Eastern Africa · KEN

Kenya

The story · 11 chapters

How it was drawn

A cradle of early humans, a coast of Swahili ports fought over by Portugal and Oman, and an interior drawn by British treaties and railways, independent since 1963 after the Mau Mau war.

Play the story Take the first lesson

Through the ages

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Kenya fought or stood against, from the first to today.

Portuguese Empire1498 to 1729
Portugal sacked Mombasa in 1505 and allied with its rival Malindi to dominate the coast. It built Fort Jesus in 1593, lost it to Oman in 1698 after a long siege, and held it again only briefly in 1728 and 1729.
Imamate of Oman1698 to 1837
Oman took Fort Jesus in 1698 and claimed the coast. Mombasa's Mazrui governors broke away in the eighteenth century and resisted for decades, until Sultan Said bin Sultan captured the town in 1837.
British Empire1895 to 1963
Britain fought the Nandi, whose leader Koitalel Arap Samoei was killed in 1905, then gave the highlands to white settlers. The Mau Mau war of 1952 to 1960 and its detention camps came before independence in 1963.
German Empire1914 to 1918
In the First World War, troops from German East Africa under Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck raided across the border and attacked the Uganda Railway, tying down a far larger British imperial army until the war ended in 1918.
Kingdom of Italy1940 to 1941
Italian forces from Ethiopia captured the border town of Moyale in 1940. In 1941 British imperial troops, many of them African soldiers, invaded Italian Somaliland and Ethiopia from Kenya and ended Italian rule in East Africa.
Sudan, then South SudanSince 1956Still open
The Ilemi Triangle, a dry grazing area north west of Lake Turkana, was never clearly assigned by the colonial treaties. Kenya has administered it for decades, and the border with South Sudan there has still not been formally settled.
Somali Republic1963 to 1967
Somalia claimed Kenya's Somali inhabited north east. Backed by Mogadishu, Somali fighters waged the Shifta War against Kenya from 1963 until a peace accord was signed at Arusha in 1967.
UgandaSince 2008Still open
Kenya and Uganda both claim Migingo, a tiny rock island crowded with fishermen in Lake Victoria. The quarrel flared from 2008, with Ugandan police posted on the island, and it has never been formally resolved.
Al ShabaabSince 2011Still open
Kenyan troops entered Somalia in 2011 to fight the Islamist militia, which answered with attacks inside Kenya, at Westgate in 2013, Garissa in 2015 and a Nairobi hotel complex in 2019. The fight continues along the border.
Federal Republic of SomaliaSince 2014Still open
Somalia took its sea border dispute with Kenya, over waters thought to hold oil and gas, to the International Court of Justice in 2014. The Court largely sided with Somalia in 2021, but Kenya rejected the ruling.

Today

Kenya now

Trade centers such as Mombasa have existed along the Kenyan and Tanzanian coastlines, known as the Land of Zanj, since at least the 2nd century. These centers traded with the outside world, including China, India, Indonesia, the Middle East, North Africa, and Persia. By around the 9th century, the mix of Africans, Arabs, and Persians who lived and traded there became known as Swahili ("people of the coast") with a distinct language (KiSwahili) and culture.

Capital: Nairobi
Government: presidential republic
Head of government: William Ruto
Languages: Swahili, English
Area: 591,970 km²

Through time

Then and now

Population55.3 million2023 · 5.8 million in 1950
Life expectancy63.6 years2023 · 36.9 years in 1950
GDP per person$3,4032022 · $1,038 in 1950
Living in cities32%2025 · 6% in 1950
Literacy82%2000 · 23% in 1950
Political regimeElectoral democracy2025 · Closed autocracy in 1950
Military alliancesNone of these2024 · None of these in 1950
Military spending1.1% of GDP2025
War deaths0.1 per 100,0002025

Population: HYDE 3.3, Gapminder and UN WPP. GDP per capita: Maddison Project Database 2023. Urban share: UN WPP. Life expectancy: Riley, HMD, UN WPP. Literacy: OWID historical estimates, World Bank, UNESCO. Military spending: SIPRI. War deaths: UCDP. Political regime: V-Dem, Regimes of the World. All via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0). Alliances and organization memberships: compiled by Atlas. Satellites in orbit: CelesTrak SATCAT. Modern borders, backcast.

Relations

Close partners and tensions

Close partners

United Kingdom
United States
France
China
India

Summarised from World Bank and Wikipedia data, updated 23 October 2026.

Rivals in history

The kingdoms, empires and states Kenya fought or stood against, from the first to today.

Portuguese Empire1498 to 1729

Portugal sacked Mombasa in 1505 and allied with its rival Malindi to dominate the coast. It built Fort Jesus in 1593, lost it to Oman in 1698 after a long siege, and held it again only briefly in 1728 and 1729.

Imamate of Oman1698 to 1837

Oman took Fort Jesus in 1698 and claimed the coast. Mombasa's Mazrui governors broke away in the eighteenth century and resisted for decades, until Sultan Said bin Sultan captured the town in 1837.

British Empire1895 to 1963

Britain fought the Nandi, whose leader Koitalel Arap Samoei was killed in 1905, then gave the highlands to white settlers. The Mau Mau war of 1952 to 1960 and its detention camps came before independence in 1963.

German Empire1914 to 1918

In the First World War, troops from German East Africa under Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck raided across the border and attacked the Uganda Railway, tying down a far larger British imperial army until the war ended in 1918.

Kingdom of Italy1940 to 1941

Italian forces from Ethiopia captured the border town of Moyale in 1940. In 1941 British imperial troops, many of them African soldiers, invaded Italian Somaliland and Ethiopia from Kenya and ended Italian rule in East Africa.

Sudan, then South SudanSince 1956Still open

The Ilemi Triangle, a dry grazing area north west of Lake Turkana, was never clearly assigned by the colonial treaties. Kenya has administered it for decades, and the border with South Sudan there has still not been formally settled.

Somali Republic1963 to 1967

Somalia claimed Kenya's Somali inhabited north east. Backed by Mogadishu, Somali fighters waged the Shifta War against Kenya from 1963 until a peace accord was signed at Arusha in 1967.

UgandaSince 2008Still open

Kenya and Uganda both claim Migingo, a tiny rock island crowded with fishermen in Lake Victoria. The quarrel flared from 2008, with Ugandan police posted on the island, and it has never been formally resolved.

Al ShabaabSince 2011Still open

Kenyan troops entered Somalia in 2011 to fight the Islamist militia, which answered with attacks inside Kenya, at Westgate in 2013, Garissa in 2015 and a Nairobi hotel complex in 2019. The fight continues along the border.

Federal Republic of SomaliaSince 2014Still open

Somalia took its sea border dispute with Kenya, over waters thought to hold oil and gas, to the International Court of Justice in 2014. The Court largely sided with Somalia in 2021, but Kenya rejected the ruling.

Kenya now

Capital

Nairobi

Government

presidential republic

Head of government

William Ruto

Languages

Swahili, English

Area

591,970 km²

Then and now

Population55.3 million2023 · 5.8 million in 1950

Life expectancy63.6 years2023 · 36.9 years in 1950

GDP per person$3,4032022 · $1,038 in 1950

Living in cities32%2025 · 6% in 1950

Literacy82%2000 · 23% in 1950

Political regimeElectoral democracy2025 · Closed autocracy in 1950

Military alliancesNone of these2024 · None of these in 1950

Military spending1.1% of GDP2025

War deaths0.1 per 100,0002025