Portal:Kenya

Kenya portal
Kenya portal

Introduction

Location of Kenya
The flag of Kenya

Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 54.2 million as of mid-2026, it is the 27th-most populous country in the world and the seventh-most populous in Africa. Kenya's capital and largest city is Nairobi. The second-largest and oldest city is Mombasa, a port city located on Mombasa Island. Other major cities within the country include Kisumu, Nakuru and Eldoret. Going clockwise, Kenya is bordered by South Sudan to the northwest, Ethiopia to the north, Somalia to the east, the Indian Ocean to the southeast, Tanzania to the southwest, and Lake Victoria and Uganda to the west. Its geography, climate and population vary. In western Rift Valley counties, the landscape includes cold, snow-capped mountaintops (such as Batian, Nelion, and Point Lenana on Mount Kenya) with surrounding forests, wildlife, and fertile agricultural regions in temperate climates. In other areas there are dry, arid, and semi-arid climates, as well as absolute deserts (such as the Chalbi Desert and Nyiri Desert).

Kenya's earliest inhabitants included some of the first humans to evolve from ancestral members of the genus Homo. Ample fossil evidence for this evolutionary history has been found at Koobi Fora. Later, Kenya was inhabited by hunter-gatherers similar to the present-day Hadza people. According to archaeological dating of associated artefacts and skeletal material, Cushitic speakers first settled in the region's lowlands between 3,200 and 1,300 BC, a phase known as the Lowland Savanna Pastoral Neolithic. Nilotic-speaking pastoralists (ancestral to Kenya's Nilotic speakers) began migrating from present-day South Sudan into Kenya around 500 BC. Bantu people settled at the coast and the interior between 250 BC and 500 AD. European contact began in 1500 AD with the Portuguese Empire, and effective colonisation of Kenya began in the 19th century during the European exploration of Africa. Modern-day Kenya emerged from a protectorate, established by the British Empire in 1895, and the subsequent Kenya Colony, which began in 1920. Mombasa was the capital of the British East Africa Protectorate, which included most of what is now Kenya and southwestern Somalia, from 1889 to 1907. Disputes between the UK and the colony led to the Mau Mau revolution, which began in 1952, and the declaration of Kenya's independence in 1963. After independence, Kenya remained a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.

Kenya is a presidential representative democratic republic, in which elected officials represent the people and the president is the head of state and government. The country is a member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization, COMESA, International Criminal Court, as well as several other international organisations. It is also a major non-NATO ally of the United States. Kenya's economy is the largest in East and Central Africa, with Nairobi serving as a major regional commercial hub. With a per-capita Gross National Income of $2,110, the country is a lower-middle-income economy. Agriculture is the country's largest economic sector; tea and coffee are the sector's traditional cash crops, while fresh flowers are a fast-growing export. The service industry, particularly tourism, is also one of the country's major economic drivers. Kenya is a member of the East African Community trade bloc, though some international trade organisations categorise it as part of the Greater Horn of Africa. Africa is Kenya's largest export market, followed by the European Union. (Full article...)

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A gathering of Maasai men in 2005

The Maasai (/ˈmɑːsaɪ, mɑːˈsaɪ/) are an Eastern Nilotic ethnic group native to northern, central and southern regions of Kenya including northern Tanzania, near the African Great Lakes region. Their native language is Maa, a Nilotic language related to Dinka, Kalenjin and Nuer, a branch within the broader Nilo-Saharan language family. Except for some elders living in rural areas, most Maasai people speak the official languages of Kenya and Tanzania—Swahili and English.

The Maasai population has been reported as numbering 1,189,522 in Kenya in the 2019 census compared to 377,089 in the 1989 census. (Full article...)

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Sunset with Boats in Mombasa
Sunset with Boats in Mombasa
Sunset with boats in Mombasa, Kenya.

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Nakuru skyline

Nakuru is capital of Kenya's Nakuru County. It is the largest urban centre in midwestern Kenya with 307,990 inhabitants and the fourth largest urban centre in the country. It lies about 1850 m above sea level. (Read more...)

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View of the coast from Msambweni Beach Hotel

Msambweni (meaning "land of Msambwe" in Swahili) is a small fishing town and constituency in Kwale County of southeastern Kenya, formerly in Kwale District of Coast Province. The origin of the name, Msambwe (plural Misambwe) refers to a hardy and wild fruits (sambwe) tree indigenous to the area. A few remnants of the Msambwe trees are still existing at Mkunguni Beach, Sawa Sawa Village. By road, Msambweni is 55.4 kilometres (34.4 mi) south of Mombasa and 46.5 kilometres (28.9 mi) northeast of Lunga Lunga on the Tanzanian border. As of 2009, the town had a population of 11,985 people.

Fishing is the primary source of income, although coconut palm, buxa coloring, cashew nuts and fruits are produced for trade. Because of its reef and extensive beaches, the snorkeling industry is gaining in popularity in Msambweni, and holiday cottages and hotels have sprung up in the area, such as the Msambweni Beach House. The town is noted for its leprosarium and contains the Msambweni District Hospital. The Koromojo Dam is immediately north of the town. (Full article...)

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Ali Al'amin Mazrui (24 February 1933 – 12 October 2014), was a Kenyan-born American academic, professor, and political writer on African and Islamic studies, and North-South relations. He was born in Mombasa, Kenya. His positions included Director of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies at Binghamton University in Binghamton, New York, and Director of the Center for Afro-American and African Studies at the University of Michigan. He produced the 1980s television documentary series The Africans: A Triple Heritage. (Full article...)

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In the news

Wikinews Kenya portal
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19 August 2026 – 2026 Mount Ololokwe helicopter crash
Six passengers, including Ecuadorian intelligence head Michele Sensi-Contugi and his wife, and the pilot are killed in a helicopter crash on Mount Ololokwe in Samburu County, Kenya. (NBC News)
29 July 2026 – Somali Civil War
Five soldiers are killed in a shootout with Al-Shabaab gunmen in Mandera County, Kenya. (Garowe Online)
29 July 2026 –
Kenya Wildlife Service says preliminary tests indicated cyanide-contaminated tomatoes may have killed 15 elephants near Amboseli National Park over the past month, warning that livestock grazing in the area could also be exposed. (AFP via The Manila Times)
15 July 2026 – Cannabis in Kenya
Kenya's High Court rejects a Rastafarian petition seeking a religious exemption from cannabis laws, ruling that the group does not show the laws violate religious freedom. (AFP via NDTV)
10 July 2026 – 2026 Diamond League
Kenyan middle-distance runner Emmanuel Wanyonyi breaks the men's 1,000 metres ​world record in two minutes ‌and 11.83 seconds at the Herculis in Monaco. (Reuters)
30 June 2026 – Human rights in Kenya
According to witnesses, one person is killed and two others are injured when Kenyan police open fire during a protest in Mathare, Nairobi against reported abductions, amid concerns over security abuses. (Reuters)

Selected panorama -

Panorama of Kisumu from Lake Victoria
Panorama of Kisumu from Lake Victoria
Kisumu is the largest city in the Western region of Kenya and the third largest city in the country.

General images -

The following are images from various Kenya-related articles on Wikipedia.

Topics in Kenya

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