Timeline of Kenya

Chronology

33 events spanning the history of Kenya. BCE/CE dating.

1. 500 BCE

   Start of Bantu migration into Eastern Africa

   Start of Bantu migration into Eastern Africa.

2. 600

   Arabs begin settling coastal areas

   Arabs begin settling coastal areas, over the centuries developing trading stations which facilitated contact with the Arab world, Persia and India. Farmers, herders and hunters from other parts of Africa begin moving into Kenya.

3. 1000

   Islam is introduced to the region by Arab merchants

   Islam is introduced to the region by Arab merchants, more trading posts are set up along coast.

4. 1200

   Swahili culture and language becomes dominant near the coast

   Swahili culture and language becomes dominant near the coast, from a mixture of Arab traders, Africans, and even Persians and Indians. Inland is still dominated by Bantu and Nilotic speakers, as well as southwards migrating Cushite speakers from the north.

5. 1498

   Vasco da Gama arrived at Mombasa, Kenya

   Vasco da Gama, Portuguese explorer, arrived at Mombasa, Kenya, where the Arabs repelled him. He sailed on to Malindi and came to terms with the local sultan, who supplied a pilot that knew the route to Calicut (Kozhikode), the most important commercial port in Southwest India at the time.

6. 1502 – 1509

   Vasco da Gama arrived at Mombasa, Kenya

   Portuguese briefly take control of the Swahili ports on the coast. Swahili states force them out.

7. 1630

   Omani Arab traders start to settle along coast.

   Omani Arab traders start to settle along coast.

8. 1698

   Omanis, from the Arabian peninsular, control of the whole coastline.

   Omanis, from the Arabian peninsular, control of the whole coastline.

9. 1895

   Formation of British East African Protectorate

   Modern-day Kenya became part of the British East African Protectorate.

10. 1899

    The watering hole as a watering point for their steam engines eventually became Nairobi

    When British engineers were building a railway from the coastal town of Mombasa to what is now Uganda, they chose the Masai’s emergency watering hole as a watering point for their steam engines and it eventually became Nairobi, Kenya’s capital.