1886: The European colonial powers divide Africa between them at a conference in Berlin. Germany and Britain are the main players in the game of control with East Africa. The Sultan of Oman is still granted a strip on the Coastline.
1888: Imperial British East Africa starts "economic development" in their possessions (today's Kenya and Uganda).
1894: Jomo Kenyatta is born in Ichaweri.
1895: Britain's protectorate is formed and officially named British East Africa.
1898: Construction of a railway from Mombasa to Lake Victoria is progressing fast, but delayed in Tsavo. Two lions kill and eat 135 Indian and African railway workers. Lt. Col. J.H. Patterson manages to kill the lions after hunting them for nine months. The events were dramatized in the film “The Ghost and The Darkness.” The man-eating lions are still on display in The Field Museum, Chicago.
1898: The railway reaches half way through Kenya. The city of Nairobi is founded a few years later.
1901: The railway from Mombasa to Kisumu is completed with its 965 km. European and Indian settlers now arrive in great numbers to East Africa. White settlers are favored from the beginning and given influence on the management of the colony. The African inhabitants of the "White highlands" are forced into "native reserves". In the following years several local uprisings are stopped by British soldiers. As in the other African colonies some tribes are favored by the British. This makes the foundation for jealousy, hatred and ethnic clashes for generations ahead.
1902: The border between Kenya and Uganda is adjusted. Before this Kisumu and the area around Lake Victoria was a part of Uganda.
1905: First experiments with growing coffee in Kenya are made by British settlers. Today Kenya is the African country exporting most coffee.
1907: The British colonial administration moves from Mombasa to Nairobi.
January 1914: 28 year old Karen Blixen (also known as Isak Dinesen) arrives in Kenya with her husband Bror Blixen. They settle on a farm close to Nairobi and starts growing coffee. Karen Blixen has no experience and no success with farming but after returning to Denmark in 1931 she becomes a well known writer.
1914: World War I also includes Africa. 200,000 Africans are recruited in Kenya by the British Army. One fourth of them dies.
1915: The British settlers require more land. Another 5186 hectares are taken from the Africans. The "Registration Act" forces all African adult males to carry identification whenever leaving the reserves.
1921: The protectorate becomes Kenya and gets status of British Crown Colony. A British governor administrates the colony.
1922: Foundation of East African Breweries (today: Kenya Breweries, producing the popular "Tusker" and other brands).
1922: Africans educated in the Missions starts protesting against the British policies. Harry Thuku, leader of the East African Association (EAA) is arrested. Another young Kikuyu from EAA is about to begin his career: Jomo Kenyatta leaves for university Studies in England (1931) and returns to become a political leader years later.
1923: The first tea plantation is founded in Kenya. A law ensured that only the European settlers could profit from growing tea and coffee for export.
1924: Daniel Arap Moi is born in Baringo.
1933: American writer Ernest Hemingway visits Kenya and writes some of his most famous stories.
1939: Labour unions are becoming stronger in the colony. Strikes hit Mombasa hard.
1944: An organization for African independence is formed: Kenyan African Union (KAU).
1947: Jomo Kenyatta becomes leader of KAU.
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