It lies at the northeastern edge of the Winam Gulf, a long, shallow arm that protrudes from the main body of Lake Victoria.

[10] When Europeans first settled in the area in the late 19th century, Kisumu became a trading post – attracting Luo people from as far as Migori and Siaya County.

It was to replace Port Victoria, then an important centre on the caravan trade route, near the delta of the Nzoia River.

[12] Another plan was later prepared in May 1900, when plots were allocated to a few European firms as well as to Indian traders who had travelled to Kisumu on contracts to build the Uganda Railway and had decided to settle at the expanding terminus.

In October 1900, the 62-ton ship SS William Mackinnon was reassembled and registered in Kisumu, and made its maiden voyage to Entebbe, marking the beginning of the Lake Marine Services.

Before the jet airline era, the city was a landing point on the British flying boat passenger and mail route from Southampton to Cape Town.

[14] In the meantime, it was realised that the site originally chosen for the township north of the Nyanza Gulf was unsuitable for the town's expansion, due to its flat topography and poor soils.

It was demolished in the twenties when new plots became available on Odera and Ogada Streets in the present-day Kisumu, hence the new area acquired the name 'New Bazaar'.

The port has been stimulated by the transformation of international business and trade, as well as the shipments of goods destined for Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

It is thriving with the sugar and rice irrigation industries, whose contribution to the national economy is immense due to its natural resources and as the epicentre for business in Kenya.

Kisumu features a tropical rainforest climate with no true dry season and significant rainfall year-round.

[18] Kisumu has highly fertile land and variations in temperature and rainfall with two rainy seasons per year across the region provide a suitable environment for a broad range of agricultural crops.

The majority of farming in the lake basin region is subsistence agriculture, leading to relatively low production volumes.

[22] Kisumu Museum, established in 1980,[23] has a series of outdoor pavilions laid out in a formation similar to that of a Luo homestead.

For example, one pavilion contains numerous aquaria with a wide variety of fish from Lake Victoria, along with explanatory posters.

One pavilion houses the prehistoric TARA rock art, which was removed for its own protection to the museum after it was defaced by graffiti in its original location.

Therefore, some of the main focuses in the centre are promoting eco-cultural tourism and facilitating the conservation of the Dunga Papyrus Wetland Ecosystem.

[25] It has become a local pilgrimage site for adherents of the Legio Maria sect who, come to the rock to pray and fast for several weeks at a time.

The Kisumu leg is referred to as the Dala sevens and the annual tournament attracts thousands of fans from across the country.

Before the jet airline era, Kisumu was a landing point on the British flying boat passenger and mail route from Southampton to Cape Town.

Expansion of the airport cargo facility after completion of the passenger terminals is currently going on in anticipation of increased trade brought about by the recreated East African Community of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

Until 2013 passenger trains operate between Nairobi and Kisumu using the revamped meter gauge rail run by the defunct Rift Valley Railways.

A second section of 262 kilometres (163 mi) should have brought the standard gauge to Kisumu, a new station and a port on Lake Victoria being planned.

The plans not materialising due to lack of funding, a project to rebuild the metre gauge line from the Ugandan capital Kampala to the frontier and onwards to the existing Kenyan metre gauge railway past Kisumu found funding from the African Development Bank in 2022.

[25] During World War II, three aircraft operated by the South African Air Force crashed into Lake Victoria soon after take-off from Kisumu Airport.

The first, a Lockheed Lodestar aircraft number "K"-248 (ex ZS-ATK) carrying a senior South African military officer, Major General Dan Pienaar, crashed on 19 December 1942, killing all 12 persons on board.

[33] The cause of the accidents is currently thought to have been the katabatic wind condition which often affects Kisumu in the early morning.

After that there have been accidents in its major towns with notable black spots:[clarification needed] Ojola/Kisian, Kisat bridge, Ahero,[34] Sondu, Awasi just to mention a few.

The County Government of Kisumu has been urged to consider dualizing the roads to prevent accidents that have claimed numerous lives and caused lasting physical and psychological harm to motorists and pedestrians.

[36] There are also Muslim mosques and a Hindu temple The term used to refer to a native of Kisumu is jakisumo (plural, jokisumo).