The United States and Kenya

CHAPTER 2

Some Historical Backgrounds of the United States and Kenya

It is necessary to know some historical and political contrasts between the United States and Kenya, as well as who first settled in each country. This helps to recognize, appreciate, and understand what happened earlier in relation to what is happening in current times.

The United States was uninhabited by man until some forty thousand years ago, when the first immigrants from Asia crossed the then land bridge between Siberia and Alaska. These Asian immigrants spread out and settled throughout the two Americas creating cultures of great variety and complexity. It is still unclear about the settlement-immigration’s patterns, the timing, and the origin in Asia. After the voyages of Christopher Columbus in 1492 to 1504, extensive European colonization of America began. The first permanent English settlement was in Jamestown in 1607, and in 1620, the Pilgrims settled in Plymouth, in what would become Massachusetts (Daniels, 2002).

As a contrast to the United States, there is evidence of humanoid habitation in Kenya dating back 2.5 million years ago. However, the first inhabitants of present-day Kenya were hunter-gatherers related to modern Khoisan speakers of Southern Africa. It is also estimated that about 2000 BC, Cushitic language speaking people moved from northern Africa and settled in the area that is now known as Kenya. The Cushitic language speakers entered Kenya from the north and northeastern Kenya and settled in their current places. Present day Cushitic peoples are the Somalis, Oromo, Borana, Gabbra, and the ancestors of the Rendille. They are mostly pastoralists, nomadic, and most are Muslims.

The Bantu migration, nearly 2000 ago, emanated from West Africa, in the region between eastern Nigeria and Cameroon. The push factors out of West Africa were climate change resulting from the growing Sahara, unemployment and poverty, as well as inter-ethnic wars. The pull factors were abundant farmland, employment to alleviate poverty, and political and religious freedom. The Bantu people encountered the Afro-Asian peoples: mainly Cushitic and Nilo-Saharan and Sudanic ancestral origin. The Bantu migrants acquired cattle from the Cushitic peoples in the area. It is postulated that the Bantu peoples borrowed the custom of milking cattle from the Cushitic peoples. They also intermixed with others they found and drove out some of the inhabitants.

Nilotes are the second largest people group in Kenya. They migrated into Kenya approximately 2000 ago from Southern Sudan, probably in search of pasture. Most Nilotes are herdsmen and have a fearsome reputation as warriors and cattle rustlers. Major groups are the Maasai, Luo, Kalenjin, Samburu, and Turkana. Like the Bantus, the Nilotes adopted many customs and practices from the Cushitic people groups, including the age set system of social organization, circumcision, and many conversational terms.

The Kenyan original immigrants originated from within Africa while the majority of the American immigrants came from Europe. Religious persecution, war, and agricultural depression led Germans to the United States. The French revolution and the revolts in the French West Indies made many Frenchmen immigrate to the United States. Economic depressions in Wales, abortive Irish rebellions against the English, and Swiss economic troubles made many contingents migrate from those countries to the United States. Moreover, land prices were low, employment and wages were good in the United States compared to Europe. Furthermore, the lack of immigration policies allowed immigrants to come to the United States to compete with citizens for jobs, since there were no hindrances from the government. This happened because the United States needed a huge labor force to exploit both its agricultural and industrial potential, and a market to absorb its products (Nye, 1960, p. 121-123).

There are three immigration myths that are held by most Americans. The first myth says that most immigrants came to the United States for religious and political reasons. The second says that most immigrants came to the United States to look for wealth because they were wretchedly poor. The third myth says that the United States was a melting pot in which nationalities and ethnic groups fused into one. Each of the three myths contain elements of truth because immigrants did and do come to the United States seeking liberty of one kind or another. Some people found, and others will find the way to wealth from their wretchedly poverty-stricken conditions. Although there has been, and still is a continuous mixture of genetic ethnic groups in the United States, most immigrants are still aware of their ethnic origins and tend to live separately from each other. In general, most immigrants who came to the United States in the 1800s and early twentieth century were not the wretchedly poor from the countries they came and that economic betterment was the major motivating factor. These myths tend not to agree with actual reality and daily experience (Daniels, 1991, p. 17).

Like the United States, Kenya received immigrants from Europe. After Vasco da Gama’s voyage of 1498, the Portuguese settled in Mombasa from 1505, and, the British came to Kenya in 1895 and colonized it in 1920. The Arab traders from Omani in the Persian Gulf, came to the Kenyan coast around the first century AD. In 1720, the Portuguese were driven out of the Kenyan coast by Omani Arab traders. The British left Kenya after independence in 1963. A Swahili culture developed in the coastal towns, such as Mombasa, Lamu, and Pate resulting in the development of a Bantu language, Kiswahili, with many Arabic loan words. Today, Kiswahili is the national language of Kenya and a lingua franca for the East African countries.