Timeline of Kenya

!Year

!Date

!Event

|

|Oldowan industry in Koobi fora, Kanjera and Mount Homa. These are amongst the earliest hominin tools ever found.Bishop, L. C.; Plummer, T. W.; Ferraro, J. V.; Braun, D.; Ditchfield, P. W.; Hertel, F.; Kingston, J. D.; Hicks, J.; Potts, R. (Mar–Jun 2006). "Recent Research into Oldowan Hominin Activities at Kanjera South, Western Kenya". The African Archaeological Review. 23 (1/2): 31–40. doi:10.1007/s10437-006-9006-1. JSTOR 25470615. S2CID 13007032.Technological Developments in the Oldowan of Koobi Fora: Innovative Techniques of Artifact Analysis, 2001, David R. Braun, Jack W.K. Harris, in TREBALLS D'ARQUEOLOGIA, 9, Centre d'Estudis del Patrimoni Arqueològic de la Prehistòria, Autonomous University of Barcelona

|

|Olorgesailie Aechulean hand axe culture.{{Cite web|url=http://humanorigins.si.edu/research/olorgesailie-kenya|title=Olorgesailie, Kenya {{!}} The Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program|website=humanorigins.si.edu|language=en|access-date=2017-04-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170509165405/http://humanorigins.si.edu/research/olorgesailie-kenya|archive-date=9 May 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}

|

|Findings at Olorgesailie in Southern Kenya indicate that advanced middle stone age technology and long distance trade was established by this time.Scientists Are Amazed By Stone Age Tools They Dug Up In Kenya. Available from: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/03/15/593591796/scientists-are-amazed-by-stone-age-tools-they-dug-up-in-kenyaBrooks AS, Yellen JE, Potts R, Behrensmeyer AK, Deino AL, Leslie DE, Ambrose SH, Ferguson JR, d'Errico F, Zipkin AM, Whittaker S, Post J, Veatch EG, Foecke K, Clark JB (2018). "Long-distance stone transport and pigment use in the earliest Middle Stone Age". Science. 360 (6384): 90–94. Bibcode:2018Sci...360...90B. doi:10.1126/science.aao2646. {{PMID|29545508}}.

|

|Ostrich shell bead jewellery and obsidian tools dating to this time are found at Enkapune ya Muto in the Central rift valley. The rock shelter is occupied in phases until 1,300 years ago.{{Cite journal |last=Ambrose |first=Stanley H. |date=1998-04-01 |title=Chronology of the Later Stone Age and Food Production in East Africa |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440397902776 |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |language=en |volume=25 |issue=4 |pages=377–392 |doi=10.1006/jasc.1997.0277 |bibcode=1998JArSc..25..377A |issn=0305-4403|url-access=subscription }}

|

|Dispersal of the common ancestors of East African Hunter gatherers (related to the San people) in the peak of the last glacial maximum.Laura B. Scheinfeldt, Sameer Soi, Charla Lambert, Wen-Ya Ko, Aoua Coulibaly, Alessia Ranciaro, Simon Thompson, Jibril Hirbo, William Beggs, Muntaser Ibrahim, Thomas Nyambo, Sabah Omar, Dawit Woldemeskel, Gurja Belay, Alain Froment, Junhyong Kim, Sarah A. Tishkoff. Genomic evidence for shared common ancestry of East African hunting-gathering populations and insights into local adaptation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2019; 201817678 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1817678116

|

|An ancient massacre occurs at Nataruk in Turkana County. The remains of 27 men, women and children are found with some showing lesions consistent with blunt and sharp force trauma. These findings call into question the origins of human inter-group conflict.Lahr, M. Mirazón; Rivera, F.; Power, R. K.; Mounier, A.; Copsey, B.; Crivellaro, F.; Edung, J. E.; Fernandez, J. M. Maillo; Kiarie, C.; Lawrence, J.; Leakey, A.; Mbua, E.; Miller, H.; Muigai, A.; Mukhongo, D. M.; Van Baelen, A.; Wood, R.; Schwenninger, J.-L.; Grün, R.; Achyuthan, H.; Wilshaw, A.; Foley, R. A. (2016). "Inter-group violence among early Holocene hunter-gatherers of West Turkana, Kenya". Nature. 529 (7586): 394–398. doi:10.1038/nature16477. {{PMID|26791728}}."Ancient 'massacre' unearthed near Lake Turkana, Kenya - BBC News". BBC Online. Retrieved 21 January 2016.

!Year

!Date

!Event

|

|East African Pastoral neolithic culture spreads. Key features include pastoralism as a means of food production and the construction of stone cairns at burial sites:

Savanna Pastoral NeolithicAmbrose, Stanley H. (1984). From Hunters to Farmers: The Causes and Consequences of Food Production in Africa - "The Introduction of Pastoral Adaptations to the Highlands of East Africa". University of California Press. p. 220. {{ISBN|978-0520045743}}. Retrieved 4 December 2014.Christopher Ehret, Merrick Posnansky (ed.) (1982). The Archaeological and Linguistic Reconstruction of African History. University of California Press. p. 140. {{ISBN|978-0520045934}}. Retrieved 4 December 2014.

Elmenteitan cultureLane, Paul J. (2013-07-04). The Archaeology of Pastoralism and Stock-Keeping in East Africa. The Oxford Handbook of African Archaeology. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199569885.001.0001. {{ISBN|9780199569885}}.

|

|Cushitic speakers settle across East Africa.Ehret, Christopher (1982). Posnansky, Merrick (ed.). The Archaeological and Linguistic Reconstruction of African History. University of California Press. pp. 140–141. {{ISBN|978-0520045934}}. Retrieved 11 May 2015.

Eburran hunter gatherers, who have occupied the area around the Ol Doinyo Eburru volcano complex near Lake Nakuru for nearly 10,000 years, gradually adopt domestic animals.

|

|Hyrax Hill in Nakuru is settled by a savanna pastoral neolithic people.Sutton, John (1998). "Hyrax Hill and the Later Archaeology of the Central Rift Valley of Kenya". Azania. 33: 77–84. doi:10.1080/00672709809511465.

|

|Lothagam North Pillar Site: East Africa's earliest and largest monumental cemetery.Hildebrand, Elisabeth; et al. (2018). "A monumental cemetery built by eastern Africa's first herders near Lake Turkana, Kenya". PNAS. 115 (36): 8942–8947. doi:10.1073/pnas.1721975115. PMC 6130363. {{PMID|30127016}}.

|

|The Kansyore culture becomes East Africa's earliest ceramic producing group of hunter gatherers. This culture was located at Gogo falls in Migori county near Lake Victoria.Dale, Darla; Ashley, Ceri (23 April 2010). "Holocene hunter-fisher-gatherer communities: new perspectives on Kansyore Using communities of Western Kenya". Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa. 45: 24–48. doi:10.1080/00672700903291716. S2CID 161788802

!Year

!Date

!Event

|

|The East African Rock art tradition thrives with sites at Mfangano Island, Chelelemuk hills, Namoratunga and Lewa Downs. The rock paintings are attributed to the Twa people, a hunter gatherer group that was once widespread in East Africa{{Cite web |title=Kenya – Trust For African Rock Art |date=15 December 2022 |url=https://africanrockart.org/kenya/ |access-date=2023-05-11 |language=en-GB}}

!Year

!Date

!Event

|

|Southern Nilotic speaking communities move southwards from the Sudd into western Kenya.Ehret, Christopher. An African Classical Age: Eastern & Southern Africa in World History 1000 B.C. to A.D.400. University of Virginia, 1998, p.7

|

|Bantu Groups migrate into Kenya bringing with them iron age technology. The Urewe culture, one of Africa's oldest iron smelting centres, settle in the great lakes region including western Kenya. Other groups settle in Southern Kenya{{Cite news|url=http://www.myelimu.com/thread-Bantu-Migration|title=Bantu Migration|work=My Elimu|access-date=2017-04-27|language=en|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170428142614/http://www.myelimu.com/thread-Bantu-Migration|archive-date=28 April 2017|df=dmy-all}}Paul Lane, Ceri Ashley & Gilbert Oteyo (2006) New Dates for Kansyore and Urewe Wares from Northern Nyanza, Kenya, AZANIA: Journal of the British Institute in Eastern Africa, 41:1, 123-138, DOI: 10.1080/00672700609480438Clist, Bernard. (1987). A critical reappraisal of the chronological framework of the early Urewe Iron Age industry. Muntu. 6. 35-62.

!Year

!Date

!Event

|

|The earliest settlements in the Swahili coast appear on the archaeological record in Kwale in Kenya, Misasa in Tanzania and Ras Hafun in Somalia.{{Cite web |title=The Rise and Fall of Swahili States |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274126407 |access-date=2023-05-11}}

Bantu speaking communities in the great lakes region develop iron forging techniques that enable them to produce carbon steel.Schmidt, P.; Avery, D.H. (1978). "Complex iron smelting and prehistoric culture in Tanzania". Science. 201 (4361): 1085–89. Bibcode:1978Sci...201.1085S. doi:10.1126/science.201.4361.1085. {{PMID|17830304}}. S2CID 37926350

!Year

!Date

!Event

|

|The Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, a Graeco-Roman manuscript is written. It describes the East African coast (Azania) and an existing Indian Ocean Trade route.{{Cite web |title=The Voyage around the Erythraean Sea |url=https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/periplus/periplus.html |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=depts.washington.edu}}

!Year

!Date

!Event

|

|Growth of Azanian and Zanj settlements in the Swahili coast. Local industry and international trade flourish.

