19 Oct 1905 — For a decade, the Nandi leader Koitalel arap Samoei had resisted the railway. A British officer shoots him dead at a meeting called to make peace. Remember him; his people lost their best land.
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19 OCTOBER 1905 · TWO ROADS TO INDEPENDENCE: HAITI 1789–1838 AND KENYA 1895–1978
The moment in context
The Uganda Railway reached the interior in stages. Workers laid the first rail at Mombasa on 30 May 1896, reached the depot town of Nairobi in May 1899, and arrived at Lake Victoria at Kisumu on 20 December 1901. Britain recruited 31,983 workers in British India; 2,493 died and 6,724 stayed. Those who remained helped begin Kenya’s Asian community, shown by the arrow from the eastern edge.
Why it happened — A railway that needed freight. Britain built the Uganda Railway to secure Uganda and the Nile. Once the line was built, its cost—about £5.5 million, far above early…
The turn — The Nairobi police lines, 16 March 1922. Kikuyu, Kamba and others had joined Thuku’s campaign against the pass, taxes and wage cuts. His arrest brought perhaps 7,000 people to the capital…
What it changed — Kikuyu land politics takes the lead. The Kikuyu Central Association pursued land claims through evidence and petitions. It collected accounts of lost fields for the Kenya Land…
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