KENYA. — I. GEOGRAPHY
A British colony and protectorate in East Africa, south of Ethiopia. The territory (583,000 sq km, of which 545,000 belong to the protectorate along the coast between the mouths of the Umba and Lamu) consists of high plateaus rising from 1,200 to 2,000 meters, stretching from the low, hot alluvial belt on the Indian Ocean to the western border (Uganda), interrupted by the Great Rift Valley, which contains the lakes (Rudolf, Victoria).
The climate is almost everywhere healthy even for Europeans. Savanna and steppe predominate widely, 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 ethnically very diverse: alongside the indigenous peoples live 91,000 Asians (mostly Indians), 24,000 Arabs, and 30,000 Europeans. Agriculture, livestock raising, and forestry are the prevailing occupations: the first includes cereals, sugar cane, cotton, coconut, peanuts, etc.; the second has already established a considerable patrimony (cattle, sheep, goats); the third is still in its early stages. Gold is the only mineral extracted from the subsoil. 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 advisers, some of whom are elected.
II. HISTORY
Before European expansion in Africa, the coasts of present-day Kenya were subject to the sovereignty of the Sultanate of Zanzibar.
The Anglo-German agreements of 1886 and 1890 delimited the zones of influence in the hinterland of the sultanate and secured this territory for Britain. England, however, did not immediately take possession of the territory due to it, which was instead administered by the British East Africa Company. In 1895, the East Africa Protectorate was established. In July 1920, it received the status of a Crown Colony and, taking its name from the highest mountain in the country, became Kenya. Administered by a governor, who heads an executive and a legislative council (the latter including representatives of white settlers, Indians, Arabs, and Negroes), the colony, because of the variety of races, presents not a few difficulties in governance.
III. EVANGELIZATION
In the early days of conquest, in the 16th century, the Portuguese built small forts at Melinde and Mombasa on the coast of Kenya as transit points for India. The Augustinians, from their convent in Mombasa, exercised pastoral care, mainly for the Portuguese. In 1630, missionary activity among the indigenous peoples began briefly when Don Jeronymo, Jussuf ben Hassani, educated at the Augustinian College in Goa, ascended the throne. Unfortunately, he soon apostatized, persecuted the Portuguese and Christians, most of whom either apostatized or were sold into slavery, and also destroyed churches and expelled the Portuguese, killing many of them. Later, the Portuguese retook Mombasa, but further missionary activity proved fruitless. By the late 17th century, the Portuguese were forced to cede Mombasa definitively to the Arabs.
Missionary work resumed only in the second half of the 19th century. In 1860, Msgr. Maupoint of the Diocese of St-Denis (Réunion), appointed Apostolic Prefect of Zanguebar, sent his vicar general to Zanzibar, and in 1863 called upon the Holy Spirit Fathers, to whom the Zanguebar mission, encompassing the entire east coast of Africa from Mombasa to Somalia, was officially entrusted in 1872. Numerous territories were later detached from this mission.
On the coast of Kenya, the Holy Spirit Fathers founded the mission of Mombasa in 1891 and, in 1899, that of Nairobi in the interior. The Consolata missionaries achieved excellent results from the beginning of the 20th century among the Kikuyu and Ameru, while the Mill Hill Fathers worked among the Kavirondo. The northern part of Kenya remains without missionaries to this day.
Kenya is divided into four ecclesiastical circumscriptions: the Apostolic Vicariate of Zanzibar (current name since 1906), established as the Apostolic Prefecture of Zanguebar in 1860, elevated to an Apostolic Vicariate in 1883, encompassing the Island of Zanzibar and most of Kenya, entrusted to the Holy Spirit Fathers. The Apostolic Vicariate of Nyeri, established in 1905 as a mission, became an Apostolic Vicariate in 1906 under the name of Kenya, and has borne its current name since 1926. The Apostolic Prefecture of Meru, established in 1926. Nyeri and Meru are entrusted to the Consolata Institute. The Apostolic Vicariate of Kisumu, established in 1925 as the Apostolic Prefecture of Kavirondo, elevated to an Apostolic Vicariate in 1932 under the name of Kisumu, entrusted to the Mill Hill Missionaries.
IV. EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
When the League of Nations entrusted the former German colony to Britain in 1919 under a temporary and special mandate, a reorganization also took place in the educational field. Consideration was given to the cultural needs of Hindus, for whom special government and private schools were founded, attended by 2,000 pupils. The indigenous population, on the other hand, sends its children to indigenous schools, European-style government schools, or private schools, which are divided into Protestant and Catholic. The latter, called "Mission Schools," include 1,172 catechism and prayer schools, 842 elementary schools, 123 higher schools, and 8 normal schools. The education of indigenous Catholic clergy is provided in 2 minor and 1 major seminaries. — See plate XLIII.