In 1909 visit to Kenya (Murang'a), US Pres.Ted Roosevelt describes Kenyan's fondness for Mtumba

HistoryKe
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In 1909, while on his hunting safari, Ret. U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt decided to tour Fort Hall (Murang’a town today).

On the day of his visit, traditional Agïküyü chiefs, along with throngs of their subjects, waited curiously for the triumphant entry of this important mzungu visitor.

I wonder what was in the mind of the locals. That the King of the white man’s tribe was on his way?

Perhaps.

It was also evident that the British administrators had made grand plans in concert with the locals’ leaders to grant Ted a rousing welcome.

For instance, if you examine the photo below closely, Kavirondo warriors resplendent in their elaborate ostrich headdresses can be seen among the crowd. The British must have made effort to impress their guest by ferrying villagers from far and near, making the visit look like a national event.

And from his memoirs, Ted helps give us glimpses of how the day turned out. These were his observations as he approached Murang’a from the Thika side:

"…A good road for carriages, wagons or automobiles — and you see them all — runs from Nairobi, via Fort Hall and Embu, to the wonderful region of which Mount Kenya is the center. Embu is twenty-eight miles from Fort Hall and is the most distant military post which the British have established in that direction. Fort Hall is nearly opposite Mount Kenya, south of the Tana River, and Embu lies to the southeast of that wonderful dome of nature.

The road which takes one to these outposts passes through a varied country, often wild and seamed with gorges in its first stages, but generally fertile and well watered by various tributaries of the Athi and Tana rivers.

The spacious colonial estates, or ranches, are scattered along the route for thirty or forty miles from Nairobi. One farm may grow coffee — which is such a luxuriant crop — and on the next estate may be herded together, by a native child or full-grown, a miscellaneous but placid assortment of ostriches, sheep and cattle. A complete dairy farm is liable to be in operation in the vicinity; also a truck garden producing sweet potatoes, Indian corn, beans and other vegetables may adjoin it.

At one place is to be found a plucky English family grappling with a 10,000 acre farm, their neighbor an old Boer, who, after having trekked the length of Africa to avoid the British flag, now stolidly smokes his pipe by his grass house, tends to his small herd of indifferent looking cattle; in his way, is hospitable to his British coworkers, and eager enough to show the tourist what he knows about the whereabouts of lions.

About half a day’s safari from Fort Hall, where the Chania and Thika rivers effect a juncture with the main stream of the Tana, is a beautiful meadowy tract within sight and hearing of fine plunging waterfalls, and the locality is one of the favorite camping grounds for lion hunters. It is an agreeable programme, after indulging in the sport the first half of the day, to spend the afternoon in a ride to Fort Hall, through a green, comparatively smooth and pleasant country. There will be found the commissioner’s house, with a ditch around it, a jail, an Indian bazaar and a few houses for the militia and police.

If the visitor is fortunate, he will arrive while a great gathering of Kikuku chiefs, warriors and women is loudly discussing the dance of the following morning. He will then accept the commissioner’s invitation to stay overnight.

In the morning, long before daylight, the whole space in front of the fort is packed with almost naked warriors, while the beating of drums, the blowing of horns and the chanting of yokes in a crude rhythm fully awakes all would-be sightseers to the coming war dance.

And when the “indaba” does begin, later in the morning, it is a sight to be remembered. The pack of plumed, squirming, gyrating, yelling warriors, their hair and chocolate colored bodies smeared with red earth and glistening with the slimy juice of the castor oil plant; legs and arms encircled with twisted wire or heavier iron ornaments; leopard skins waving from their shoulders, and their broad cowhide or rhinoceros shields, painted with tribal emblems, and long spears clashing together, as particular chiefs advance and retreat in the dance, or as gifts of live sheep and bulls are brought forward into the arena — these are the weird features of the exhibition.
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The laughable side of the picture is the obvious fondness of the African warrior for any European article of clothing, which he proudly parades before his people — an old pair of trousers, a torn jacket, a weather-stained uniform, a ragged umbrella or battered helmet[/SIZE].

Mixing such articles as these with their time-honored ostrich plumes, capes of leopard skin, belts of monkey fur and metal anklets and bracelets, is a characteristic but still ludicrous mingling of New and Old Africa…"http://i.imgur.com/hFP99Rr.png

Nimeokota hapo.
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Fuata yeye for more hekayas of this sort.

Kenya has such a great history,sad that most of our youth are too ignorant to reading up on it.Too busy following some american reality show and any free time left is for discussing the same crap on their smart phones.

Very smart phones for a buch of stupid youngins’.

i remember rousing the demons for pointing out their engrossment with candy crush…

Wakati huo mwavaa kama mwingereza, Maji maji rebellion walikuwa wanapanga vile mkoloni atatolewa kwa hali na Mali. Hatukuwa na hao home guard wasaliti waafrica wakenya. Ukijiuliza swali? Jee hao homeguard walikuwa kabila gani… Dah! Tunawajua tuu! Tujielimishe

Maji maji rebellion were stupid believing that witchcraft could protect them from the bullets, at least the mau mau knew what they were against and managed to acquire guns and also make home made guns and waged a successful guerrilla war against the colonialists

May mau wakiwa werevu, mbona wakafaa Maskini. Ama kuna mwerevu aliiba mashamba wakati huo. Swali tuu

Magufuli yuko hapa uliza swali ujibiwe

twakubali uumzalendo na yaishe lakini sio kila kitu kiandikwacho humu ni kwa mathumuni ya kushindana kati ya kenya na tanzania gani kali.
mijadala mingine yataka ngumzo zenye busara,sio ubishi wa ovyo kila dakika.
changia mada iliyomo,ikija ya kupimana ubabe kati yetu na nyinyi hapo sawa.

Brare !! Babu wangu alikua Moja wao maumau na hakufa akiwa maskini. Watu wenyu ndio synonymous na umaskini!

The statement is mostly true except hapo kwa successful guerrilla war and guerrilla war against the colonists.

  1. Maumau war was a kikuyu internal issue which had nothing to do with Kenya’s independence. It was more of mungiki/taliban kind of outfit. Read on the circumstances behind Lari massacre.

  2. I am sorry to say but the counter-insurgency operation was a resounding success for the brits, especially the SAS. Most of the leaders captured, in prison or dead, starved of supplies and food e.t.c. There’s no way maumau could have won a fight against the brits without significant outside support

Please dont respond to this idiot. He is not Tanzanian and is not even good at faking it. All he does is distract from discussions here.

Ushaambiwa ukweli na ndugu @Jazzman … Asante sana mdau

We tajiri sasa ama una 1/4 acre la shamba

Hako ka 1/4 unatharau kanatoka millioni thalathini pale kwetu kabete! Uko na swali lingine?

Pole kaka pengine pesa ya Zimbabwe
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We we kweli ni kichwa maji! Waithaka ni kabete? While at OLX be a man and post kabete plots and their quoted prices jinga hii!

Kaka samahani lakini tumia miwani. Ya sema lower kabete. Huko si kabete pia? Amaulikuwa wasingizia upande wa hela?

Lower kabete- kabete pande ya chini. Mwimuto pia ni kabete! Tazama hio map vizuri uone ni sehemu moja. Msamaha nime upokea

Put that Kenyan history on a smartphone…kwani? Other countries are doing it for us and making the money for themselves. [if you watched Roots2016]