The British Empire: Kenya

In early 1950s Kenya, the Mau Mau became a growing armed challenge to British rule. The Mau Mau attacks on British settlers, secret oaths, and killings of African loyalists made officials fear that control was slipping away. In October 1952, they declared a State of Emergency.

The Mau Mau fighters were difficult to identify. In trying to root them out, British authorities drew many Kikuyu communities into emergency rule. Kikuyu communities were divided by impossible choices, caught between the Mau Mau demands and colonial rule. British authorities detained tens of thousands without trial, moved people into controlled villages, and sent detainees through camps where many were screened, beaten or forced to work. Hola became a symbol of British violence.

Former detainees later took the British government to court. Colonial files once held back from public view came to light. Britain expressed regret and agreed compensation. This enquiry asks: what this violence reveals about the nature of the British Empire in Kenya.

Did British violence in Kenya betray British imperial values, or expose how empire really worked?