Nanyuki at 100: How the town became bastion of ‘white man’s country’

On the 24th day of November 1920, Nanyuki was gazetted as a township under the East African Township Ordinance of 1903, by the Governor of the Colony of Kenya and East African Protectorate Edward Northey. Before then Nanyuki was generally known as North Nyeri.

The history of Nanyuki goes back to pre-colonial days. Nanyuki is part of the Laikipia Plateau which stretches from the slopes of the snow-capped Mt Kenya to the rim of the Great Rift Valley in the south.