!Year

!Date

!Event

|

|Starting with the first Hijrah (migration) of Prophet Muhammad's followers to Ethiopia, Islam spreads across Eastern, Northern and Western Africa.Hussein D. Hassan. CRS Report for Congress. Islam in Africa. Available from: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RS22873.pdf

|

|Archaeological evidence indicates that crucible steel is manufactured at Galu, south of Mombasa. Metallurgical analysis of iron artefacts indicates that the techniques used by the inhabitants of the Swahili coast combined techniques used in other African sites as well as those in West and South Asian sites.Chap Kusimba. HE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF IRON FORGING ON THE KENYA COAST. Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, Vol. 66, No. 3 (1996), pp. 386-410

!Year

!Date

!Event

|

|Emergence of the Swahili City States. The earliest gravestone found at Gedi Ruins dates to the earlier part of this period.{{Cite journal |last=Pradines |first=Stephane |date=2003-01-01 |title=Islamization and Urbanization on the Coast of East Africa: recent excavations at Gedi, Kenya |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/00672700309480369 |journal=Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=180–182 |doi=10.1080/00672700309480369 |s2cid=161233427 |issn=0067-270X|url-access=subscription }}

The oldest Swahili texts in existence date to this period. They are written in old Swahili script (Swahili-Arabic alphabet) based on Arabic letters.{{Cite journal |last=ZHUKOV |first=ANDREY |title=Old Swahili-Arabic Script and the Development of Swahili Literary Language |date=2004 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25653410 |journal=Sudanic Africa |volume=15 |pages=1–15 |jstor=25653410 |issn=0803-0685}}

!Year

!Date

!Event

|

|Hyrax Hill in Nakuru is settled by the Sirikwa.Sutton, J. E. G. (1987). "Hyrax Hill and the Sirikwa". Azania. 22 (1): 29. doi:10.1080/00672708709511378.Kyule, David (1997). "The Sirikwa Economy". Azania. 32 (1): 21–30. doi:10.1080/00672709709511586.

Oral histories recall the settlement of Shungwaya found north of the Tana River. Several coastal and central Kenyan Bantu groups are said to have migrated from this settlement due to pressure from Oromo speaking groups.{{Cite journal |last=Morton |first=R. F. |date=1977 |title=New Evidence regarding the Shungwaya Myth of Miji Kenda Origins |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/216932 |journal=The International Journal of African Historical Studies |volume=10 |issue=4 |pages=628–643 |doi=10.2307/216932 |jstor=216932 |issn=0361-7882|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last=Munro |first=J. Forbes |date=1967 |title=Migrations of the Bantu-Speaking Peoples of the Eastern Kenya Highlands: A Reappraisal |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/180049 |journal=The Journal of African History |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=25–28 |doi=10.1017/S0021853700006800 |jstor=180049 |s2cid=162483704 |issn=0021-8537|url-access=subscription }}

!Year

!Date

!Event

|

|Moroccan explorer Ibn Battuta visits Mombasa on his way to Kilwa.{{Cite web |title=The Red Sea to East Africa and the Arabian Sea: 1328 - 1330 {{!}} ORIAS |url=https://orias.berkeley.edu/resources-teachers/travels-ibn-battuta/journey/red-sea-east-africa-and-arabian-sea-1328-1330 |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=orias.berkeley.edu}}Ibn Battuta's & Zhao Rugua's East African Travels (Excerpts) http://users.rowan.edu/~mcinneshin/5394/wk05/battutaTVLsEAFR.htm

!Year

!Date

!Event

|

|Chinese Admiral Zheng He visits Malindi. Some of his ships are reported to have sunk near Lamu Island. Recent genetic tests done on local inhabitants confirmed Chinese ancestry{{Cite news |last=Rice |first=Xan |date=2010-07-25 |title=Chinese archaeologists' African quest for sunken ship of Ming admiral |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jul/25/kenya-china |access-date=2023-05-11 |issn=0261-3077}}"Kenyan girl with Chinese blood steals limelight". Chinese Embassy in Kenya. Archived from the original on May 8, 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2009.

|

|Southern Luo people migrate into Western Kenya from present day Uganda.John R Campbell. Who are the Luo? Oral tradition and disciplinary practices in anthropology and history. June 2006. Journal of African Cultural Studies 18(1):73-87 DOI: 10.1080/13696850600750327

|April

|Vasco da Gama travels to Mombasa and Malindi. Attacks on merchant ships led to a hostile reception in Mombasa. In Malindi the reception was friendlier. He established trade relations, erects a pillar and hires a guide to travel to India.{{Cite web|url=https://kenyatravelsites.wordpress.com/2011/12/15/the-history-of-the-vasco-da-gama-pillar/|title=The History of the Vasco da Gama Pillar|last=Says|first=Armaan|date=2011-12-15|website=Kenya Travel Sites|access-date=2017-04-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170429000132/https://kenyatravelsites.wordpress.com/2011/12/15/the-history-of-the-vasco-da-gama-pillar/|archive-date=29 April 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}Martin, Esmond Bradley (2009) [originally published in 1970]. Malindi. Past and Present (New ed.). The National Museum of Kenya

!Year

!Date

!Event

|

|Thimlich Ohinga and other dry-stone walled enclosures in the Lake Victoria Basin are built.{{Cite web |last=Centre |first=UNESCO World Heritage |title=Thimlich Ohinga Archaeological Site |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1450/ |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=UNESCO World Heritage Centre |language=en}}

|

|The Kayas - Mijikenda fortified settlements are built then abandoned. Now revered as sacred sites, they are a UNESCO world heritage site.Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests - UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Available from: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1231

|

|The Portuguese Empire establishes a presence in Mombasa

Most old Swahili texts dating to this period and earlier are destroyed.

|

|Portuguese naval commander Tristão da Cunha is sent to conquer Socotra and establish control of Indian Ocean trade. He leads a blockade of Lamu which capitulates to Portuguese control.Strandes, Justus (1971). "The Portuguese in East Africa". East African Literature Bureau. p.66.

|

|Fort Jesus is built in Mombasa to solidify Portuguese hegemony{{Cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1295|title=Fort Jesus, Mombasa|last=Centre|first=UNESCO World Heritage|website=whc.unesco.org|language=en|access-date=2017-06-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170602172550/https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1295|archive-date=2 June 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}

!Year

!Date

!Event

|

|Omani Arabs capture Fort Jesus and Zanzibar.

Arab traders settle in Zanzibar and Pemba.

The slave trade grows exponentially with a large slave market based at Zanzibar.{{Cite web |title=East Africa's forgotten slave trade – DW – 08/22/2019 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/east-africas-forgotten-slave-trade/a-50126759 |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=dw.com |language=en}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/9chapter3.shtml|title = The Story of Africa{{pipe}} BBC World Service}}

!Year

!Date

!Event

|

|Complex water furrows for irrigation are constructed by the Marakwet to facilitate intensive agriculture. Clan owned and communal, these irrigation systems are still in use.Matthew I.J. Davies, Timothy Kipkeu Kipruto & Henrietta L. Moore (2014) Revisiting the irrigated agricultural landscape of the Marakwet, Kenya: tracing local technology and knowledge over the recent past, Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, 49:4, 486-523, DOI:10.1080/0067270X.2014.979527

|

|One of the oldest surviving manuscripts in Swahili, an epic poem titled Utenzi wa Tambuka (The story of Tambuka), is written at the Royal Court of Pate Sultanate.

!Year

!Date

!Event

|

|Sultan Seyyid Said, ruler of the Omani empire moves his capital to Zanzibar. The growth of clove plantations drives demand for slaves.Petterson, Don Revolution In Zanzibar An American's Cold War Tale, New York: Westview, 2002 page 7

Slave caravan routes into the interior of Kenya reach as far as the foothills of Mount Kenya, Lake Victoria and past Lake Baringo into Samburu country.

