The Daily Nation was started in the year 1958 as a Swahili weekly called Taifa by the Englishman Charles Hayes.

It was bought in 1959 by the Aga Khan, and became a daily newspaper, Taifa Leo (Swahili for "Nation Today"), in January 1960.

An English-language edition called Daily Nation was published on 3 October 1960, in a process organised by former editor of the British News Chronicle, Michael Curtis.

[4] The newspaper is today is published from the Nation Media Group headquarters on Kimathi Street in Nairobi.

[10] A documentary film about the paper was released in 2000, directed by Dutch filmmakers Hillie Molenaar and Joop van Wijk.