How Did Colonialism Affect Kenya

Colonialism negatively affected Kenya in many different aspects like the unfair treatment of Kenyan kids in education, and the treatment of Kenyan citizens as a whole. The British also impacted Kenya’s religious views, but more in a neutral way.

The colonization of Kenya happened in the context of the Berlin Conference. In the 19th century, Europeans were at a race to colonize as many territories as they can. This all started by King Leopold II of Belgium when he colonized The Democratic Republic of Congo in 1876 because it was the first European country to colonize in Africa. As a result, other European countries, like Britain, France, and Germany, wanted to colonize Africa. To settle the disputes of which country gets which territory, the

When the British came into power, the European children were the main focus while the rest of the minorities were treated poorly. An example of this was revealed by the government of Kenya in 1955, who produced a map that showed the amount of money spent on each race's quality of education. For African children the government spent 4 pounds per student, for Arabs 23 pounds per student, for Asians 21 pounds per student, and for European children 83 pounds (Doc 10). The purpose of this document was to show the citizens how unfairly there kids are being treated, how little the Europeans cared for the minorities. Another example of the British ignorance towards the minorities was written by Ngugi Wa Thiong’o in 1964. Ngugi wrote about an arrogant teacher who treated the African children of Kenya cruelly (Doc 9). As soon as the British took control of Kenya, children began to suffer because others were randomly deemed better. This unfair treatment was not only towards the children of

The Kenyans felt like they became secondary citizens in their own home One main reason they felt this way was because the British forced them to wear a degrading necklace called a kipande. It was a metal container with string that Africans were forced to wear; it reminded Africans they would always be lesser than the British. (Background Essay). Another example of Britain's ignorance is in two separate documents, one by Sir Charles Eliot and the other is a map of Africa. The document by Sir Charles Elliot illustrates how little the British care/feel for Africa and the people that live there because it says that Africa is an untouched land that the British can explore (Doc 1). The purpose of that statement was to give the British hope for the developing country. A map made five years before completely contradicts this hope by showing the amount of diverse groups in Africa (Doc 2). It showed that Africa is far from untouched, it was thriving. Furthermore, an interview between George Ronald and Chief Kabongo adds to the idea that the British cared little for the people of Kenya. During the interview the Chief describes one of his first interactions with the British and how they abruptly took there land, “He sat in our midst and he told us of the king of the Pink Cheeks (the British)... ‘This great king is now your king… And this land is all his