaries arrived in the kingdom of Buganda in 1877 and were followed by French Catholic missionaries in 1879; the British government chartered the Imperial British East Africa Company to negotiate trade agreements in the region beginning in 1888. From 1886, there were a series of religious wars in Buganda between Muslims and Christians and from 1890, between ba-Ingleza Protestants and ba-Fransa Catholics; because of civil unrest and financial burdens, IBEAC claimed that it was unable to "maintain their occupation" in the region. British commercial interests were ardent to protect the trade route of the Nile, which prompted the British government to annex Buganda and adjoining territories to create the Uganda Protectorate in 1894.
In the 1890s, 32,000 labourers from British India were recruited to East Africa under indentured labour contracts to construct the Uganda Railway. Most of the surviving Indians returned home, but 6,724 decided to remain in East Africa after the line's completion. Subsequently, some took control of cotton ginning and sartorial retail. From 1900 to 1920, a sleeping sickness epidemic in the southern part of Uganda, along the north shores of Lake Victoria, killed more than 250,000 people. Uganda gained independence from Britain on 9 October 1962 with Queen Elizabeth II as head of state and Queen of Uganda. In October 1963, Uganda became a republic but maintained its membership in the Commonwealth of Nations; the first post-independence election, held in 1962, was won by an alliance between the Uganda People's Congress and Kabaka Yekka. UPC and KY formed the first post-independence government with Milton Obote as executive prime minister, with the Buganda Kabaka Edward Muteesa II holding the ceremonial position of president.
Uganda's immediate post-independence years were dominated by the relationship between the central government and the largest regional kingdom – Buganda. From the moment the British created the Uganda protectorate, the issue of how to manage the largest monarchy within the framework of a unitary state had always been a problem. Colonial governors had failed to come up with a formula; this was further complicated by Buganda's nonchalant attitude to its relationship with the central government. Buganda never sought independence, but rather appeared to be comfortable with a loose arrangement that guaranteed them privileges above the other subjects within the protectorate or a special status when the British left; this was evidenced in part by hostilities between the British colonial authorities and Buganda prior to independence. Within Buganda there were divisions – between those who wanted the Kabaka to remain a dominant monarch, those who wanted to join with the rest of Uganda to create a modern secular state.
The split resulted in the creation of two dominant Buganda based parties – the Kabaka Yekka KY, the Democratic Party that had roots in the Catholic Church. The bitterness between these two parties was intense especiall
Kisumu
Kisumu known as Kisumu City, is the Kenyan inland port city on Lake Victoria and the capital city of Kisumu County, Kenya. At an elevation of 1,131 m, the city has an estimated population of 500,000, while the metropolitan region comprising the city and its suburbs and satellite towns of Maseno and Ahero was estimated at over 1.5 million as of 2017. It is the third largest city in Kenya after the capital and the coastal city of Mombasa. Kisumu is the principal city of western Kenya, the immediate former capital of Nyanza Province, the headquarters of Kisumu County and the proposed headquarters of the Lake Region Economic Block, a conglomeration of 15 counties in Western Kenya, it is the largest and most important city in the Western Kenya. Kisumu International Airport serves the city with regular flights to Nairobi and other neighboring cities such as, Kigali. Kisumu port was founded in 1901 as the main inland terminal of the Uganda Railway named "Port Florence". Although trade stagnated in the 1980s and 1990s, it is again growing around oil exports.
Kisumu means a place of barter trade "sumo". The city has "Friendship" status with Cheltenham, United Kingdom and "sister city" status with Roanoke and Boulder, United States; when the Europeans first settled in the area in the late 19th century, Kisumu became a trading post – attracting the Luo people from as far as Migori and Siaya County. The Kisumu region was occupied by the Luo community. A person going to Kisumu at that time would say, "Adhi Kisuma" to mean. Derived from the word "Kisuma", the word for a trading post in Luo is "Kisumo". In Nandi "Kesumett"; the current name Kisumu is an English corruption of the word "Kisumo" or "Kesumett". An opposing theory states that Kisumu acquired its name from'Kusuma', the Maragoli word for'trading'. Because, before the Luo arrived in the area, the Maragoli were trading with other people in the area like the Nandi and Maasai; some Luo words were acquired from the Maragoli. Kisumu city is believed to be one of the oldest settlements in Kenya. Historical records indicate that Kisumu has been dominated by diverse communities at different times long before Europeans arrived.