{{Cite journal |last=Kiriama |first=Herman O. |date=2018-05-04 |title=The Landscapes of Slavery in Kenya |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/21619441.2019.1589711 |journal=Journal of African Diaspora Archaeology and Heritage |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=192–206 |doi=10.1080/21619441.2019.1589711 |s2cid=156049071 |issn=2161-9441|url-access=subscription }}

|25 August

|The first Christian mission is founded by Johann Ludwig Krapf in Rabai. Many freed slaves rescued by the British Navy are settled here.

|

|East and Central Africa is mapped by European explorers.Thomas Pakenham, The Scramble for Africa: White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912 (1991) ch 1

|

|Frere Town settlement in Mombasa is established. This is another settlement for freed slaves rescued by the British Navy. Despite pressure from the British to stop the East African slave trade, it continues to persist.

|

|The peak of the slave plantation economy in East Africa. 43,000 – 47,000 slaves are present on the Kenyan coast (44 percent of the local population)

|

|The Berlin Conference is convened by Otto Von Bismack. Britain stakes claims in what is today Kenya and Uganda.Thomas Pakenham, The Scramble for Africa: White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent from 1876 to 1912 (1991)

|

|The Nandi resistance against colonial rule is led by Koitalel Arap Samoei{{Cite news|url=http://www.nation.co.ke/news/Visit-hero-tomb-to-learn-rich-history-of-the-Nandi/1056-3050336-wj2n15z/index.html|title=Koitalel Museum: Visit hero's tomb to learn rich history of the|work=Daily Nation|access-date=2017-04-28|language=en-UK|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170428142631/http://www.nation.co.ke/news/Visit-hero-tomb-to-learn-rich-history-of-the-Nandi/1056-3050336-wj2n15z/index.html|archive-date=28 April 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}

|

|Following the financial ruin of the Imperial British East African Company which administered the territory that is now Uganda and Kenya, the British Government steps in by proclaiming the Uganda protectorate and the British East African protectorate to maintain its sphere of influence.Nandi Resistance to British Rule 1890–1906. By A. T. Matson. Nairobi: East African Publishing House, 1972. Pp. vii+391{{Cite news|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Kenya/The-East-Africa-Protectorate|title=Kenya - The East Africa Protectorate {{!}} history - geography|work=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=2017-04-27|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220155809/https://www.britannica.com/place/Kenya/The-East-Africa-Protectorate|archive-date=20 December 2016|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}

Significant numbers of South Asians migrate into modern Kenya. Through Indian Ocean trade, there has been an Indian presence on the East African Coast since antiquity.Sana Aiyar, Indians in Kenya, Harvard University Press, 6 Apr 2015, p."Kenya's Asian heritage on display". BBC News. 24 May 2000. Retrieved 2 September 2017.

|

|The Tsavo Man-eaters, two male lions, terrorise workers involved in the construction of the Uganda railway, halting construction for several months. This saga is depicted in the 1996 film, The Ghost and the DarknessPatterson, J. H. (1908). The Man-eaters of Tsavo and Other East African Adventures. MacMillan and Co).Kerbis Peterhans, Julian C.; Gnoske, Thomas Patrick (2001). "The Science of 'Man-Eating' Among Lions (Panthera leo). With a Reconstruction of the Natural History of the 'Man-Eaters of Tsavo'". Journal of East African Natural History. 90 (1): 1–40. doi:10.2982/0012-8317(2001)90[1:TSOMAL]2.0.CO;2.

!Year

!Date

!Event

|22 January

|Queen Victoria dies, Edward VII is Kenya's new monarch

|

|The southern areas of the eastern portion of Uganda Protectorate are transferred to East Africa Protectorate{{cite web|date=28 May 2023|first1=Emmanuel|last1=Wanjala|url=https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2023-05-28-time-in-history-when-kisumu-and-naivasha-were-in-uganda/|title=Time in history when Kisumu and Naivasha were in Uganda|access-date=14 November 2023|website=The Star Kenya}}{{cite web|date=19 November 2016|first=|last=|url= https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/magazines/people-power/when-part-of-eastern-uganda-was-transferred-to-kenya-1676554|title=When part of eastern Uganda was transferred to Kenya|access-date=14 November 2023|website=Daily Monitor}}

|

|The Ugandan Railway is completed{{Cite web|url=http://macleki.org/items/show/8|title=The Kenya-Uganda Railway - How the Railroad Shaped Kenya {{!}} MaCleKi {{!}} Curating Kisumu|website=MaCleKi {{!}} Curating Kisumu|language=en|access-date=2017-04-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170509232304/http://macleki.org/items/show/8|archive-date=9 May 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}

|

|Nairobi is established as the capital of the British East African Protectorate

|

|Slavery is abolished in East Africa

Witchcraft is illegal in East AfricaRichard D. Waller, "Witchcraft and Colonial Law in Kenya." Past & Present 2003 (180): 241–275.

|6 May

|Edward VII dies, George V becomes the new monarch

|

|Mekatilili Wa Menza leads the Giriama people in a rebellion against colonial authorities.Carrier, Neil; Nyamweru, Celia (October 2016). "Reinventing Africa's national heroes: The case of Mekatilili, a Kenyan popular heroine". African Affairs. 115 (461): 599–620. doi:10.1093/afraf/adw051. ISSN 0001-9909.

|

|Kenya participates in the first world war. Approximately 11,000 British and 95,000 Africans were killed in the east African campaign with 45,000 of these Africans coming from KenyaPaice, E. (2009) [2007]. Tip and Run: The Untold Tragedy of the Great War in Africa (Phoenix ed.). London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. {{ISBN|978-0-7538-2349-1}}.Sondhaus, L. (2011). World War One: The Global Revolution. London: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-521-73626-8}}.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-28836752|title=World War One: Kenya's forgotten heroes|date=2014-08-19|work=BBC News|access-date=2017-04-28|language=en-GB|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180310085644/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-28836752|archive-date=10 March 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/misremembered-history-first-world-war-east-africa|title=Misremembered history: the First World War in East Africa {{!}} British Council|website=www.britishcouncil.org|language=en|access-date=2017-04-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170428142521/https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/misremembered-history-first-world-war-east-africa|archive-date=28 April 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}

|

|The British East African Protectorate is transformed to the Kenya Colony{{Cite web|url=http://www.enzimuseum.org/after-the-stone-age/british-east-africa-protectorate|title=British East Africa Protectorate {{!}} Enzi|website=www.enzimuseum.org|language=en-US|access-date=2017-04-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170506035204/http://www.enzimuseum.org/after-the-stone-age/british-east-africa-protectorate|archive-date=6 May 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}

Young Kikuyu Association is started by Harry Thuku. Advocating for African suffrage, he was inspired to start a nationalist movement. Thuku renamed his organisation the East African Association, as he was striving for multi-ethnic membership. He included the local Indian community and reached out to other tribes. The colonial government accused Thuku of sedition, arrested him and detained him until 1930.The Politics of The Independence of Kenya by Kyle Keith. Palgrave MacMillan 1999

Kikuyu Central Association is formed Led by Joseph Keng'ethe and Jesse Kariuki. Johnstone (later Jomo) Kenyatta was the secretary and editor of the associations' publication Mugwithania (The unifier).{{Cite web|url=http://crisissome.blogspot.com/2016/04/kikuyu-central-association.html|title=Crisis and Achievement: Kikuyu Central Association|website=Crisis and Achievement|access-date=2017-04-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170428142545/http://crisissome.blogspot.com/2016/04/kikuyu-central-association.html|archive-date=28 April 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}

Sir Edward Northey becomes the first Kenyan ruler (governor){{Cite web|url=http://uca.edu/politicalscience/dadm-project/sub-saharan-africa-region/british-kenya-1920-1963/|title=2. British Kenya (1920-1963)|website=uca.edu|language=en-US|access-date=2017-04-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170428142618/http://uca.edu/politicalscience/dadm-project/sub-saharan-africa-region/british-kenya-1920-1963/|archive-date=28 April 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}

|

|The Piny Owacho (Voice of the People) movement in Kavirondo culminates in a large mass meeting advocating for land rights, fairer taxes and fairer treatment by the colonial authorities.

Archdeacon W. E. Owen, an Anglican missionary and prominent advocate for African affairs, starts the Kavirondo Taxpayers Welfare Association.

|

|The British Empire cedes part of Jubaland to the Italian Somaliland{{cite book |last=Oliver |first=Roland Anthony |title=History of East Africa, Volume 2 |year=1976 |publisher=Clarendon Press |page=7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pGkMAQAAIAAJ}} and Hornsby, Kenya: A History Since Independence, 2012, 21.

|

|The second portion of Uganda Protectorate is transferred to Kenya. This constitutes largely the present-day Turkana County

|

|Vittorio Merlo Pick, an Italian missionary, observes and records a traditional Kikuyu poem 150 stanzas long narrated through the use of a memory device and rattle gourd, the Gicandi. Most pre-colonial history in East and Central Africa was recorded orally. The best known memory device from this region still in use is the Lukasa memory board from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.Charles Cantalupo, Ed. The World of Ngūgī Wa Thiong'o. African World Press, Inc. Trenton, New Jersey. 1995{{Cite web |last=Bortolot |first=Authors: Alexander Ives |title=Ways of Recording African History {{!}} Essay {{!}} The Metropolitan Museum of Art {{!}} Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ahis/hd_ahis.htm |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History |date=October 2003 |language=en}}

|

|Makhan Singh pioneers the trade union movement in Kenya by starting Labour trade union of Kenya. He organised the Railway workers strike in 1939 which was heavily suppressed by the colonial government.

|

|George V dies, Edward VIII becomes the colony's new monarch until December 1936 when he abdicated. His younger brother George VI ascends the throne

|

|Kenya participates in the second world war. African World war II veterans such as Bildad Kaggia, Fred Kubai and Stanley Mathenge would become central figures in the anti-colonial struggle.

|

|Kenya African Study Union is founded by Harry Thuku

|

|Benga music, a popular genre that originated in Kenya is born. Starting as a blend of Luo traditional string music, Congolese guitar picking styles and Cuban rumba, Benga becomes one of the most popular Kenyan and Pan-African musical genres.{{Cite web |last=Pala |first=Oyunga |date=2017-10-19 |title=OYUNGA PALA - Tracing the Roots of Benga {{!}} The Elephant |url=https://www.theelephant.info/culture/2017/10/19/tracing-the-roots-of-benga/ |access-date=2023-05-11 |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |last=Odidi |first=Bill |date=2015-07-09 |title=Remembering benga: Kenya's infectious musical gift to Africa |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/09/music-benga-kenya-guitar-finger-picking |access-date=2023-05-11 |issn=0261-3077}}

|

|Jomo Kenyatta is new president of Kenya African Union (KAU)

|

|George VI dies, Elizabeth II ascends the throne while on a royal tour in Kenya

Jomo Kenyatta visits Kisumu in an effort to gain nationwide support for KAU. This visit inspires Oginga Odinga, the Ker (Chief) of the Luo Union, to join KAU.

