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up parcels of land in the frontier for individual holdings. As had happened in colonies in North
America, when British officials later began paying the Kikuyu for that land, they were acquiring the land freehold under colonial law. However, the Kikuyu were allowed to believe the British were only renting the land until the Kikuyu wished to reclaim it in future, because the transaction had not followed native customs. This difference in cultural understandings of land tenure was a contributing factor in the
156:, then British Commissioner of the Protectorate, encouraged settlement of the Highlands for farming. Commissioner Eliot, a leading critic of building the railway, believed the only way to recoup the money spent on its construction was by opening up the Highlands for farming. In his view, only European settlers and agriculture could develop the region and generate the necessary funds to support the colonial administration. Eliot's view was supported by pioneer settlers such as
143:"Here we have a territory admirably suited for a white man's country, and I can say this, with no thought of injustice to any native race, for the country in question is either utterly uninhabited for miles and miles or at most its inhabitants are wandering hunters who have no settled home, or whose fixed habitation is the lands outside the healthy area."
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resulting in starvation within the community. The Maasai entered into treaties with
British officials to surrender large amounts of land, which reduced manpower meant they were unable to defend against rival tribes. Of the 12,000 square miles of European settled land, 7,000 consisted of former Masai
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losing between twenty and fifty percent of their population on their frontier with the Maasai. Many survivors sought refuge amongst relatives elsewhere in their domain, but by leaving their land it made the frontier appear disused to
European officials. Before the famine, the Kikuyu had been buying
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The first
European explorers and administrators used the term Highlands to refer to the region no less than 5,000 feet (1,524 m) above sea level, which was best suited climatically for the Europeans to reside. During the process of settlement, the term came to be used for the areas not already
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When
European settlement began, the Highlands were primarily inhabited by nomadic pastoralists and this absence of settled agrarian communities allowed British officials to describe the region as uninhabited. At the time, the African population was distributed between cultivating tribes and
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By 1914, there were around a thousand
European settlers in the Highlands. In 1914, around twenty percent of the leases held in the region were held by 13 individuals or groups. The granting of leases to settlers for low prices resulted in rampant land speculation, to the extent that by 1930
212:. The intervening areas consisted of extensive but sparsely inhabited plains, at over 5,000 feet, where rainfall was more uncertain and pastoralists instead relied on the grazing of animals. European settlement was predominately in these extensive plains, traditionally inhabited by the
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To many early explorers and administrators, the cool climate and absence of populations over large swathes of the
Highlands, made it a uniquely attractive area for European settlement in sub-tropical Africa. In 1893, the explorer
243:, resulting in large areas of land remaining abandoned for a number of years. Similar disasters as afflicted the Maasai also caused havoc amongst these tribes and, between 1901 and 1902, a famine resulted in the
40:
131:, whilst lobbying for a railway in East Africa, noted that European settlement in the region was not feasible until the cooler Highlands were made accessible. This view was echoed by
300:. The Order also established a Highlands Board with a majority elected by the Legislative Council to advise and make recommendations on the disposal of land in the region.
96:. It was traditionally the homeland of indigenous Central Kenyan communities up to the colonial period, when it became the centre of European settlement in
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British officials also alienated land from other tribes, whom the Maasai had pushed to woodlands on the fringes of the
Highlands. These tribes practised
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grazing grounds abandoned under agreements between 1904 and 1913, and large parts of remaining areas, such as the Uasin Gishu plateau, were uninhabited.
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Today, the region is at the heart of Kenya's economy. It is the country's best served region by road and rail and has many flourishing cities such as
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and Ewart Grogan, who believed that they had a civilising mission to transform the entire country into a modern industrialised "White Man's
Country".
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336:. Although covering only five percent of Kenya's total land area, it produces most of Kenya's agricultural exports, particularly
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approximately sixty five percent of land reserved for
Europeans was not under any form of agriculturally productive activity.
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of 1902 permitted land grants only to Europeans, the Highlands came to mean only the lands Europeans could own and manage.
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100:, and between 1902 and 1961 was officially reserved for the exclusive use of Europeans by the colonial government.
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At the turn of the century, the Maasai had been decimated by a concurrence of natural disasters. Accompanying a
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By 1903 there were about 100 European settlers in the Highlands. A large proportion of the settlers hailed from
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William Robert Ochieng', Robert M. Maxon, An Economic History of Kenya, East African Publishers, 1992, p.114
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William Robert Ochieng', Robert M. Maxon, An Economic History of Kenya, East African Publishers, 1992, p.113
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Initially the region was not clearly defined, instead lying between two points on the railway track, namely
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Morgan, W. T. W. "The 'White Highlands' of Kenya." The Geographical Journal 129, no. 2 (1963): 140-55.
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The reservation of the White Highlands for Europeans by administrative practice was ended by the
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Whittlesey, Derwent. "Kenya, the Land and Mau Mau." Foreign Affairs 32, no. 1 (1953): 80-90.
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pastoralist people. The cultivating tribes existed mainly in the high rainfall areas of
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288:. It was not until 1939 that the boundaries were defined in the 7th Schedule to
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which consumed vegetation over large tracts of land, whilst
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Photograph of the dedication of a White Highlands church
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223:epidemic was a severe drought and an invasion of
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16:Area of Kenya, once reserved for whites
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387:Hugh Cholmondeley, 3rd Baron Delamere
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92:is an area in the central uplands of
109:settled by local African tribes. As
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554:Geography of Rift Valley Province
559:Kenyan people of British descent
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196:and the slopes at the foot of
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362:1899 famine in central Kenya
231:had killed large numbers of
51:Etymology: Area where white
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544:European diaspora in Kenya
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135:who, on completion of the
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290:The Crown Lands Ordinance
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111:The Crown Lands Ordinance
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549:Central Province (Kenya)
539:East Africa Protectorate
367:East Africa Protectorate
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262:Land Control Regulations
292:under authority of the
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158:The 3rd Baron Delamere
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382:White people in Kenya
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241:shifting cultivation
574:White Kenyan people
175:who settled in the
529:Geography of Kenya
294:Kenya (Highlands)
256:End of reservation
133:Sir Harry Johnston
280:, and later from
250:Mau Mau Rebellion
208:and the hills of
179:plateau in 1908.
154:Sir Charles Eliot
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372:Happy Valley set
296:Order in Council
129:Frederick Lugard
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90:White Highlands
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19:Region in Kenya
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534:Kenya Colony
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377:Kenya Colony
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282:Sultan Hamud
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200:such as the
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165:South Africa
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278:Fort Ternan
198:Mount Kenya
177:Uasin Gishu
122:Exploration
523:Categories
393:References
229:rinderpest
187:Alienation
148:Settlement
564:Highlands
350:pyrethrum
264:in 1961.
202:Aberdares
173:Transvaal
171:from the
152:In 1902,
71:Time zone
53:colonists
356:See also
286:Kibigori
221:smallpox
210:Ukambani
76:UTC+3:00
569:Oronyms
330:Kericho
318:Eldoret
310:Nairobi
225:locusts
216:tribe.
117:History
60:Country
342:coffee
322:Kitale
314:Nakuru
298:, 1939
268:Extent
245:Kikuyu
233:cattle
214:Maasai
206:Elgeyo
194:Nyanza
55:lived.
33:Region
346:sisal
334:Nyeri
326:Thika
304:Today
169:Boers
94:Kenya
64:Kenya
348:and
332:and
276:and
104:Name
88:The
495:doi
424:doi
338:tea
284:to
274:Kiu
80:EAT
525::
505:^
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82:)
78:(
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