Kenya is known for its unique history and mostly importantly, it is one African nation that has had human habitation since the start of the Lower Paleolithic. The first evidence of ancient early human habitation in Kenya was discovered by Louis Leakey in 1929 at Kariandusi Prehistoric Site in the southwest. Several of the early hominid species have also been discovered.
The oldest hominid was found by Martin Pickford in 2000, about 6-million-year-old orrorin tugenensis that derived its name from Tugen hills. It becomes the 2nd world’s ancient fossil hominid after Sahelanthropus tchadensis. New hominid species were also named in 1995 after series of fossil discoveries around Lake Turkana in 1965, 1987 and 1994. Addition of over 3.2 million old stone tools were unearthed in 2011 in Lomekwi next to Lake Turkana.
The history of Kenya can also be traced to the expansion of the Bantu from West Africa was seen in Kenya by the first millennium AD. Kenya then becomes a true diverse ethnic state considering the mix of the Bantu, Nilo-Saharan and Afro-Asiatic ethno-linguistics.
During the early modern period, the European and Arab presence was recorded in Mombasa and around the 19th century, the European exploration started. In 1895, the British empire formed the East Africa Protectorate also best referred to as the Kenya Colony.
Kenya’s history also dates back to 1963 when it attained her independence as a Republic of Kenya under the Kenya African National Union (KANU) that was led by Jomo Kenyatta from 1963 to 1978. He was succeeded by Daniel Arap Moi who led up to 2002 and he tried to change the de facto one-party status of Kenya into a de jure status in the 1980s, unfortunately, it didn’t due to the cold war. Currently, Kenya is led by Uhuru Kenyatta who won the 2013 general elections.