Colonial Kenya: socio-political forces and lines of contradiction

Abstract

The presented article is devoted to the study of the structure of society and the relationship of various ethnic and social groups in Kenya during the era of colonialism. There are four main centers of power - European colonists, missionaries, immigrants from South Asia and the local African population. The main lines of contradictions between them are traced, common interests and conflict zones are outlined in the conditions of the dominant importance of the metropolis, which plays the role of an arbitrator. Particular attention is paid to the channels of arrival in Kenya, the dynamics of growth in the number and socio-political weight of Europeans and Indians, their main claims against each other, resources of influence, methods of achieving goals and defending their positions are analyzed. With the unconditional political domination of immigrants from Europe, the British authorities were forced to recognize the huge contribution of Indian capital to the development of the local economy, to attract Africans to serve in law enforcement and the armed forces, and rely on local resources to cover the needs of the colony during the years of economic crises and World War II. The rise of Indian nationalism contributed to the strengthening of anti-colonial sentiments in Kenya and the consolidation of part of the African and South Asian elite in the simpler struggle for independence. Missionary organizations made a significant contribution to the spread of education and medicine among the indigenous people, gave impetus to the development of their own Christian churches in the region, but undermined the confidence of Africans in themselves, taking an irreconcilable position in relation to some local customs and traditions. Colonial Kenyan society was highly segregated, although the apartheid regime did not officially exist there. In the early years of Kenya's independence, the frictions and contradictions that had been smoothed out earlier by London made themselves felt with renewed vigor, which provoked the emigration of people of Indian and European descent from the country.