Multiracial pattern of quotas allowed

Mau Mau Uprising begins{{Cite web|url=http://www.blackpast.org/gah/mau-mau-1952-1960|title=Mau Mau (1952-1960) {{!}} The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed|website=www.blackpast.org|date=8 March 2009|language=en|access-date=2017-04-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170519174346/http://www.blackpast.org/gah/mau-mau-1952-1960|archive-date=19 May 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}

Members of the Forty group, a militant group of World War II veterans including Bildad Kaggia, form part of the core leadership of the uprising.

|21 October

|The Kapenguria six, core leaders of the Kenya African Union are arrested. They include Jomo Kenyatta, Paul Ngei, Kungu Karumba, Bildad Kaggia, Fred Kubai and Achieng Oneko

|8 April

|Jomo Kenyatta is jailed{{Cite news|url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/kenyatta-jailed-for-mau-mau-uprising|title=Kenyatta jailed for Mau Mau uprising - Apr 08, 1953 - HISTORY.com|work=HISTORY.com|access-date=2017-04-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170417100115/http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/kenyatta-jailed-for-mau-mau-uprising|archive-date=17 April 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/8/newsid_2887000/2887641.stm|title=BBC ON THIS DAY {{!}} 8 {{!}} 1953: Seven years' hard labour for Kenyatta|website=news.bbc.co.uk|date=8 April 1953|access-date=2017-04-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170409225257/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/8/newsid_2887000/2887641.stm|archive-date=9 April 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}

|

|Tom Mboya emerges to become a key figure in the anti-colonial struggle. Through the trade union movement (Kenya Federation of Labour), he gains local and international admiration and respect, becoming the first Kenyan to feature on the cover of Time magazine.{{Cite magazine |title=TIME Magazine Cover: Tom Mboya - Mar. 7, 1960 |url=https://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19600307,00.html |access-date=2023-05-11 |magazine=Time |language=en-us}}

|21 October

|Dedan Kimathi, a key leader of the Mau Mau uprising is captured. This effectively event marks the defeat of the Mau Mau.The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Army (1994) p. 350

|

|The first election for African members of the legislative council (MLC) is held. Oginga Odinga and Tom Mboya are elected. Daniel arap Moi is the only previously nominated MLC who gets elected.

|25 June

|Oginga Odinga calls for the release of Jomo Kenyatta at a Legislative council debate. He endures months of persecution for taking this stand. It then becomes the rallying call for the African nationalist movement.

|

|The Kennedy Airlift scholarship program is started by Tom Mboya and William X Scheinman to address the shortfall of skilled African labour in soon to be independent Kenya. Nobel Prize winner Wangarĩ Maathai, Barack Obama Sr. and George Saitoti are amongst the beneficiaries of these airlifts. The program lasts until 1963. Over 800 students from East Africa benefit from this program.Airlift to America. How Barack Obama Sr., John F. Kennedy, Tom Mboya, and 800 East African Students Changed Their World and Ours by Tom Shachtman

|6 March

|The colonial government attempts to crush Tom Mboya's Nairobi People's Convention Party. This is the most organised and effective political party in Kenya at a time when national African parties are banned. Mboya's home is raided by the police and over 40 party members are arrested and sent to their tribal homes. This is the biggest round up since the Mau Mau emergency.Kenya, the National Epic: From the Pages of Drum Magazine By Garth Bundeh and James R. A. Bailey East African Publishers, 1993

|May

|Tom Mboya is honoured by Martin Luther King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Martin Luther King affirms the connection between the American civil rights movement and the African Liberation Movement.{{Cite web |last1=University |first1= Stanford |last2=Stanford |last3=California 94305 |date=2017-06-13 |title=Mboya, Thomas Joseph |url=https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/mboya-thomas-joseph |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute |language=en}}

Tom Mboya and Martin Luther King share a podium at a civil rights rally held in Washington DC.{{Citation |title=Tom Mboya & Dr. Martin L King at a Civil Rights Rally in DC | date=19 January 2009 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0B60s5NiJw |access-date=2023-05-11 |language=en}}

|

|The Nairobi People's Convention Party merges with the Kenya Independence Movement and Kenya African Union to form the Kenya African National Union (KANU)

Mau Mau Uprising ends{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-12997138|title=Mau Mau uprising: Bloody history of Kenya conflict|date=2011-04-07|work=BBC News|access-date=2017-06-08|language=en-GB|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180923053623/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-12997138|archive-date=23 September 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}

|

|The Lancaster House Conferences are held in London to discuss Kenya's independence and constitutional framework.

Thurgood Marshall, American Lawyer and civil rights activist, is consulted by Mboya and Odinga to help draft the first constitution.

|

|Kenya and the Cold War. The pan-continental wave of African nationalism attracts Cold War interests. For Kenya, this peaks between 1963 and 1969 when a proxy cold war plays out in local politics.Daniel Branch. Freedom and Suffering, 1963-1969. Chapter in: Kenya. Between Hope and Despair. Yale University Press. p26-65{{Cite web |title=Proxy Wars During the Cold War: Africa - Nuclear Museum |url=https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ahf/history/proxy-wars-during-cold-war-africa/ |access-date=2023-05-11 |website= |language=en-US}}{{Citation |last=Scarnecchia |first=Timothy |title=Africa and the Cold War |date=2018-09-14 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781119063551.ch20 |work=A Companion to African History |pages=383–399 |editor-last=Worger |editor-first=William H. |access-date=2023-05-11 |place=Chichester, UK |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Ltd |language=en |doi=10.1002/9781119063551.ch20 |isbn=978-1-119-06355-1 |s2cid=158293486 |editor2-last=Ambler |editor2-first=Charles |editor3-last=Achebe |editor3-first=Nwando|url-access=subscription }}

|21 August

|Jomo Kenyatta is released

|September

|Bildad Kaggia is released from prison.Kaggia, Bildad. (1975) Roots of Freedom 1921–1963: the autobiography of Bildad Kaggia, Nairobi: East African Publishing House.

|

|KANU–KADU coalition government is formed

|

|The Shifta War. This was a war of Secession between the Northern Frontier District Liberation Movement and Kenyan government.

|12 December

|Kenya becomes a sovereign state but remains a member of the commonwealth realm{{Cite news|url=https://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/12/dec-12-1963-kenya-gains-independence/comment-page-1/?_r=0|title=Dec. 12, 1963 {{!}} Kenya Gains Independence|last=Network|first=The Learning|work=The Learning Network|date=12 December 2011 |access-date=2017-04-28|language=en}}

Jomo Kenyatta becomes Kenya's first Prime Minister and head of government serving Elizabeth II

Malcolm MacDonald becomes Kenya's last Colonial governor{{Cite web|url=http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/blcas/macdonald-mj.html|title=Interviews with Malcolm John MacDonald|website=www.bodley.ox.ac.uk|language=en|access-date=2017-08-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171205112450/http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/blcas/macdonald-mj.html|archive-date=5 December 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}

|

| UNESCO's General History of Africa is launched aiming to tackle ignorance of Africa's history. Kenyan historian Bethwell Allan Ogot plays a key role in its production.General History of Africa. About the Project. UNESCO. Available from: http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CLT/CLT/pdf/GHA_about%20the%20project_Ogot_ENG_01.pdf Retrieved 19-11-20

|20 October

|Malcolm X attends the Kenyatta Day parade in Nairobi. The American Civil rights leader first visited Kenya in 1959. Earlier in the year, Malcolm X attended the OAU meeting in Cairo to convince African states to raise the question of persecution of African Americans at the United Nations.{{Cite web |title=Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/98669415/ |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=Newspapers.com|date=21 October 1964 }}{{Cite news |date=1964-08-13 |title=MALCOLM X SEEKS U.N. NEGRO DEBATE; He Asks African States to Cite U.S. Over Rights |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/08/13/archives/malcolm-x-seeks-un-negro-debate-he-asks-african-states-to-cite-us.html |access-date=2023-05-11 |issn=0362-4331}}Shiraz Durrani, Ed. Pio Gama Pinto. Kenya's Unsung Martyr. 1927-1965.2018. Vita Books

|12 December

|Kenya becomes a republic with Jomo Kenyatta as the first President of Kenya

|28 January

|The Kenyatta government sends the Kenya Army to Meru district, where Mau Mau fighters are gathered under the leadership of Field Marshall Mwariama and Field Marshall Baimungi. These last Mau Mau leaders had been insisting that they should get land and be absorbed into the civil service and Kenya Army. Both leaders and several Mau Mau fighters are killedAnaïs Angelo (2017) Jomo Kenyatta and the repression of the 'last' Mau Mau leaders, 1961–1965, Journal of Eastern African Studies, 11:3, 442-459, DOI: 10.1080/17531055.2017.1354521Kenya National Assembly Official Record. 12 July 2000. Parliamentary debates. page 1552-1553

|24 February

|Anti-colonial activist and socialist politician, Pio Gama Pinto is assassinated. This is independent Kenya's first political assassination."Pio Gama Pinto - Independant [sic] Kenya's First Marytr". Awaaz Magazine. 2 November 2011. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 29 December 2012.

|

|Bildad Kaggia and Oginga Odinga accuse the Kenyatta government of pursuing corrupt land distribution policies that did not favour the poor and the landless.

