What were the main factors that made Kenya independent?

What were the main factors that made Kenya independent?



Colonialism is a tremendous part of the global history. You can argue that this process began when “The Partition of Africa”, 1884-1902, began. The European powers created a struggle of colonies, which means that the most major European powers struggled to gain as many colonies as possible. The time passed and after the Second World War, certain colonies began a struggle of independence. Certainly, the Europeans rejected this idea mainly because the colonies offered them significant benefits. The struggle of independence became more and more visible and powerful and became even supported, to a certain extent, by two of the world powers, the USSR and the USA. In the beginning of 1950, certain colonies gained independence. The process of independence was diverse in every area. Each colony had its certain pathway to follow. I will take a closer look to the decolonization in Kenya, which is located in East Africa, and answer to the essay question “What were the main factors that made Kenya independent?”

Firstly, even if each colony developed its own pathway of independence struggle, there existed some similarities within these processes. The big majority of the European powers were affected, to a large extent, by the nationalist movements within the colonies, the effects of the Second World War and the outside pressures. [1]

The nationalist movements were significant for the decolonization. These movements might have been caused by the British themselves. From 1895, when Kenya became a part of the British East Africa, the imperialists created miserable conditions for the natives. In the beginning of the century, the British desired to obtain profits. They wanted to make the farms productive, and did so by confiscating land and force black people to work the land.[2] This procedure started to cause, already then, small numbers of enemies. Before the Second World War, the British colonial policies might have played a big part in Kenya’s poverty and starvation. The miserable social and economical conditions that the British might have caused gave birth to nationalist movements, which played an important part in decolonization in Kenya.

When Kenyan soldiers returned home after taking part in the Second World War, they observed the big contrasts between African colonies and the places were they fought. The soldiers that took part in the war, became also aware of the fact that is was possible to defeat the “superior” Europeans.
The new conceptions about the Europeans and the vast differences of social existing, which the soldiers became aware of came in combination with the outside pressures.
The outside pressures were caused, for example by the USA and USSR, which were anti colonialism and pressured the countries that owned colonies to give up their empires. All these encouraged the native population to expressing their desire of being independent.

Secondly, the Kikuyu people and the Mau Mau played to a certain extent the biggest part in Kenya’s decolonization.

The Kikuyu people are an ethnic group in Kenya, which has its home in the highland and is considered as the most economically active ethnic group in Kenya.[3] The British confiscated the highland area, which was the most desirable agricultural area in the country and which belonged to the Kikuyu people. In the beginning of the 40’s the Kikuyu people had no rights on their former property and were used as laborers.[4]
This unfair method gave birth to an uprising, which was the first genuine opposition against the British. The Kikuyu people catalyzed the independence process.
The critical rural conditions caused urbanization; people moved to big cities to improve their living through working but there the situation was complicated as well.
Slowly but efficiently the opposition grew and in the beginning of the 50’s the opposition merged together and formed Mau Mau, which was for the native population “the sound of liberty”[5]

The Mau Mau opposition was built also by other ethnic groups. Finally, Mau Mau merged together and began an uprising, and a British family was murdered by the supporters of Mau Mau for the first time. This was the spark for the gory conflict that took place between 1953 and 1960. In the beginning of the 60’s the Mau Mau rebellions had been defeated, though it may have hastened Kenyan independence and made the British aware of the local force.

Ultimately, after years of conflict Kenya gained independence, 1963. Kenya gained independence also because own efforts as the Mau Mau opposition and the Kikuyu highland uprising. These developments were catalyzed by the effects of the Second World War, outside pressures and the nationalist movements.
Kenya was only a diminutive part of Britain’s huge empire. This period will remain a dark period in Britain’s history, but it is important to remember that most of the countries have, more or less, a part of their history which they are not proud of.


[1] Lowe, page 25, 26
[2] http://www.casahistoria.net/Imperialism%20in%20Kenya.pdf
[3] http://www.kukummi.org/Stories/kikuyuhistory.html
[4] http://www.casahistoria.net/Imperialism%20in%20Kenya.pdf
[5] http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050221/eviatar