The
Age of Discovery first led to European interaction with the region of present-day Kenya. The coastal regions were seen as a valuable foothold in eastern trade routes, and
Mombasa became a key port for ivory. The Portuguese established a presence in the region for two hundred years between 1498 and 1698, before losing control of the coast to the
Sultanate of Oman when
Fort Jesus was captured. European exploration of the interior commenced in 1844 when two German missionaries,
Johann Ludwig Krapf and
Johannes Rebmann, ventured inland with the aim of spreading Christianity. The region soon sparked the
imagination of other adventurers and gradually their stories began to awaken their governments to the potential of the area. The rise of
New Imperialism in the late 19th century, intensified European interest in the region. The initial driving force lay with pioneering businessmen, such as
Carl Peters and
William Mackinnon seeking to establish lucrative trade routes in the region. These businessmen would compel their respective governments to protect their trading interests, and in 1885 eastern Africa was carved-up between Britain,
Germany and
France. The British assumed control of the regions of Kenya and Uganda, and governed it through the
Imperial British East Africa Company. In 1895, the British government proclaimed the territories of the Imperial British East Africa Company as a protectorate, and transferred responsibility of its administration to the
Foreign Office. This coincided with a plan to open up the interior to trade with the construction of a railway from the coast in Mombasa to the shores of Lake Victoria.
East Africa Protectorate Although the first
Land Regulations Act was passed in 1897, few Europeans settled in the country before completion of the
Uganda railway. In 1902,
Sir Charles Eliot, then-British Commissioner of the Protectorate, initiated a policy of settling European colonists in what would become the
White Highlands region. Eliot's vision for the Protectorate was to turn the Highlands into a settlers' frontier, perceiving the region to be admirably suited for a White man's country. The Crown Lands Ordinance was thus passed, allowing for
Crown land to be granted either freehold or leasehold for 99 years. Eliot believed the only way to improve the local economy and ensure the profitability of the Uganda railway, was to encourage European settlement and endeavour in hitherto large areas of uncultivated fertile lands. During the
First World War, many more South Africans arrived in East Africa as part of the campaign against
German East Africa and stayed to work in Kenya's service economy. By 1915, the government was offering 999 year leases to encourage settlement as well as exemptions from land tax. The state also subsidised White farmers' produce to give them a competitive advantage over Black smallholders in the open markets. Due to the high start-up costs involved in producing
coffee and
cattle, Kenya earned a reputation as a "big man's frontier". Such men were eager to make Kenya another "White man's country" along the lines of
South Africa or
Australia, and recognised the need for the "small man" with limited capital on small acreage to increase the White population and provide a more solid foundation for their vision. In 1919, the UK Government launched the
Ex-Soldier Settlement Scheme. It became the largest single allocation of land for European settlement in Kenyan history, involving over of land, and increasing the area of White settlement by a third. Applicants were required to be
British subjects of pure
European origin, who had served in any officially recognised imperial service unit in the war. The majority hailed from Britain, with sizeable amounts from
Ireland,
India and South Africa.
Republic of Kenya By the early 1960s, the political willingness of the
British government to maintain Kenya as a colony was in decline and in 1962
the Lancaster House agreement set a date for Kenyan independence. Realising that a
unilateral declaration of independence course like
Rhodesia's was not possible after the Mau Mau Uprising, the majority of the 60,000 White settlers considered migrating elsewhere. Along with
Kenya's Indian population, Europeans and their descendants were given the choice of retaining their British passports and suffering a diminution in rights, or acquiring new Kenyan passports. Few chose to acquire citizenship, and many White Kenyans departed the country. The
World Bank led a willing-buyer, willing-seller scheme, known as the 'million acre' scheme that was largely financed by secret British subsidies. The scheme saw the redistribution of swathes of White-owned farmland to the newly prosperous Kikuyu elite. In the
1979 general election,
Philip Leakey became the first White member of the
Kenyan Parliament since
independence. According to the
Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), In 2019 there were 69,621 Europeans in Kenya, of which 42,868 were
Kenyan citizens. ==Socioeconomics==