Kenya's vice president, Oginga Odinga, leaves the ruling party KANU and starts a left leaning party, the Kenya People's Union. 29 members of parliament including Kaggia defect from KANU to KPU.

|11 and 12 June

|The 'Little general election' is held. These by-elections are called following the defection of 29 members of KANU to establish the Kenya People's Union.Robert M. Maxon, Thomas P. Ofcansky (2014) Historical Dictionary of Kenya, Rowman & Littlefield, p204

Outside Nyanza Province, most KPU candidates, including Bildad Kaggia, lose in this election.

|July

|A security Act is passed in Parliament that permits the government to carry out detention without trial. This act is used against KPU members who are arrested in round up a few weeks later. Those arrested include Ochola Mak'Anyengo (Secretary-General of the Kenya Petroleum Oil Workers Union), Oluande Koduol (Oginga Odinga's private secretary) and Peter Ooko (Secretary general of the East African Common Services Civil Servants Union)K. Conboy. Detention without trial in Kenya. GEORGIA JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE LAW Volume:8 Issue:2 Dated:(SPRING 1978) Pages:441-461M{{Cite web |title=5 opposition leaders seized |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/pasadena-independent-5-opposition-leader/15272844/ |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=Newspapers.com|date=5 August 1966 |page=1 }}

|

|East African Community formed

Kenyan pro-divisions founded

|

|Richard Leakey leads a preliminary search of Koobi Fora. This archaeological site yields a wealth of stone tools and hominin fossils that shape the understanding of human evolution and development.{{Cite web|url=http://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/case-study-koobi-fora-research-project/|title=Case Study: Koobi Fora Research Project|first=National Geographic|last=Society|date=16 May 2012|website=National Geographic Society}}

Naftali Temu wins the 10,000 metres race at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City becoming Kenya's first gold medalist.{{Cite web |date=2020-10-21 |title=Mile High: How Kip Keino's 1500m gold changed running |url=https://www.runnersworld.com/uk/training/motivation/a34396756/kip-keino-1968/ |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=Runner's World |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.worldathletics.org/athletes/kenya/naftali-temu-014349199|title=Naftali TEMU {{pipe}} Profile {{pipe}} World Athletics}}

|5 July

|Tom Mboya, widely considered as heir apparent to Kenyatta, is assassinated.{{Cite web|url=https://www.questia.com/magazine/1G1-459723001/who-killed-tom-mboya-declassifed-documents-raise|title="Who Killed Tom Mboya? Declassifed Documents Raise New Questions about the 1969 Assassination of Visionary Nationalist Tom Joseph Mboya" by Kantai, Parselelo - New African, Issue 563, July 2016|website=|language=en|access-date=|archive-date=14 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190314164123/https://www.questia.com/magazine/1G1-459723001/who-killed-tom-mboya-declassifed-documents-raise|url-status=dead}}

|25 October

|The Kisumu massacre occurs. Two days later, all KPU leaders are arrested and detained without trial and KPU is banned. Oginga Odinga is placed under house arrest. Kenya becomes a de facto one party state.{{Cite web |date=2020-06-28 |title=Dark Saturday in 1969 when Jomo's visit to Kisumu turned bloody |url=https://nation.africa/kenya/news/dark-saturday-in-1969-when-jomo-s-visit-to-kisumu-turned-bloody-101870 |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=Nation |language=en}}

|

|The International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) is started by Kenyan entomologist, Thomas Odhiambo. Through the years he becomes known for his research on Insect physiology and non-chemical methods of agricultural insect control{{Cite web |title=The Pontifical Academy of Sciences |url=https://www.pas.va/en.html |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=www.pas.va |language=en}}

|

|Oginga Odinga is released from house arrest{{Cite web |title=Oginga Odinga {{!}} vice president of Kenya {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Oginga-Odinga |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}

|5 June

|United Nations Environmental Program is founded with its headquarters in Nairobi. Kenyan scientist Reuben Olembo plays a key role in starting it and becomes the deputy executive director. He later becomes the assistant UN secretary general (1994-1998)."Speeches - March 2005 - The Passing Away of An Environmental Icon: Prof. Reuben Olembo - United Nations Environment Programme". UNEP. Retrieved 2016-10-11.

|

|The Lokiriama Peace Accord is signed by Turkana people and Matheniki of Uganda{{Cite news|url=http://mobile.nation.co.ke/counties/How-40-year-deal-has-created-peace-haven-in-volatile-region/1950480-2740594-format-xhtml-1aqblhz/index.html|title=TURKANA: How 40-year deal has created peace haven in volatile|last=App|first=Daily Nation|access-date=2017-05-17|language=en}}

Lufthansa Flight 540 crashes

|14 October

|General elections are held in Kenya. Former KPU members including Odinga are prevented from running for office.{{Cite web |title=Kenya - World War II to independence {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Kenya/World-War-II-to-independence |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}

|March

|Josiah Mwangi Kariuki, a popular left leaning politician and gadfly critical of the Kenyatta government is assassinated.{{Cite news |date=2015-03-11 |title=Kenyan MP's murder unsolved 40 years on |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-31817667 |access-date=2023-05-11}}

|

|Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, renowned Kenyan writer is detained without trial. His play Ngaahika Ndeenda (I Will Marry When I Want) provokes government authorities to arrest him. Continuous harassment after his release in 1978 forces him into exile from 1982 until 2002.{{Cite web |last= |title=ABOUT |url=https://ngugiwathiongo.com/about/ |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=Ngugi wa Thiong'o |language=en-US}}

East Africa's first woman to receive a PhD, Wangarĩ Maathai starts the Green Belt Movement. This organisation aims to mobilise the community to conserve the environment and reduce poverty.Wangari Maathai, The Greenbelt Movement: Sharing the Approach and the Experience, Lantern Books, 2003. {{ISBN|1-59056-040-X}}

Rhamu incident occurs

|

|Jomo Kenyatta dies{{Cite news|url=http://mobile.nation.co.ke/lifestyle/-End-of-an-era-as-Mzee-Jomo-Kenyatta-dies/1950774-1984202-format-xhtml-lpxgb2/index.html|title=AUGUST 22, 1978: End of an era as Mzee Jomo Kenyatta dies|last=App|first=Daily Nation|access-date=2017-04-28|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170428144233/http://mobile.nation.co.ke/lifestyle/-End-of-an-era-as-Mzee-Jomo-Kenyatta-dies/1950774-1984202-format-xhtml-lpxgb2/index.html|archive-date=28 April 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}

Daniel arap Moi becomes new Kenyan President

|

|Garissa massacre takes place

|

|Oginga Odinga attempts to start a new political party. Section 2a of the Kenyan constitution is amended making Kenya a de jure one party state therefore preventing his efforts.

A coup attempt by Kenya Air Force soldiers in August, led by Hezekiah Ochuka is foiled. Oginga Odinga is expelled from KANU and imprisoned for several months.Horsby, Charles (20 May 2012). "How attempted takeover of Moi Government [sic] by rebels flopped". Standard Digital. Retrieved 23 June 2018.

