1899 famine in central Kenya
The famine occurred concurrently with the establishment of British colonial rule, which led the inhabitants of central Kenya to not perceive it as a consequence of natural causes.
Tools and weapons, metals, salt and medicinal herbs, honey and even labour would also be traded for foodstuffs such as millet and yams, beans, maize and bananas.
[2] Furthermore, individual regions in the south of this area maintained a vibrant exchange with the large caravans travelling inland from the East African coast to purchase ivory.
In central Kenya, several trading hubs emerged, where intermediaries procured food from the local population and resold it to the large caravans as provisions for their onward journey.
From 1889, the Imperial British East Africa Company established several administrative posts along the existing trade route from the harbour town of Mombasa to Lake Victoria.
Traders continued to sell food supplies from the highlands to passing caravans or to middlemen in order to acquire goods that were highly sought after, such as clothing, beads, weapons, or copper and brass wire (from which ornaments were made).
In a report from the British missionary Harry Leakey from the Kabete mission station near Nairobi, it was stated that:"The terrors of this were greatly intensified by the fact that about that time an enormous safari with Nubians troops marched right through the Kikuyu country.
The agents of the food contractor bought up quantities of grain for what seemed to the unfortunate sellers magnificent returns of brass wire, Amerikani, and beads.
In addition to the famine, a smallpox epidemic and the appearance of the sand flea, previously unknown in central Kenya, contributed to the region's dire circumstances.
Men formed groups and undertook dangerous hunts for large mammals, such as Cape buffalo or elephants, a practice that was generally frowned upon in central Kenya.
Those who were unable to engage in hunting or other forms of food acquisition, including women with children, the elderly, and the infirm, were forced to subsist on roots, grasses, wild fruits, and leaves.
In order to survive, they resorted to desperate measures, including boiling leather and calabashes for days to make them edible and transforming charcoal into flour.
This method was pervasive despite the potential for significant psychological distress among the women involved, who frequently had to depart not only from their families but also from their familiar cultural and linguistic milieu.
Between 1898 and 1900, thousands of women and girls, mainly from Maasai and Kamba communities, relocated to predominantly Kikuyu-speaking family units residing in the central and fertile highlands.
Additionally, numerous women migrated to administrative stations or large railway construction camps independently, securing livelihoods through prostitution, petty trade, and beer brewing.
Some areas situated to the east of Mount Kenya and to the south of Nairobi appeared to be depopulated when observed by European travellers who were visiting the country for the first time.
Additionally, railway construction sites were subject to frequent raids, as the considerable number of workers present there offered a promising source of food.
In October, Francis Hall, a British official at the Fort Smith administrative station in the southern Kikuyu region, wrote to his father: "What with famine & smallpox we are burying 6 or 8 a day.
"[10]: 152 John Boyes, who had gained some influence in the Kikuyu area, wrote in a report that of a caravan of famine refugees he accompanied to the highlands, about fifty people were dying every day.
The areas situated to the east and south of the highlands, which were predominantly inhabited by the Kamba, Maasai and, to a lesser extent, Kikuyu, bore the burden of the highest losses.
"[7]: 754 In the aftermath of the disaster, the primary objective for the population was to rebuild households, families and communities, restore social order and stimulate local economic activity.
Instead, they settled in the forested highlands, which offered reliable rainfall and a secure livelihood after the arduous labour of clearing, but limited grazing land for livestock farming.
Due to their advantageous circumstances, they were able to incorporate distressed individuals, widows, and orphans into their household, utilize their labour to cultivate additional land, and thus rapidly amass considerable wealth.
During the famine, however, a significant number of individuals in need of refuge sought assistance from these institutions, which resulted in the emergence of the first generation of African Christians in central Kenya.
[1]: 152–154 In 1902, significant portions of the southern Kikuyu region and the Maasai settlement area were expropriated and made available for sale to white settlers.
As the population of central Kenya recovered from the losses incurred during the famine, the scarcity of land became a persistent issue that continued to worsen until the end of the colonial era.
As a result of their residence in drier regions and the impact of the famine, the Maasai engaged in extensive livestock, women, and food raiding in the Kikuyu, Embu, and Mbeere areas of the highlands.
This led to the perception among the Kamba and Maasai that the highland societies, particularly the Kikuyu, were engaged in the theft of women for economic gain, causing significant hardship to their neighbours.
The establishment of colonial rule, the construction of the railway and the resulting increase in the presence of whites in Central Kenya, which coincided with the famine, was therefore not initially perceived as a political event.
Rather than being viewed as a discrete event, the rinderpest, the lack of rain and smallpox were seen as part of a universal crisis and reckoning, the causes of which were attributed to the actions of the affected population.