The people from the Nandi, Kisii, Maasai and Luhya communities converged at the tip of Lake Victoria and called the place "sumo" which means a place of barter trade. Each community called it different names, for instance: The Luo called it "Kisumo" meaning "a place to look for food" such that the Luo would say "I am going Kisuma" to mean "I am going to look for food"; the Abaluhya called it "Abhasuma" which means "a place to borrow food" such that the luhya would say "I am going Khusuma" to mean "I am going to borrow food". The Abagusii called it "egesumu" meaning "a structure for keeping/rearing chicken", it is believed the Abagusii were in Kisumu but found Kisumu was not good for crop husbandry and agriculture. The Nandi called it "Kisumett" which means a place where food was found during times of scarcity and exchange, which cannot be attacked by Nandi and Terik irrespective of any issue. Kisumu was identified by the British explorers in early 1898 as an alternative railway terminus and port for the Uganda railway under construction.
It was to replace Port Victoria an important centre on the caravan trade route, near the delta of Nzoia River. Kisumu was ideally located on the shores of Lake Victoria at the cusp of the Winam Gulf, at the end of the caravan trail from Pemba, Mombasa and had the potential for connection to the whole of the Lake region by steamers. In July 1899, the first skeleton plan for Kisumu was prepared; this included landing places and wharves along the northern lake shore, near the present-day Airport Road. Demarcations for Government buildings and retail shops were included in the plan. Another plan was prepared in May 1900, when plots were allocated to a few European firms as well as to Indian traders who had travelled to Kisumu on contracts to build the Uganda Railway and had decided to settle at the expanding terminus. A plan included a flying boat jetty. In October 1900, the 62-ton ship SS William Mackinnon was reassembled and registered in Kisumu, made its maiden voyage to Entebbe, marking the beginning of the Lake Marine Services.
The SS Winifred and the SS Sybil were added to the fleet in 1902 and 1904, respectively. On Friday, 20 December 1901, the railway line reached the Kisumu pier, with the centre adopting a new name, Port Florence. By February, the railway line had been opened for goods and passenger transportation. Kisumu was privileged to host the first flight in Kenya. Before the jet airline era, the city was a landing point on the British flying boat passenger and mail route from Southampton to Cape Town. Kisumu linked Port Bell to Nairobi. In the meantime, it was realised that the site chosen for the township north of the Nyanza Gulf was unsuitable for the town's expansion, due to its flat topography and poor soils. An alternative site was therefore identified and the town's location moved to the ridge on the southern shore of the Gulf, where the town sits today. Another plan was prepared in 1902, which provided the basic layout of the new town on the southern ridge; this was followed by the construction of a number of Government buildings, notably the former Provincial Commissioner's Office and the Old Prison.
In 1903, the township boundaries were gazetted and some 12,000 acres, including water, set aside for its development. The new townshi
South Sudan
South Sudan known as the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East-Central Africa. The country gained its independence from the Republic of the Sudan in 2011, making it the newest country with widespread recognition, its capital and largest city is Juba. South Sudan is bordered by Sudan to the north, Ethiopia to the east, Kenya to the southeast, Uganda to the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the southwest and the Central African Republic to the west, it includes the vast swamp region of the Sudd, formed by the White Nile and known locally as the Bahr al Jabal, meaning "Mountain Sea". Sudan was occupied by Egypt under the Muhammad Ali dynasty and was governed as an Anglo-Egyptian condominium until Sudanese independence in 1956. Following the First Sudanese Civil War, the Southern Sudan Autonomous Region was formed in 1972 and lasted until 1983. A second Sudanese civil war soon broke out; that year, southern autonomy was restored when an Autonomous Government of Southern Sudan was formed.