The General Service Unit is formed

|

|The first case of HIV is recorded in Kenya. Despite evidence to the contrary prominent leaders are initially in denial of the extent of HIV in Kenya. By 1994, the Ministry of Health would estimate that 200,000 people died of AIDS{{Cite web|url=http://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/282003/HIV-past-present-and-future/#vars!panel=2809715!|title = HIV: Past, present and future}}

Wagalla massacre occurs, committed by Kenyan troops

|

|Documentary series The Africans: A Triple Heritage premiers on the BBC and PBS in the United States. The series is produced by one of Africa's most prominent public intellectuals, Prof. Ali Mazrui. He was born in Mombasa; a member of the prominent Mazrui family.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-29599933|title=Kenya's Ali Mazrui: Death of a towering intellectual|work=BBC News|date=13 October 2014}}

|

|Barack Obama visits Kenya for the first time to meet his father's family.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/16/world/africa/obama-kenya-visit-africa.html|title=Obama Visits Kenya, Land of His Father, to Promote Local Charity|first=Mike|last=Ives|newspaper=The New York Times|date=16 July 2018}}

Kenya hosts the All African Games

|13 February

|The body of Robert Ouko, the Kenyan Foreign Minister, is found. Initial police reports stated that his death was a suicide but forensic evidence suggests that he was murdered. Public pressure forces President Daniel arap Moi to involve Scotland Yard in the investigation.{{Cite news |date=2010-12-09 |title=Robert Ouko 'killed in Kenya State House' |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-11962534 |access-date=2023-05-11}}

|July

|The Saba Saba protests – pro-democracy uprisings – engulf the country. Kenneth Matiba and Raila Odinga are amongst the many opposition leaders arrested and detained without trial.Rok Ajulu. Kenya's Democracy Experiment: The 1997 Elections. Review of African Political Economy, Jun., 1998, Vol. 25, No. 76, 'Globalization' & the Regulation of Africa (Jun., 1998), pp. 275-285{{Cite web |last=Makokha |first=Kwamchetsi |date=2020-07-07 |title=KWAMCHETSI MAKOKHA - Saba Saba and the Evolution of Citizen Power {{!}} The Elephant |url=https://www.theelephant.info/features/2020/07/07/saba-saba-and-the-evolution-of-citizen-power/ |access-date=2023-05-11 |language=en-US}}

Nelson Mandela visits Kenya with the intention of visiting the grave of Dedan Kimathi. His request is turned down by government authorities. Dedan Kimathi was buried in an unmarked grave in Kamiti Maximum Prison after his execution in 1957. His grave site would not be identified until 2019.{{Cite web |last=Orinde |first=Hillary |title=62 years after hanging: Dedan Kimathi grave found |url=https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/kenya/article/2001346853/dedan-kimathi-grave-found |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=The Standard |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2013-12-19 |title=Nelson Mandela was inspired by the gallant struggle put up by the Mau Mau in Kenya to defeat colonial rule |url=https://newafricanmagazine.com/4120/ |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=New African Magazine |language=en-GB}}

|

|Local and International Pressure mounts leading to the repealing of section 2a of the constitution. Kenya becomes a multiparty state.Kenya's Quest for a New Constitution: the Key Constitutional Moments. Available from: https://www.polity.org.za/article/kenyas-quest-for-a-new-constitution-the-key-constitutional-moments-2010-07-29 Cited 11-11-20

The Forum for Restoration of Democracy (FORD), an opposition political party led by Oginga Odinga, Kenneth Matiba and Martin Shikuku is formed.

|August

|The Forum for Restoration of Democracy (FORD) splits up following internal wrangling into FORD-Asili, FORD-Kenya and FORD-People.Human Rights Watch (1993), Divide and Rule: State Sponsored Ethnic Violence in KenyaWangari Maathai (2006). Unbowed: a memoir. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. p. 208. {{ISBN|0307263487}}.

|29 December

|The 1992 Kenyan general elections are held. This is Kenya's first presidential multiparty election. This election is marred by irregularities and targeted ethnic violence in Rift Valley Province. President Daniel arap Moi retains his seat.

|20 January

|Oginga Odinga dies.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/22/world/oginga-odinga-82-a-longtime-leader-in-kenya-s-politics.html|title=Oginga Odinga, 82, A Longtime Leader In Kenya's Politics|first=Richard D.|last=Lyons|newspaper=The New York Times|date=22 January 1994}}

|

|Professor Leah T. Marangu is appointed as the Vice Chancellor of Africa Nazarene University (ANU). She becomes the first Kenyan woman to head a University{{Cite web |title=Professor Leah Marangu |url=https://globalpeace.org/speaker/professor-leah-marangu/ |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=Global Peace Foundation |language=en-US}}

|January

|Kenyan hip hop group Kalamashaka release the hit song "Tafsiri Hii" produced by Tedd Josiah. Their modern hip hop style combined with Swahili lyrics to give a message of hope despite the social and political issues bedevilling Kenya inspires a generation of urban youth and local talent.{{Cite web |last=Pala |first=Oyunga |title=Kalamashaka: Dandora trio that fired up Kenya's music industry |url=https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/arts-culture/article/2001234807/kalamashaka-dandora-trio-that-fired-up-kenyas-music-industry |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=The Standard |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Pala |first=Oyunga |title=Kalamashaka's Tafsiri Hii was more than a song, it was game changer |url=https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/arts-culture/article/2001234809/kalamashakas-tafsiri-hii-was-more-than-a-song-it-was-game-changer |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=The Standard |language=en}}

|7 July

|The Saba Saba anniversary confrontation leaves 10 people dead and several injured at the hands of government authorities. The run-up to the 1997 election is marred by violence against the opposition

|29 December

|President Daniel arap Moi is elected again in Kenya's second presidential multiparty election. These elections attract widespread criticism over irregularities and ethnic clashes. Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga (Oginga Odinga's son) are his main challengers.

|7 August

|The US Embassy bombings in Nairobi, Kenya's capital and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania leave 224 people dead and over 4000 people injured. Al-Qaeda and the Egyptian Islamic Jihad are implicated.{{Cite web |title=East African Embassy Bombings |url=https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/east-african-embassy-bombings |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=Federal Bureau of Investigation |language=en-us}}

|

|President Daniel arap Moi sets up the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission. Yash Pal Ghai is installed as the chairman. This is Kenya's first major constitutional reform since independence.{{Cite web |title=Report of The Conference on Constitutional Reform to Fight Corruption - [2002] KECKRC 9 |url=http://www.commonlii.org/ke/other/KECKRC/2002/9.html |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=www.commonlii.org}}

!Year

!Date

!Event

|

|Kenyan author Binyavanga Wainaina wins the 2002 Caine Prize for his short story "Discovering Home". Shortly afterwards he starts the literary magazine, Kwani?(So what?) which launches the careers of several writers including Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor (winner of the 2003 Caine Prize) and Uwem Akpan (Nigerian author, winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize).{{Cite web|url=http://www.caineprize.com/archive|title=Archive|website=The Caine Prize for African Writing}}{{Cite web |title=Wainaina wins the 3rd Caine Prize for African Writing |url=http://www.bellagiopublishingnetwork.com/news/caine.htm |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=www.bellagiopublishingnetwork.com}}

|28 November

|The 2002 Mombasa attacks occur. Paradise Hotel and an Arkia airline owned flight are attacked. Both are Israeli owned. The attack on the airline fails but 13 people are killed and 80 are injured at the hotel.{{Cite news |date=2002-11-29 |title=Israel evacuates tourists from Kenya |language=en-GB |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2525931.stm |access-date=2023-05-11}}

|27 December

|The 2002 general election is held. 62% of voters reject KANU's presidential candidate, Uhuru Kenyatta (Jomo Kenyatta's son), voting in the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) into power. Mwai Kibaki becomes President of Kenya.

Daniel arap Moi, the longest serving president in Kenya's history, steps down from power.{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1794332.stm|title=BBC News {{!}} AFRICA {{!}} Moi's golden handshake|website=news.bbc.co.uk|date=31 January 2002|access-date=2017-06-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118132842/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1794332.stm|archive-date=18 November 2016|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}

|14 September

|Dr. Crispin Mbai, the head of a key and contentious committee in Kenya's constitutional reforms is murdered. Many perceive this as a political murder{{Cite web |title=Murder most foul, again |url=https://www.africa-confidential.com/article-preview/id/126/Murder_most_foul,_again |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=www.africa-confidential.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Refugees |first=United Nations High Commissioner for |title=Refworld {{!}} Attacks on the Press in 2003 - Kenya |url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/47c566aac.html |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=Refworld |language=en}}

|8 October

|Wangarĩ Maathai becomes the first African woman and first environmentalist to win the Nobel Peace Prize.The Nobel Peace Prize 2004:Press Release (8 October 2004). NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 3 May 2009.

