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The region is ruled by Oman. After nearly 3 years of war, Arabs take over Mombasa
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The Mombasa region is under British protectorate from 9 February 1824 to 25 July 1826.
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Germany hands over rule of the coastal regions to the British Empire; in return Germany takes control of Tanganyika
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Waiyaki Wa Henya (a Kikuyu chief) burns down Lugard’s fort
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Waiyaki abducted and killed by the British
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Jomo Kinyatta is born in the early to mid 1890s.
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British East Africa (modern-day Kenya and Uganda) becomes official
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The first railway in Kenya (from Mombasa to Lake Victoria) is completed
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The East Africa Protectorate allows white settles to move to the more fertile highlands and farm there.
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British settlers start growing coffee in Kenya
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Nairobi replaces Mombasa as the centre of colonial power
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200,000 Kenyans fight for Britain in WWI. 50,000 die
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First African elections to the Legislative Council
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Kenyatta is freed from jail and assumes presidency of Kanu.
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Kenya granted independence. KANU (Kenya African National Union) forms an emergency government with Kenyatta as prime minister.
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Republic of Kenya formed. KANU’s leader Kenyatta becomes president, and Odinga vice-president.
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A rival party, the Kenya People’s Union (KPU) is formed by Jaramogi Oginga Odinga
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Assassination of government minister Tom Mboya sparks ethnic unrest. KPU banned and Odinga arrested. Kanu only party to contest elections, Kenya is now a single party state
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Kenyatta is re-elected.
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Kenya's president, Jomo Kenyatta, died at his home in Mombasa.
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Former Vice-President Daniel arap Moi becomes President
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Kenya officially becomes a one-party state after the National Assembly amends the constitution.
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Members of the Kenyan Air Force attempt a military coup, suppressed by the Kenyan Army – Private Hezekiah Ochuka rules Kenya for about six hours.
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‘Out of Africa’, starring Robert Redford and Meryl Streep and filmed in Kenya, is released
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International allegations that opposition groups suppressed, and some criticism of human rights issues.
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Moi appoints Dr. Richard Leakey the director of Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS). Leakey fires 2,000 game-park officials who are suspected of helping poachers kill rhinos and elephants for their ivory tusks and valuable horns.
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Death of the foreign minister, Robert Ouko, in possibly suspicious circumstances, leads to increased dissent against government.
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Forum for the Restoration of Democracy (Ford) formed by six opposition leaders, including Oginga Odinga. Party outlawed and members arrested. Creditors suspend aid to Kenya amid fierce international condemnation.
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Nairobi Conference of Global Warming and Climate Change represents Kenya taking a leading role on climate change in Africa.
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The constitution is re-amended. Kenya is no longer a single-party state
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Approximately 2,000 people killed in tribal conflict in the west of the country.
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Moi wins another 5-year term in office
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Conference on Policy Options and Responses to Climate Change in Nairobi continues Kenya’s international Climate Change role.
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New opposition party - Safina - launched by palaeontologist Richard Leakey. Party refused official registration until November 1997.
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Demonstrations calling for democratic reform. World Bank withholds disbursement of $5bn in structural adjustment credit.
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Moi re-elected again in controversial elections (KANU party majority).
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Moi appoints Richard Leakey to head government drive against corruption.
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The candidate of NARC - National Rainbow Coalition (formed as an effect of unification of opposition parties and a faction) received majority of vote and became the third President of Kenya. The door for democracy opened wider.
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Harvest failure and drought resulted in a food crisis which affected numerous dwellers of rural areas in Kenya; they were supported by UN. President Mwai Kibaki named the crisis a natural disaster.
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Kenyan environmental and political activist, Wangari Maathai, became the first African woman to be given the Nobel Peace Prize for "her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace".
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A trade contract was signed letting China to prospect for oil off the coast of Kenya.
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In the late afternoon of 30 December 2007, the Election Commission of Kenya declared Mwai Kibaki to be the winner of the country’s election, the count of which was considered by both national and international observers as flawed, possibly rigged. Political tensions during elections led to riots and the death of more than 1,500 people. It was in fact a seven-week flood of violence in parts of the country : deaths, displacements, destruction of property, disruption of social and economic life.
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President Mwai Kibaki ratified a new Constitution. It has limited presidential prerogatives, and empowered local government. Chapter 15 of the constitution creates two independent offices (auditor general and controller of the budget) and 10 commissions (see full list below)
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Six prominent Kenyans have to appear in front of the ICC on the basis that there existed reasonable grounds to believe that they were criminally responsible for crimes against humanity, pursuant to article 7 of the Rome Statute. The men were: Uhuru Kenyatta, Deputy Prime Minister, Cabinet Secretary Francis Muthaura, President of the National Security Committee, Hussein Ali, former education minister William Ruto, radio journalist Joshua Arap SaSang and minister for Industrialisation, Henry Kosge
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Kenyan Veterans win the right to sue the British government in a British court for severe abuse they suffered during the Mau Mau Rebellion.
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After a series of cross-border raids by the Somalia-based Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab, Kenya dispatched some 2,000 troops across the border into Somalia.
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President Kibaki hails it as a ''major breakthrough''. Launch of Lamu port project which is to become South Sudan's oil export outlet.
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Colonial administration tortured detainees during the Mau Mau uprising. Veterans are claiming damages in the High Court in London.
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More than 100 people are killed in communal clashes over land and resources Coast Province.
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Deputy PM Uhuru Kenyatta and former minister William Ruto - bitter political rivals facing trial at the International Criminal Court over the 2007 post-election violence - confirm that are forming an alliance for the 2013 election.
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Uhuru Kenyatta, the son of Kenya's first president, wins presidential election with just over 50% of the vote. A challenge to the results by his main rival, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, is rejected by the Supreme Court. International Criminal Court (ICC) drops charges against Francis Muthaura, a co-accused of Mr Kenyatta, over the 2007 election violence.
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The British government says it sincerely regrets the torture of thousands of Kenyans during the suppression of the Mau Mau insurgency in the 1950s and promises £20m in compensation.
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Deputy President William Ruto pleads not guilty to crimes against humanity charges at the International Criminal Court. He and President Uhuru Kenyatta are accused of orchestrating violence after elections in 2007, and will be tried separately at The Hague.
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Somali al-Shabab militants seize Westgate, a Nairobi shopping mall and kill more than 60 people
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Kenya Marks 50 Years of Independence in an exuberant ceremony at a stadium outside Nairobi with a call for greater national unity to overcome longtime ethnic divisions. President Kenyatta says the way forward for Kenya is greater integration with African nations. He announced new initiatives to this end, including the easing of visa requirements for African citizens to travel to Kenya.
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President Obama welcomed leaders from across the African continent to the nation’s capital for a three-day U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit. Discussions centered on how to encourage progress in key areas that Africans define as critical for the future of the continent: expanding trade and investment ties, engaging young African leaders, promoting inclusive sustainable development, expanding cooperation on peace and security, and gaining a better future for Africa’s next generation.
