About Kenya and Great Britain

 

As the King of England, Charles III is heading to Kenya, I'm writing a piece on what people expect in the country.

UPDATE - Here is the piece:

Kenyans demand reparations from Britain ahead of King Charles's visit

Here are also a few historical facts:

Entangled ties and colonial crimes

Kenya was colonised by Great Britain between 1901 and 1960.

British settlers came to Kenya for its resources and agreeable climate, forcing indigenous farmers and herders onto infertile land.

They also made many of them work on European-owned farms and plantations.

Historians estimates that the colonial rule created unprecedented ethnic conflict between various groups in a "divide and conquer" campaign, with unfair labour practices, structural racism, and forced resettlement.

Discontent grew progressively, and during the 1950s a sustained rebellion against colonial rule broke, especially the one from the “Mau Mau”, led by Kikuyus, who wished to chase the Europeans out of Africa.

The British launched a war against the Kikuyus, the largest group in the rebellion and in the country, opening detention camps for people suspected of being associated with the Mau Mau, including the elderly and children, and using extreme torture to find information.

Months after the rebellion kicked off in 1952, then British prime minister Winston Churchill declared a state of emergency, paving the way for a brutal repression.

Tens of thousands of people were rounded up and detained without trial in camps where reports of executions, torture and vicious beatings were common.

Over one million Kenyans were forcibly removed from their homes between 1953 and 1960, and put into camps. 

The country has always has a special significance for the British royal family: it is the country where the historic reign of Queen Elizabeth II began, when she was visiting the country and her father King George VI died in 1952.

Charles himself made three previous official visits to Kenya, in 1971, 1978 and 1987, also visiting the country privately.

In 2010, Charles' elder son Prince William also proposed to his long-term girlfriend Kate Middleton while staying in Kenya.