|7 February

|John Githongo, journalist and whistle-blower, resigns from his position as Permanent Secretary for Governance and Ethics. He later names top politicians involved in the Anglo-leasing scandal, a government procurement scam. Following threats to his life he moves to the UK in exile.t's Our Turn to Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistle-Blower. A Book by Michela Wrong. Published 2009

|September

|Kimani Maruge, the oldest elementary school student in the Guinness book of World Records, addresses the 2005 United Nations world summit in New York City on the importance of free primary education. A former Mau Mau fighter, he took the opportunity to enrol in primary school after Kenya started free primary education in 2003. His story was told in the 2010 biographical film, The First Grader.{{Cite web |title=UN / 85 YEAR OLD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENT |url=https://www.unmultimedia.org/avlibrary/asset/U050/U050916a |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=United Nations UN Audiovisual Library |language=en}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jun/23/the-first-grader-film-review|title=The First Grader – review|date=23 June 2011|website=the Guardian}}

|21 November

|The 2005 Kenyan constitutional referendum is held. Widely perceived as a referendum against President Mwai Kibaki, 57% of voters reject the draft constitution. Two days later, Kibaki dismisses his entire cabinet.{{Cite news |date=2005-11-23 |title=Kenya's entire cabinet dismissed |language=en-GB |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4463262.stm |access-date=2023-05-11}}

|

|The Murumbi gallery opens at the Kenya National Archives. Joseph Murumbi, former Kenyan Vice President, was one of the worlds foremost collectors of African artefacts and historical documents. He sold his collection to the Kenyan government in 1977.{{Cite web |last=African |first=New |date=2013-10-29 |title=Joseph Murumbi A pioneer collector |url=https://newafricanmagazine.com/4041/ |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=New African Magazine |language=en-GB}}

|

|Prof. Miriam Were, a prominent public health expert and HIV/AIDS researcher, receives the Queen Elizabeth II Gold Medal for Outstanding contributions to International Public Health and Supporting the Health Needs of Disadvantaged people. Despite downward trends in the national prevalence of HIV in Kenya, in 2007, approximately 1,400,000 persons are living with HIV.Global Health Workforce. Prof. Miriam Were, EBS, IOM. Available from: https://www.who.int/workforcealliance/about/governance/board/were/en/{{Cite web|url=https://www.who.int/hiv/pub/epidemiology/epiupdate2007/en/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313081306/http://www.who.int/hiv/pub/epidemiology/epiupdate2007/en/|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 March 2016|title = WHO {{pipe}} AIDS epidemic update: December 2007}}Maina et al. Kenya AIDS Indicator Surveys 2007 and 2012: Implications for Public Health Policies for HIV Prevention and Treatment. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2014 May 1; 66(Suppl 1): S130–S137.

doi: 10.1097/QAI.0000000000000123

|March

|Safaricom and Vodafone launch M-Pesa, a mobile phone based money transfer system, following successful trials in Thika in 2006. By 2019, this service will have 42 million active customers over 7 countries. Millions of people with limited access to banking services, through their mobile phones, gain access to financial services.{{Cite web|url=https://www.vodafone.com/about-vodafone/what-we-do/consumer-products-and-services/m-pesa|title=M-PESA|website=Vodafone.com}}The Story of M-Pesa. Available from: https://www.techchange.org/work/the-story-of-m-pesa-2/

|27 December

|The 2007 general elections are held. The campaign and election period are heavily polarised along ethnic lines. The results are contested by the Orange Democratic Movement, led by Raila Odinga as the Party of National Unity led by Mwai Kibaki is declared victorious.

The post-election crisis of 2007–2008 begins shortly after the election. At least 1,133 people are killed and more than 600,000 are displaced{{Cite web|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/03/201333123153703492.html|title=Kenya: What went wrong in 2007?|last=Brownsell|first=James|website=www.aljazeera.com|access-date=2017-04-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170505165505/http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/03/201333123153703492.html|archive-date=5 May 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}{{Cite journal |last=Odhiambo |first=Agnes |date=2016-02-15 |title="I Just Sit and Wait to Die" |url=https://www.hrw.org/report/2016/02/15/i-just-sit-and-wait-die/reparations-survivors-kenyas-2007-2008-post-election |journal=Human Rights Watch |language=en}}

|6 November

|President Kibaki declares this day a public holiday following the election of Barack Obama to become the first African American president of the United States.{{Cite web|url=https://www.qppstudio.net/public-holidays-news/2008/kenya-declares-november-6-public-holiday-to-celebrate-barack-obamas-election-001613.htm|title=Kenya Declares November 6 Public Holiday To Celebrate Barack Obama's Election - Public Holidays News Update|website=The qppstudio.net website}}

|

|the UN Secretary general Kofi Annan handed names of the main suspects of the 2007 Post-election violence to the International Criminal Court{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8142263.stm|title=BBC NEWS {{!}} Africa {{!}} Annan acts on Kenya poll suspects|website=news.bbc.co.uk|date=9 July 2009|language=en-GB|access-date=2017-06-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305223803/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8142263.stm|archive-date=5 March 2016|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}

|March

|Entrepreneur and blogger Erik Hersman starts iHub, an innovation hub and hacker space. This quickly becomes a central pillar of the Silicon Savannah (the Kenyan tech scene). Between 2010 and 2019, 170 companies are formed out of iHub.{{Cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/26/nigerias-cchub-acquires-kenyas-ihub-to-create-mega-africa-incubator/|title=Nigeria's CcHub acquires Kenya's iHub to create mega Africa incubator|date=26 September 2019 }}

|March

|The Kenyan music group Just a Band releases Kenya's first viral music video – Ha He – which tells the exploits of Makmende, referencing blaxploitation and kung fu motifs. The viral response highlights the uptake and penetration of technology and social media in Kenya{{Cite news |last=Vinograd |first=Cassandra |title=Kenya Launches Country's First Viral Music Video |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-SEB-28572 |access-date=2023-05-11 |newspaper=Wall Street Journal |date=24 March 2010 |language=en-US}}

|4 August

|Kenya holds a constitutional referendum. 68.6% of voters approve the new constitutionInterim Independent Electoral Commission of Kenya (IIEC) (6 August 2010). "Kenya referendum results". Capital FM. Archived from the original on 25 August 2010. Retrieved 7 August 2010.

|December

|Six prominent Kenyans are accused of crimes against humanity by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Luis Moreno Ocampo. Education Minister William Ruto, Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Industrialization Minister Henry Kosgey, secretary to the cabinet Francis Kirimi Muthaura, former police chief Mohammed Hussein Ali and radio executive Joshua Arap Sang6 Prominent Kenyans Accused of Crimes Against Humanity. VOA. [https://web.archive.org/web/20200918121951/https://www.voanews.com/africa/6-prominent-kenyans-accused-crimes-against-humanity]

|January 23

|The Pre-trial chamber of the ICC confirms charges against Kenyatta, Muthaura, Ruto and Sang.{{Cite web |last=KABERIA |first=JUDIE |date=2016-03-31 |title=From Ocampo Six to Bensouda Two, what next for Kenyan ICC case? » Capital News |url=https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2016/03/ocampo-six-bensouda-two-next-kenyan-icc-case/ |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=Capital News |language=en-US}}

|

|First LGBT pride event held in Kenyan US embassy{{Cite news|url=http://www.advocate.com/politics/2012/06/27/us-embassy-gives-kenya-its-first-lgbt-pride-event|title=US Embassy Gives Kenya Its First LGBT Pride Event|date=2012-06-27|access-date=2017-06-08|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170523082745/http://www.advocate.com/politics/2012/06/27/us-embassy-gives-kenya-its-first-lgbt-pride-event|archive-date=23 May 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}

George Saitoti and Orwa Ojode are killed in a helicopter crash{{Cite news|url=http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-helicopter-crash-kenya-govt-minister-among-6-dead-2012jun10-story.html|title=Helicopter crash: Kenya govt minister among 6 dead|author=TOM ODULA|agency=Associated Press|work=sandiegouniontribune.com|access-date=2017-06-08|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170708112855/http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-helicopter-crash-kenya-govt-minister-among-6-dead-2012jun10-story.html|archive-date=8 July 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}

|March

|Anglo-Irish firm, Tullow Oil, discovers oil in Northern Kenya. President Kibaki calls the find a major breakthrough{{Cite news |date=2012-03-26 |title=Kenya oil discovery after Tullow Oil drilling |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-17513488 |access-date=2023-05-11}}

|9 August

|In what was dubbed "The Greatest 800 Meter Race Ever", David Rudisha wins the gold medal in the 2012 London olympics 800m race and breaks the world record.Ramsak, Bob (9 August 2012). "Stunning! Rudisha 1:40.91 World Record in London!". IAAF.org. Retrieved 9 November 2012.

|September

|The Westgate terror attack. Four gunmen kill over 60 people and injure approximately 200 in an attack on an upscale mall, Westgate shopping mall. Al-Shabaab claim responsibility for the attack in retaliation for Kenya's incursion into Somalia in 2011 - Operation Linda Nchi.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-africa-29247163|title=Westgate mall attack - 60 seconds|work=BBC News}}

|

|Uhuru Kenyatta is voted in as the fourth President of Kenya with William Ruto as his deputy president following the 2013 Kenyan General Elections{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/09/kenyatta-declared-victor-in-kenyan-elections|title=Uhuru Kenyatta wins Kenyan election by a narrow margin|last=Patinkin|first=Jason|date=2013-03-09|work=The Guardian|access-date=2017-06-08|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170613205019/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/09/kenyatta-declared-victor-in-kenyan-elections|archive-date=13 June 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}

|2 March

|Lupita Nyong'o wins the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at the 86th Academy Awards for her role in 12 Years a Slave. She becomes the first African to win an Oscar.{{Cite news |last=Pulver |first=Andrew |date=2014-03-03 |title=Lupita Nyong'o wins best supporting actress Oscar |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/mar/03/lupita-nyongo-wins-best-supporting-actress-oscar |access-date=2023-05-11 |issn=0261-3077}}

|October

|Kenya rebases its economy increasing in GDP size by 25.3 per cent. Newly classified as a middle-income country, Kenya becomes Africa's ninth largest economy, up from 12th.{{Cite web |last=Gundan |first=Farai |title=Kenya Joins Africa's Top 10 Economies After Rebasing Of Its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/faraigundan/2014/10/01/kenya-joins-africas-top-10-economies-after-rebasing-of-its-gross-domestic-product/ |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=Forbes |language=en}}

|December

|The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Fatou Bensouda withdraws charges against President Kenyatta due to lack of evidence.{{Cite web |last=KABERIA |first=JUDIE |date=2014-12-06 |title=Bensouda drops President Kenyatta's ICC case » Capital News |url=https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2014/12/bensouda-drops-president-kenyattas-icc-case/ |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=Capital News |language=en-US}}

|2 April

|The Garissa University College attack occurs. Gunmen claiming to be from Al-Shabaab kill 148 people and injure over 70. This is the second most deadly terrorist attack on Kenyan soil.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-32169080|title=Kenya university attack kills 147|date=2015-04-03|work=BBC News|access-date=2017-10-29|language=en-GB|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180629034307/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-32169080|archive-date=29 June 2018|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}"Death toll from Kenyan attack rises to 148". RTÉ.ie. 3 April 2015. Retrieved 17 November 2015.

