KENYA. - I. GEOGRAPHY. - British colony and protectorate in East Africa, south of Ethiopia. The territory (583,000 sq. km., of which 5,645 belong to the protectorate along the coast between the mouth of the Umba and Lamu) consists of high plateaus rising from 1,200 to 2,000 m., which extend from the low, hot alluvial strip on the Indian Ocean to the western border (Uganda), interrupted by the tectonic trench in which the lakes lie (Rudolf, Victoria).
The climate is almost everywhere healthy even for Europeans. Savanna and steppe largely predominate, but the best lands are in the south and west, where economic development has been more rapid. The population (5.2 million inhabitants in 1948; 9 per sq. km.) is highly varied: alongside the natives live 91,000 Asians (mostly Indians), 24,000 Arabs and 30,000 Europeans. Agriculture, livestock raising and forestry are the prevailing occupations: the first of cereals, tea, sugar cane, cotton, coconut, peanuts, etc.; the second has already constituted a substantial asset (cattle, sheep, goats); the last is still in its beginnings. From the subsoil only gold is extracted. Nairobi (61,000 inhabitants; inland at 1,675 m.) is the capital; Mombasa (57,000 inhabitants) is the main port. The colony is governed by a governor and by councils that are partly elective.
Bibliography
Giuseppe Caraci
II. HISTORY
Before European expansion in Africa, the coasts of present-day K. were subject to the sovereignty of the sultanate of Zanzibar.
The Anglo-German agreements of 1886 and 1890 delimited the zones of influence over the sultanate's hinterland and secured this territory for Great Britain. England, however, did not immediately take possession of the territory belonging to it, which was instead administered by the British East Africa Company. In 1895 the East Africa Protectorate was constituted. In July 1920 it received the status of crown colony and took its name of K. from the country's highest mountain. Administered by a governor, who is the head of an executive council and of a legislative council, the latter of which includes representatives of the white colonizers, of the Indians, of the Arabs and of the Blacks, the colony, because of the variety of its races, presents no small difficulties of government.
Bibliography2 works
Silvio Parlani
III. EVANGELIZATION
In the early days of the conquest, in the 16th century, the Portuguese built small forts at Melinde and Mombasa on the coast of K. as transit points for India. The Augustinians, from their convent at Mombasa, exercised the care of souls, concerning themselves mainly with the Portuguese. In 1630 missionary activity among the natives began for a short time, since Don Jeronymo, Jussuf ben Hassani, educated in the Augustinian College of Goa, had ascended the throne. But unfortunately, shortly afterward he apostatized, persecuted the Portuguese and the Christians, who for the most part either apostatized or were sold as slaves, and moreover destroyed the churches and drove out the Portuguese, slaughtering a great many of them. Later the Portuguese recovered Mombasa, but further missionary activity remained fruitless. Toward the end of the 17th century the Portuguese were forced to cede Mombasa definitively to the Arabs.
Only in the second half of the 19th century was the mission resumed. In 1860 Msgr. Maupoint of the diocese of St-Denis (Réunion), appointed apostolic prefect of Zanguebar, sent his vicar general Fava to Zanzibar, and in 1863 called the Fathers of the Holy Spirit to collaborate, to whom in 1872 the mission of Zanguebar was officially entrusted, which comprised the entire eastern coast of Africa from Mozambique as far as Somalia. From this mission numerous territories were subsequently detached.
On the coast of K. the Fathers of the Holy Spirit founded the mission of Mombasa in 1891, and in 1899, in the interior, that of Nairobi. Excellent successes were obtained by the missionaries of the Consolata from the beginning of the 20th century among the Kikuyu and Ameru, and by the Fathers of Mill Hill among the Kavirondo. The northern part of K. remains to this day without missionaries.
K. is divided into 4 ecclesiastical circumscriptions: apostolic vicariate of Zanzibar (its present name since 1906), erected as apostolic prefecture of Zanguebar in 1860, apostolic vicariate in 1883, comprising the Island of Zanzibar and the greater part of K., entrusted to the missionaries of the Holy Spirit. Apostolic vicariate of Nyeri, erected in 1905 as a mission, in 1909 as apostolic vicariate of K., since 1926 with its present name. Apostolic prefecture of Meru, erected in 1926. Nyeri and Meru are entrusted to the Institute of the Consolata. Apostolic vicariate of Kisumu, erected in 1925 as apostolic prefecture of Kavirondo, apostolic vicariate of Kisumu in 1932, entrusted to the missionaries of Mill Hill.
Bibliography3 works
Giovanni Rommerskirchen
IV. SCHOOL SYSTEM
When the League of Nations entrusted the former German colony to Great Britain in 1919, by temporary and special mandate, a reorganization also took place in the field of schooling. Account was taken of the cultural needs of the Hindus, for whom special government and private schools were founded, attended by 2000 pupils. The indigenous population, on the other hand, sends its children to schools for natives or to government schools of the European type or to private schools, which are divided into Protestant and Catholic. The latter, called "Missionary" schools, comprise 1172 catechism and prayer schools, 842 elementary schools, 123 secondary schools, 8 normal schools. The education of the indigenous Catholic clergy is provided for in 2 minor seminaries and 1 major seminary. - See plate XLIII.
Bibliography2 works
Miroslav Stumpf