South Sudan became an independent state on 9 July 2011, following 98.83% support for independence in a January 2011 referendum. South Sudan has a population of 12 million of the Nilotic peoples. Christianity is the majority religion. In September 2017 the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict said that half of South Sudan's inhabitants are under 18 years old, it is a member of the United Nations, the African Union, the East African Community and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development. In July 2012, South Sudan signed the Geneva Conventions. South Sudan has suffered ethnic violence and has been in a civil war since 2013; as of 2018, South Sudan ranks third lowest in the latest UN World Happiness Report, has the highest score on the American Fund for Peace's Fragile States Index. The Nilotic people of South Sudan—the Acholi, Bari, Nuer, Shilluk and others—first entered South Sudan sometime before the 10th century coinciding with the fall of medieval nubia. During the period from the 15th to the 19th centuries, tribal migrations from the area of Bahr el Ghazal, brought the Anyuak, Dinka and Shilluk to their modern locations of both Bahr El Ghazal and Upper Nile Regions, while the Acholi and Bari settled in Equatoria.
The Azande, Mundu and Baka, who entered South Sudan in the 16th century, established the region's largest state of Equatoria Region. The Dinka are the largest, Nuer the second largest, the Azande the third-largest and the Bari are the fourth-largest ethnic group in the country, they are found in the Maridi and Tombura districts in the tropical rainforest belt of Western Equatoria, the Adio of Azande client in Yei, Central Equatoria and Western Bahr el Ghazal. In the 18th century, the Avungara sib rose to power over the rest of Azande society and this domination continued into the 20th century. Geographical barriers, including the swamplands along the White Nile and the British preference for sending Christian missionaries to the southern regions, including its Closed District Ordinance of 1922, helped to prevent the spread of Islam to the southerners, thus enabling them to retain their social and cultural heritage, as well as their political and religious institutions; the major reasons include the long history of British policy preference toward developing the Arab north and its ignoring the Black south.
After Sudan's first independent elections in 1958, the continued ignoring of the south by Khartoum led to uprisings and the longest civil war on the continent. As of 2012, peoples include Acholi, Azande, Balanda Bviri, Boya, Dinka, Kaligi, Lotuka, Murie, Nuer, Shilluk and Zande. Slavery had been an institution of Sudanese life throughout history; the slave trade in the south intensified in the 19th century, continued after the British had suppressed slavery in much of sub-Saharan Africa. Annual Sudanese slave raids into non-Muslim territories resulted in the capture of countless thousands of southern Sudanese, the destruction of the region's stability and economy; the Azande have had good relations with the neighbors, namely the Moru, Mundu, Pöjulu, Avukaya and the small groups in Bahr el Ghazal, due to the expansionist policy of their king Gbudwe, in the 18th century. In the 19th century, the Azande fought the French, the Belgians and the Mahdists to maintain their independence. Egypt, under the rule of Khedive Ismail Pasha, first attempted to control the region in the 1870s, establishing the province of Equatoria in the southern portion.
Egypt's first governor was Samuel Baker, commissioned in 1869, followed by Charles George Gordon in 1874 and by Emin Pasha in 1878. The Mahdist Revolt of the 1880s destabilized the nascent province, Equatoria ceased to exist as an Egyptian outpost in 1889. Important settlements in Equatoria included Lado, Gondokoro and Wadelai. European colonial maneuverings in the region came to a head in 1898, when the Fashoda Incident occurred at present-day Kodok. In 1947, British hopes to join South Sudan with Uganda, as well as leaving Western Equatoria as part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, were dashed by the Rajaf Conference to unify North and South Sudan. South Sudan has an estimated population of 8 million, given the lack of a census in several decades, this estimate may be distorted; the economy relies chiefly on subsistence farming. Around 2005, the economy began a transition from this rural dominance, urban areas within South Suda
African Great Lakes
The African Great Lakes are a series of lakes constituting the part of the Rift Valley lakes in and around the East African Rift. They include Lake Victoria, the third-largest fresh water lake in the world by area, Lake Tanganyika, the world's second-largest freshwater lake by volume and depth, Lake Malawi, the world's eighth-largest fresh water lake by area. Collectively, they contain 31,000 km3 of water, more than either Lake Baikal or the North American Great Lakes; this total constitutes about 25% of the planet's unfrozen surface fresh water. The large rift lakes of Africa are the ancient home of great biodiversity, 10% of the world's fish species live there. Countries in the African Great Lakes region include Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Rwanda and Uganda; the Great Lakes area, where colonial era borders cut through ethnic groups, has in the last 20 years been a crucible of conflict that has launched multiple uprisings and invasions. The United Nations, the United States, several European countries have special envoys or representatives to the Great Lakes region.