|April

|The International Criminal Court drops its case against the deputy president of Kenya, William Ruto{{Cite news |last1=Simons |first1=Marlise |last2=Gettleman |first2=Jeffrey |date=2016-04-05 |title=International Criminal Court Drops Case Against Kenya's William Ruto |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/06/world/africa/william-ruto-kenya-icc.html |access-date=2023-05-11 |issn=0362-4331}}

A Huruma building in Nairobi collapses. 52 people are killed and several injured. The high demand for Housing in Nairobi leads to some developers bypassing safety regulations.{{Cite news|url=http://www.nation.co.ke/news/Three-rescued-after-residential-building-collapses-in-Huruma/1056-3182608-c93r43/index.html|title=Over 150 affected after building collapses in Huruma|work=Daily Nation|access-date=2017-10-29|language=en-UK|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171030003030/http://www.nation.co.ke/news/Three-rescued-after-residential-building-collapses-in-Huruma/1056-3182608-c93r43/index.html|archive-date=30 October 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}{{Cite news |date=2016-06-07 |title=Nairobi building collapse: Samuel Karanja Kamau charged with manslaughter |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36471295 |access-date=2023-05-11}}

The Kenya rugby sevens team beats Fiji to win their first Sevens World Series title{{Cite news |title=Kenya Sevens win first World Series title |language=en-GB |work=BBC Sport |url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/36067269 |access-date=2023-05-11}}

|September

|Mark Zuckerberg visits iHub{{cite web |url=https://ihub.co.ke/blogs/28493/pictorial-mark-zuckerberg-drops-by-ihub |title=Pictorial: Mark Zuckerberg Drops By iHub - |website=ihub.co.ke |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160907151607/http://ihub.co.ke/blogs/28493/pictorial-mark-zuckerberg-drops-by-ihub |archive-date=2016-09-07}}

|8 August

|The 2017 Kenyan general elections are held. Nine days prior to the election, Chris Msando, the head of IT at the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission is found murdered. The election is highly contested with allegations of rigging. The incumbent, Jubilee Party candidate Uhuru Kenyatta, is declared winner but the results are challenged in the Supreme Court by Raila Odinga, leader of the Orange Democratic Movement{{Cite news |last1=Burke |first1=Jason |last2=correspondent |first2=Jason Burke Africa |date=2017-07-31 |title=Kenyan election official 'tortured and murdered' as fears of violence grow |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jul/31/kenyan-election-official-christopher-msando-dead-before-national-vote |access-date=2023-05-11 |issn=0261-3077}}Kenya: Uhuru Kenyatta's Swearing-in Plan Put On Hold. Daily Nation. Available from: https://allafrica.com/stories/201708170003.html

Afterwards, protests erupt in Nairobi, Western Kenya and the Coastal region. The police response is lethal. Over the next weeks after the election, at least 12 people are killed and over a hundred injured. Police operations include door to door crackdowns in areas not involved in the protests. The tragic death of 6 month old Samantha Pendo ignites an uproar over police brutality.{{Cite web |date=2017-08-27 |title=Kenya: Post-Election Killings, Abuse |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/08/27/kenya-post-election-killings-abuse |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=Human Rights Watch |language=en}}{{Cite news |date=2019-02-14 |title=Kenya police: Nahashon Mutua jailed as baby Pendo killers convicted |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-47240250 |access-date=2023-05-11}}

|20 September

|The Supreme Court annuls the election results. Fresh elections are called for within 60 days.{{Cite web |last=Said-Moorhouse |first=Briana Duggan, Lauren |date=2017-09-20 |title=Kenya Supreme Court: 'No choice but to accept' opposition hacking claims |url=https://www.cnn.com/2017/09/20/africa/kenya-election-supreme-court/index.html |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=CNN |language=en}}

|26 October

|The second 2017 presidential election is held. Raila Odinga refuses to participate in these elections citing uncorrected issues within the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission. Kenyatta is declared winner with 98% of the vote with a voter turn-out of 39%.{{Cite news |date=2017-10-30 |title=Kenyan President Kenyatta wins 98 percent of vote in repeat election |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-kenya-election-kenyatta-idUSKBN1CZ1SE |access-date=2023-05-11}}

|30 January

|Amidst a media black-out, Raila Odinga is sworn in as the "People's President" in an effort to persuade Uhuru Kenyatta to come to the negotiation table. Kenyan lawyer Miguna Miguna officiates the ceremony. He is deported in February following treason related charges and the legality of his citizenship is brought to question.{{Cite web |last=Dahir |first=Abdi Latif |date=2018-01-30 |title=Kenya's opposition leader has been sworn in as the "people's president" |url=https://qz.com/africa/1192609/kenyas-raila-odinga-has-been-sworn-in-as-the-peoples-president |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=Quartz |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Odinga 'sworn in' as Kenya's people's president |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/1/30/raila-odinga-sworn-in-as-kenyas-peoples-president |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=www.aljazeera.com |language=en}}{{Cite news |date=2018-02-07 |title=Kenya deports Miguna Miguna over Odinga 'swearing-in' |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-42973169 |access-date=2023-05-11}}{{Cite news |date=2018-03-28 |title=Miguna Miguna: Kenya opposition figure deported again |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-43578510 |access-date=2023-05-11}}

|March

|An investigative report reveals that Cambridge Analytica, a data analytics firm, played a critical role in President Uhuru Kenyatta's two campaigns, in 2013 and 2017.{{Cite news |last=Moore |first=Jina |date=2018-03-20 |title=Cambridge Analytica Had a Role in Kenya Election, Too |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/20/world/africa/kenya-cambridge-analytica-election.html |access-date=2023-05-11 |issn=0362-4331}}

After months of political uncertainty, Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga make peace with "the Handshake". Raila Odinga is later appointed as the African Union's High representative for Infrastructural Development.{{Cite web |last=Kondo |first=Valentine |title=Uhuru, Raila's handshake impact on investor confidence, political stability |url=https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business-news/article/2001308524/2018-review-uhuru-railas-handshake-on-kenyan-economy |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=The Standard |language=en}}

|May

|Wanuri Kahiu's film, Rafiki, receives a standing ovation at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. The Kenya Film Classification Board bans this film for its subject matter. This is the first Kenyan film to screen at the Cannes Film Festival'Rafiki': The First Kenyan Film To Premiere At Cannes, Banned At Home. NPR. Available from: https://www.npr.org/2019/04/20/715533608/rafiki-the-first-kenyan-film-to-premiere-at-cannes-banned-at-home Retrieved 27-11-20

|15-16 January

|The DusitD2 complex which hosts an upscale hotel and several other offices is attacked. 21 people are killed and several injured. Al-Shabaab claims responsibility for the attack stating that it was a response to US President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel"Terror group says deadly Kenya attack over Trump recognition of Jerusalem". www.timesofisrael.com. Times of Israel. 16 January 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2019."Kenya hotel attack death toll rises to 21". BBC News. 16 January 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2019.

|23 March

|Kenyan science teacher and Franciscan Friar, Peter Tabichi, wins the Global Teacher Prize.Global Teacher Prize. Varkey Foundation. Available from: https://www.globalteacherprize.org/winners/peter-tabichi-2019{{Cite news |date=2019-03-24 |title=Kenyan science teacher Peter Tabichi wins global prize |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47658803 |access-date=2023-05-11}}

|October

|US-based Kenyan scientist and inventor, Prof. Benson Edagwa is named the Emerging Innovator of the year at the University of Nebraska Medical Center for his work on developing long acting Antiretroviral treatments for HIV.{{Cite web |title=Researchers honored at UNeMed banquet |url=https://www.unmc.edu/news.cfm?match=24604 |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=www.unmc.edu| date=21 October 2019 }}

|13 March

|Kenya confirms first COVID-19 infection.{{Cite web |title=Kenya Confirms First COVID-19 Infection |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/science-health_coronavirus-outbreak_kenya-confirms-first-covid-19-infection/6185761.html |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=VOA |date=13 March 2020 |language=en}}

|9 August

|The 2022 Kenyan general elections are held in which William Ruto was elected as the 5th president of Kenya with Rigathi Gachagua as the deputy president.{{Cite news |title=Kenya elections 2022: Full results of presidential and parliamentary races |date=9 August 2022 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-62444316}}