The Mau Mau rebellion (1952–1960), also known as the Mau Mau uprising, Mau Mau revolt or Kenya Emergency, was a war in the British Kenya Colony (1920–1963) between the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA), also known as the Mau Mau, and the British authorities.
The Kikuyu are a Bantu ethnic group native to Central Kenya. At a population of 8,148,668 as of 2019, they account for 17.13% of the total population of Kenya, making them Kenya's largest ethnic group.
Dedan Kimathi Waciuri, born Kimathi wa Waciuri in what was then British Kenya, was the senior military and spiritual leader of the Mau Mau Uprising. Widely regarded as a revolutionary leader, he led the armed military struggle against the British colonial regime in Kenya in the 1950s until his capture in 1956 and execution in 1957. Kimathi is credited with leading efforts to create formal military structures within the Mau Mau, and convening a war council in 1953. He, along with Baimungi M'marete, Musa Mwariama, General China and Muthoni Kirima, was one of the Field Marshals.
Wangarĩ Muta Maathai was a Kenyan social, environmental, and political activist who founded the Green Belt Movement, an environmental non-governmental organization focused on the planting of trees, environmental conservation, and women's rights. In 2004 she became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Murang'a County is one of the counties of Kenya's former Central Province. Its largest town and capital is Murang'a, which was referred to as Fort Hall during the colonial era. The county is inhabited mainly by and is considered the birthplace of the Gikuyu, the largest ethnic group in Kenya. The county has a population of 1,056,640 based on the 2019 census.
The 1959 Hola massacre was a massacre committed by British colonial forces during the Mau Mau Uprising at a colonial detention camp in Hola, Kenya.
Harry Thuku was a Kenyan born in Kiambu, Mitahato village. As a politician, he was one of the pioneers in the development of modern African nationalism in Kenya. He helped found the Young Kikuyu Association and the East African Association before being arrested and exiled from 1922 to 1931. In 1932 he became President of the Kikuyu Central Association, in 1935 founded the Kikuyu Provincial Association, and in 1944 founded the Kenya African Study Union. Opposed to the Mau Mau movement, he later retired to coffee-farming.
Charity Waciuma is a Kenyan writer, who wrote several novels for adolescents and an autobiographical novel, Daughter of Mumbi (1969). Her work draws on Kikuyu legends and storytelling traditions. In the 1960s Waciuma and Grace Ogot became the first Kenyan women writers to be published in English.
Petals of Blood is a novel written by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o and first published in 1977. Set in Kenya just after independence, the story follows four characters – Munira, Abdulla, Wanja, and Karega – whose lives are intertwined due to the Mau Mau rebellion. In order to escape city life, each retreats to the small, pastoral village of Ilmorog. As the novel progresses, the characters deal with the repercussions of the Mau Mau rebellion as well as with a new, rapidly westernizing Kenya.
Lynne Muthoni Wanyeki is a Kenyan political scientist, human rights activist, journalist, and the current Regional Director of Open Society Foundation's Africa Regional Office. Wanyeki is the former Regional Director of Amnesty International's Regional Office for East Africa, the Horn, and the Great Lakes. She is also the former Executive Director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission and the African Women's Development and Communication Network (FEMNET).
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Nairobi, Kenya.
Operation Anvil was a British military operation during the Mau Mau Uprising where British troops attempted to remove suspected Mau Mau from Nairobi and place them in Langata Camp or reserves. The operation began on 24 April 1954 and took two weeks, at the end of which 20,000 Mau Mau suspects had been taken to Langata, and 30,000 more had been deported to the reserves.
Esther Muthoni Passaris OGW is a Kenyan politician, social entrepreneur and philanthropist. She is the Nairobi County woman representative in the bicameral Kenyan parliament, and a member of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Political Party.
Hon.Alice Muthoni Wahome is a Kenyan politician and current Cabinet Secretary for Water, Sanitation and Irrigation. Wahome was the elected as Member of Parliament for the Kandara Constituency in the March 2013 general elections and successfully defended her seat in 2017 and 2022 prior to resigning her seat to join cabinet. Wahome is a member of UDA.
Muthoni wa Kirima was a top-ranking female fighter in Kenya's liberation movement Mau Mau or Land Freedom Army in the 1950. She is the only woman said to have been bestowed the Mau Mau rank of field-marshal. She was one of the very few women to become active fighters in the liberation movement.
Field-Marshal Muthoni wa Kirima is a retired top-ranking female fighter in the Kenya Land and Freedom Army of the Mau Mau Uprising in the 1950s. Few Mau Mau women became active fighters, and Muthoni is the only woman to have attained the Mau Mau rank of field-marshal.
Mary Muthoni Nyanjiru was a Kikuyu woman and a Kenyan political activist remembered for leading the protest after the arrest of Harry Thuku, that resulted in her death. Muthoni Nyanjiru was born in Weithaga, Murang'a, Kenya, although her date or year of birth are not recorded. At the time she was shot and killed in 1922, she had been living in Nairobi with her stepdaughter, Elizabeth Waruiru.
Anne-Rose Waruguru Matindi is a Kenyan nurse and children's writer, known for her plays aimed at elementary school children.
Muthoni Drummer Queen or Muthoni Ndonga is a Kenyan rapper, drummer and cultural entrepreneur. She produces alternative electro-hip-hop music and founded the festivals Africa Nouveau and Blankets & Wine in East Africa.
Alice Muthoni Gichuru, who writes as Muthoni wa Gichuru, is a Kenyan writer of fiction for children and young adults, as well as short stories.
