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Portal:Kenya

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Kenya portal
Kenya portal

Introduction

Location of Kenya
The flag of Kenya

Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya (Swahili: Jamhuri ya Kenya), is a country in East Africa. With a population of more than 47.6 million in the 2019 census, Kenya is the 28th-most-populous country in the world and 7th most populous in Africa. Kenya's capital and largest city is Nairobi, while its oldest and second-largest city, is the major port city of Mombasa, situated on Mombasa Island in the Indian Ocean and the surrounding mainland. 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. Other important cities include Kisumu and Nakuru. Kenya is bordered by South Sudan to the northwest, Ethiopia to the north, Somalia to the east, Uganda to the west, Tanzania to the south, and the Indian Ocean to the southeast. Kenya's geography, climate and population vary widely, ranging from cold snow-capped mountaintops (Batian, Nelion and Point Lenana on Mount Kenya) with vast surrounding forests, wildlife and fertile agricultural regions to temperate climates in western and rift valley counties and further on to dry less fertile arid and semi-arid areas and absolute deserts (Chalbi Desert and Nyiri Desert).

Kenya's earliest inhabitants were hunter-gatherers, like the present-day Hadza people. According to archaeological dating of associated artifacts and skeletal material, Cushitic speakers first settled in Kenya'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 the interior. Modern-day Kenya emerged from a protectorate established by the British Empire in 1895 and the subsequent Kenya Colony, which began in 1920. Numerous disputes between the UK and the colony led to the Mau Mau revolution, which began in 1952, and the declaration of independence in 1963. After independence, Kenya remained a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The current constitution was adopted in 2010 and replaced the 1963 independence constitution.

Kenya is a presidential representative democratic republic, in which elected officials represent the people and the president is the head of state and government. Kenya is a member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization, COMESA, International Criminal Court, as well as other international organisations. With a GNI of 1,840, Kenya is a lower-middle-income economy. Kenya's economy is the second largest in eastern and central Africa, after Ethiopia, with Nairobi serving as a major regional commercial hub. Agriculture is the largest sector; tea and coffee are traditional cash crops, while fresh flowers are a fast-growing export. The service industry is also a major economic driver, particularly tourism. 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...)


A male Rothschild's giraffe at Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda
Rothschild's giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi) is a subspecies of the Northern giraffe. It is one of the most endangered distinct populations of giraffe, with 1,399 mature individuals estimated in the wild in 2018. (Full article...)
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Fort Jesus
Fort Jesus

A photo of a section of Fort Jesus as the window to the sea in Old Town Mombasa, Mombasa County, Kenya.

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Mombasa Downtown

Mombasa is the second-largest city in Kenya, with a population of about one million. A regional cultural and economic hub, Mombasa has a large port and an international airport, and is an important regional tourism centre. Located on the east coast of Kenya, in Mombasa County and the former Coast Province, Mombasa's bordering the Indian Ocean made it a historical trading centre, and it has been controlled by many countries because of its strategic location.

Administratively, Mombasa is the capital of, and is coincident with, Mombasa County.. (Read more...)

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This is a Good article, an article that meets a core set of high editorial standards.

A lion in Nairobi National Park, December 2016

Nairobi National Park is a national park in Kenya that was established in 1946 about 7 km (4.3 mi) south of Nairobi. It is fenced on three sides, whereas the open southern boundary allows migrating wildlife to move between the park and the adjacent Kitengela plains. Herbivores gather in the park during the dry season. Nairobi National Park is negatively affected by increasing human and livestock populations, changing land use and poaching of wildlife.

Despite its proximity to the city and its relative small size, it boasts a large and varied wildlife population, and is one of Kenya's most successful rhinoceros sanctuaries. (Full article...)

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Dame Daphne Marjorie Sheldrick, DBE (née Jenkins; 4 June 1934 – 12 April 2018) was a Kenyan of British descent, author, conservationist and expert in animal husbandry, particularly the raising and reintegrating of orphaned elephants into the wild for over 30 years. She was the founder of the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. (Full article...)
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  • ... that Kenyan coffee farmer "Pinkie" Jackson amassed Africa's largest collection of native butterflies?
  • ... that Gloria Orwoba raised awareness about period poverty by appearing in the Senate of Kenya in apparently blood-stained trousers?
  • ... that Kenya Grace shot her first music video after becoming a finalist in a competition?
  • ... that Anthony Vaz was the first flag bearer and team captain for Kenya at the Olympics?
  • ... that British outrage at the sentencing of a white Kenyan settler to just two years' imprisonment for the 1923 killing of a black employee eventually led to the replacement of the colony's legal code?
  • ... that Tropical Storm Eliakim enhanced rainfall and brought flooding to Kenya despite the storm making landfall on Madagascar?

In the news

Wikinews Kenya portal
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23 May 2024 – Kenya–United States relations
U.S. President Joe Biden announces during a state visit by Kenyan President William Ruto that he will designate Kenya a major non-NATO ally as it is expected to lead the international intervention in Haiti. (Reuters) (NPR)
5 May 2024 – 2024 Kenya floods
The death toll from the ongoing flooding in Kenya increases to 228. (Reuters)
1 May 2024 – 2024 Kenya floods
The death toll from ongoing flooding in Kenya increases to 181, as more homes and roads are destroyed. (Reuters)
30 April 2024 – 2024 Kenya floods
The death toll from ongoing flooding in Kenya increases to 169, with 91 people reported missing. (The Washington Post)
29 April 2024 – Somali civil war
Five people are killed and five more injured in a bomb attack in El Wak town in Mandera County, northern Kenya, near the border with Somalia. (AP)
29 April 2024 – 2024 Kenya floods
2024 Kenya dam failure

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Credit: Nite Owl
Nairobi is the largest city in East and Central Africa. Nairobi is one of the most prominent cities in Africa both politically and financially. Home to thousands of Kenyan businesses and over 100 major international companies and organisations, including the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the main co-ordinating and headquarters for the UN in Africa & Middle East, the United Nations Office in Nairobi (UNON), Nairobi is an established hub for business and culture. The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is one of the largest in Africa and the second oldest exchange on the continent.

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

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