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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Kenya
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Member of the *Commonwealth since 1963, and a republic since 1964. European involvement in this part of east Africa began in the mid-19C, and was originally limited to missionaries and explorers. By the 1880s Germany and Britain were beginning to develop the interior; an agreed line of demarcation made a southern region (now *Tanzania) a German sphere of influence, leaving the northern area, Kenya, to the British. The excellent upland farming regions were extensively settled, becoming known as the White Highlands.
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In the 1950s a guerrilla movement, *Mau Mau, was launched against British rule by the largest African tribe, the Kikuyu. The uprising reached alarming proportions. Only about 100 Europeans died, but the Mau Mau killed some 2000 Kikuyu who were considered to be collaborators and lost more than 11,000 of their own members. The supposed leader of the Mau Mau, Jomo *Kenyatta (c.1891–1978), was imprisoned from 1952 to 1961, before becoming in 1963 the prime minister (and from 1964 president) of the newly independent country.
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