The following are included on most lists of the African Great Lakes, grouped by drainage basin. The exact number of lakes considered part of the African Great Lakes varies by list, may include smaller lakes in the rift valleys if they are part of the same drainage basin as the larger lakes, such as Lake Kyoga. Lake Victoria Lake Albert Lake Edward Lake Tanganyika Lake Kivu Lake Malawi Lake Turkana The African Great Lakes region consists of countries that surround the African Great Lakes, it comprises Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Rwanda and Uganda. The Bantu Swahili language is the most spoken language in the African Great Lakes region, it serves as a national or official language of four nations in the region: Tanzania, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Due to the high population density of an estimated 107 million people, the agricultural surplus in the region, the area became organized into a number of small states; the most powerful of these monarchies were Buganda, Bunyoro and Burundi.
Unusual for sub-Saharan Africa, the traditional borders were maintained by the colonial powers. Being the long sought after source of the Nile, the region had long been of interest to Europeans; the first Europeans to arrive in the region in any numbers were missionaries who had limited success in converting the locals, but did open the region to colonization. The increased contact with the rest of the world led to a series of devastating epidemics affecting both humans and livestock. While seen as a region with great potential after independence, the region has in recent decades been marred by civil war and conflict, from which only Tanzania has escaped. According to the UNHCR, Tanzania hosted the most Congolese refugees of the region; the worst affected areas have been left in great poverty. The highlands are cool, with average temperatures ranging between 17 °C and 19 °C and abundant rainfall. Major drainage basins include those of the Congo-Zaire and Zambezi rivers, which drain into the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, Indian Ocean, respectively.
Forests are dominant in the lowlands of the Congo-Zaire Basin, while grasslands and savannas are most common in the southern and eastern highlands. Temperatures in the lowlands average about 95 °F. Around Lake Turkana, the climate is hot and dry. A short rainy season in October is followed by a longer one from April to May; the Western Rift Valley lakes are home to an extraordinary number of endemic species. More than 1,500 cichlid fish species live in the lakes, as well as other fish families; the lakes are important habitats for a number of amphibian species. Nile crocodiles are numerous. Mammals include elephants and hippopotamus; the Lake Turkana area is home to hundreds of species of birds endemic to Kenya. The flamingo wades in its shallows; the East African rift system serves as a flyway for migrating birds, bringing in hundreds more. The birds are supported by plankton masses in the lake, which feed the fish there. Vegetation ranges from rainforest to savanna grasses. In some lakes growing invasive plants, like the surface-choking water hyacinth and shore-clogging papyrus, are problems.
Water hyacinth have thus far affected only Lake Victoria. Until 12 million years ago, the bountiful waters of the equatorial plateau either flowed west into the Congo River system or east to the Indian Ocean. Creation of the Great Rift Valley changed that. A rift is a weak place in Earth's crust due to the separation of two tectonic plates accompanied by a graben, or trough, in which lake water can collect; this rift began when East Africa, impelled by currents in the mantle, began separating from the rest of Africa, moving to the northeast. The basins that resulted from the geological uplifts filled with water. Lake Victoria is not within the Rift Valley, it occupies a depression between the Eastern and Western Rifts, formed by the uplift of the rifts to either side. Around two to three million years ago, Lake Turkana was larger and the area more fertile, making it a center for early hominids. Richard Leakey led numerous anthropological excavations in the area, which yielded many important discoveries of hominin remains.
