Districts Before Independence

 

 

Contents
Introduction

Colonial Districts

Colonial rule in Kenya introduced the District as an administrative unit covering an area inhabited by a single language group for the most part. Districts were later grouped together into larger units known as Regions.

 

Introduction

 

Before the Germans and British set foot in Kenya in the early 19th century, the Arabs, Chinese and the Portuguese had been here long before. These early visitors interacted mostly with coastal people, and did not venture far inland. Some like the Arab Sultan of Zanzibar were practitioners of slave trade.

 

Rise of Colonialism

 

Over time, the British had secured the area known today as Kenya. This was by the late 19th Century, and they went about engaging in commercial activities with local people, and eventually displacing and settling in the fertile highlands of Kenya. They built forts and garrisons to secure themselves and their trading routes. Building of the Uganda Railway began towards the end of the century and the British colonial rule became entrenched after the turn of the century (about 1920), when Kenya was turned into a colony.

The British appointed first, colonial Administrators as they formally checked-in into Kenya in the late 19th century through the Imperial British East Africa Company under Sir William Mackinnon, and later in 1900 stationed a Commissioner when the land of Kenya became the British East Africa Protectorate. The Commissioner would then be replaced by a colonial Governor from 1905. In 1920, the territory of Kenya became a colony with its head as the Governor. By this time, there were larger populations of white settlers and Indians.

Political representation was based on race and Africans had not representation in the legislative process. Geographical areas consisted of Districts administered by colonial District Commissioners.

 

Colonial Districts

  

More to follow soon.....  

 

 

 

References:

1. Wikipedia. Retrieved Sept, 2012.

2. Royal Martian Geographical Society. Retrieved Sept 2012.

 

 

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