Swahili factor in colonial Kenya and the search for civilisation

As early as the 10 century AD, the Kenyan coastal region had come into contact with Islam as attested by archeological evidence and by the Morrocan Muslim traveller, Ibn Battuta when he went there and found a Muslim presence.

Arab traders, mostly from Oman, established flourishing cities with the local communities along the coastal area, trading mostly ivory, spices and later on acting as brokers for the slave trade with the West.

The Arab traders believed more in exchange of goods and services as opposed to colonisation of the host territory.

They coexisted and even intermarried with the local tribes and created a new people known as the “Swahili” with their own unique language, deeply infused with Arabic.

Due to a hostile physical environment, warrior tribes like the Maasai and their involvement with the slave trade, the Arabs did not venture inland.

There was, however, a group that went round through Tanganyika to Mumias where they set up a Muslim community.

The invasion by the Portuguese in the 16th Century saw the economic decline of the region, as conflict between Christians and Muslims persisted. Arab authority was eventually restored in the 17th Century and after 100 years of independent Arab coastal settlement, a partial political unity was achieved during the reign of Seyyid Said of Oman (1806-1856).

As the British colonial machinery gained momentum to penetrate the interior, there was a high demand for porters, askaris (guards), guides, cooks, clerks, house-helps, nyaparas (supervisors) interpreters, craftsmen, and tax-collectors.

Hut and poll taxes

The British enlisted Muslims to these positions from Zanzibar, Tanganyika, Nyasaland (Malawi), Mombasa and some freed slaves from Frere Town. They initially preferred Muslims because of their knowledge of the interior, literacy, and considered them civilised compared to “raw, pagan natives.”

Early administrators hoped to use the Waswahili as role models of “civilised natives” so the natives could become “noble savages.”

However, wherever the British established administrative posts that eventually emerged as urban centres, Muslims erected settlements popularly known as majengos (Swahili villages).

It was in these villages that Muslims established contacts with migrant labourers, some of whom readily converted to Islam.
The building of the Kenya Uganda Railway in 1896 brought the coast closer to the interior people and those displaced through pacification and alienation found new opportunities to earn a living.

In addition, natural calamities such as small pox, droughts, famine and the imposition of punitive hut and poll taxes forced many to migrate to urban areas in search of livelihoods.

The railway made Mombasa an important distribution centre for East Africa and beyond, creating new industries and job opportunities in the post-1890s. Attracted by good wages, scores of Kambas, Kikuyus, Luos and Luhyas found their way to Mombasa and Malindi, to the numerous plantations and some even crossed over to the islands of Pemba and Zanzibar.

Many of these migrants converted to Islam, which they found to be attractive because it gave them a sense of security and protection. Islam also provided an inclusive social welfare atmosphere and many of the converting families offered the migrants the same privileges as those given to blood relatives, including rights of inheritance.

Embracing of Islam became a matter of great prestige in a society that was consciously divided between “believers”(waungwana) and “non-believers”(washenzi or uncivilised).

By the beginning of World War I, many of the migrants had become accustomed to settling at the Coast and began to esteem cultural values; some married Muslim women and were fluent in Kiswahili.

When they returned home, they espoused Islam among their people. In the meantime, many Swahili people had established themselves as peasant farmers in the White Highlands, especially in Kiambu, Limuru and Nyeri after being discharged from colonial service, choosing not to return home.

Several of them married local women, converting them to Islam and thus acquiring new extended families.

White farmers

A number of absentee White farmers rented out their farms to Swahili squatters, who were successful in potato, vegetable and lentil farming.

They were deemed to be a threat to the early colonial settlers who could not compete with them in selling farm produce, being accused of selling “inferior” products at “unfair” prices.

To crown it all, they were also accused of being a “bad influence” on the “raw natives”.

White farmers, struggling to make ends meet, rallied around their union (Limuru Farmers Union) to put pressure on the government to kick out the squatters and force the absentee landlords to take up farming. Needless to say, the White farmers got their way and the Waswahili were forced out of these areas and many found their way to Thika, Murang’a, Nyeri, and Embu.

Others wished to return to their native countries but were not allowed to take their new families across the border. At the stroke of a pen, a new breed of homeless and stateless people was created.

At the same time, Mji Kileleshwa and Pangani settlements were erased to create room for European and Asian suburbs.

Many of the displaced persons sought refuge in Majengo in Nairobi, where the womenfolk were obliged to render “comfort” services for reward. Fortunately, the more industrious became successful land ladies and were able to hold their own in “respectable society” with men.

Another “tarred feather” in a rather tattered “cap”.