The two-million-year-old Skull 1470 was found in 1972. It was thought to be Homo habilis, but some anthropologists have assigned it to a new species, Homo rudolfensis, named after the lake. In 1984, the Turkana Boy, a nearly c
Nairobi
Nairobi is the capital and the largest city of Kenya. The name comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nairobi, which translates to "cool water", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city; the city proper had a population of 3,138,369 in the 2009 census, while the metropolitan area has a population of 6,547,547. The city is popularly referred to as the Green City in the Sun. Nairobi was founded in 1899 by the colonial authorities in British East Africa, as a rail depot on the Uganda Railway; the town grew to replace Machakos as the capital of Kenya in 1907. After independence in 1963, Nairobi became the capital of the Republic of Kenya. During Kenya's colonial period, the city became a centre for the colony's coffee and sisal industry; the city lies on the River Athi in the southern part of the country, has an elevation of 1,795 metres above sea level. With a population of 3.36 million in 2011, Nairobi is the second-largest city by population in the African Great Lakes region after Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
According to the 2009 census, in the administrative area of Nairobi, 3,138,295 inhabitants lived within 696 km2. Nairobi is the 10th-largest city including the population of its suburbs. Home to thousands of Kenyan businesses and over 100 major international companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations Office at Nairobi, Nairobi is an established hub for business and culture; the Nairobi Securities Exchange is one of the largest in Africa and the second-oldest exchange on the continent. It is Africa's fourth-largest exchange in terms of trading volume, capable of making 10 million trades a day. Nairobi is found within the Greater Nairobi Metropolitan region, which consists of 5 out of 47 counties in Kenya, which generates about 60% of the entire nation's GDP; the counties are: Source: NairobiMetro/ Kenya Census The site of Nairobi was part of an uninhabited swamp. The name Nairobi itself comes from the Maasai expression meaning "cool waters", referring to the cold water stream which flowed through the area.
With the arrival of the Uganda Railway, the site was identified by Sir George Whitehouse for a store depot, shunting ground and camping ground for the Indian labourers working on the railway. Whitehouse, chief engineer of the railway, favoured the site as an ideal resting place due to its high elevation, temperate climate and being situated before the steep ascent of the Limuru escarpments, his choice was however criticised by officials within the Protectorate government who felt the site was too flat, poorly drained and infertile. In 1898, Arthur Church was commissioned to design the first town layout for the railway depot, it constituted two streets – Victoria Street and Station Street, ten avenues, staff quarters and an Indian commercial area. The railway arrived at Nairobi on 30 May 1899, soon Nairobi replaced Machakos as the headquarters of the provincial administration for Ukamba province. On the arrival of the railway, Whitehouse remarked that "Nairobi itself will in the course of the next two years become a large and flourishing place and there are many applications for sites for hotels and houses.
The town's early years were however beset with problems of malaria leading to at least one attempt to have the town moved. In the early 1900s, Bazaar Street was rebuilt after an outbreak of plague and the burning of the original town. Between 1902 and 1910, the town's population rose from 5,000 to 16,000 and grew around administration and tourism in the form of big game hunting. In 1907, Nairobi replaced Mombasa as the capital of the East Africa Protectorate. In 1908, a further outbreak of the plague led to Europeans concluding that the cause was unhygienic conditions in the Indian Bazaar; the government responded by restricting lower class Indians and African natives to specific quarters for residence and trade setting a precedent for racial segregation in the commercial sphere. By the outset of the First World War, Nairobi was well established as a European settler colony through immigration and land alienation. In 1919, Nairobi was declared to be a municipality. In 1921, Nairobi had 24,000 residents.
The next decade would see a growth in native African communities into Nairobi, where they would go on to constitute a majority for the first time. In February 1926, colonial officer Eric Dutton passed through Nairobi on his way to Mount Kenya, said of the city: Maybe one day Nairobi will be laid out with tarred roads, with avenues of flowering trees, flanked by noble buildings, and it is fair to say that the Government and the Municipality have bravely tackled the problem and that a town-plan ambitious enough to turn Nairobi into a thing of beauty has been worked out, much has been done. But until that plan has borne fruit, Nairobi must remain what she was a slatternly creature, unfit to queen it over so lovely a country; the continuous expansion of the city began to anger the Maasai, as the city was devouring their land to the south. It angered the Kikuyu people, who wanted the land returned to them. After the end of World War II, this friction developed into the Mau Mau rebellion. Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's future president, was jailed for his involvement though there was no evidence linking him to the rebellion.
The pressure exerted from the locals onto the British resulted in Kenyan independence in 1963, with Nairobi as the capital of the new republic. After independence, Nairobi grew and this growth put pressure on the city's
South Sudan – none – proposed link to Juba (2005) break-of-gauge 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in)/1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Tanzania – same 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) gauge – maybe defunct
Uganda – yes – same gauge – 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in)
This article incorporates public domain material from the CIA World Factbook website https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html.
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