How Mau Mau Rebellion Affected British Imperialism in Kenya

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Mau Mau Rebellion
During the colonization era, Africa was one of the continents that attracted colonizers as a result of the massive resources such as gold, salt, and ivory, among others. The colonizers needed the resources because they needed them for manufacturing. Kenya was one of the colonies, and their imperialism did not come easy due to the mau-mau rebellion. This group worked in fighting the colonizers hence making it difficult for them to capture wide support from the Kenyans. Therefore, this paper will focus on the impact that the Mau Mau rebellion had on the British rule in Kenya.
The rise of the Mau Mau group was as a result of the widespread settlement of the European citizens in the year 1919. By this period, the Europeans had acquired more than one million acres of land in Nandi and Kikuyu (Parsons 290). The British protectorate government failed to recognize the Kenyans efforts in achieving their imperialism. Therefore, the growing tension between the British government and the Kikuyu resulted in the creation of the group. The group had an attempt to end British rule. The main reason for the rebellion could be attributed to the economic deprivation that the white farmers created in the country. The Kikuyus had become work migrants in their own country where they were paid low wages at poor working conditions. The workers were required to carry along their Kipandes at all times in order to get government services. Despite the various attempts to address such issues, the British government ignored the Kikuyus. Hence, the failure of the government to create a system that could be used to address the Kenyans issues contributed to the high dissatisfaction rates with the colonial administrators. As a result, this played a substantial role in the growth of the mau-mau rebellion movement. In the year 1948, an approximation of 30000 white settlers owned more than 12000 square miles of land, while the Kikuyus were allocated 2000 square miles for 1.25 million individuals. Such was an indication of how much the Kikuyus would turn out dissatisfied by the exploitation of the colonial government. The white settlers were making a lot of profits through agricultural produce at the expense of the Kenyans. The poor living conditions resulted in most of the Kikuyus moving to the cities in seek of a better life. However, this did not turn out well since they faced poverty, overpopulation, and high rates of unemployment. Such is an indication that the Kikuyu tribe was disadvantaged as compared to their economic situation before the white settlers. The British government prohibited the growth of coffee. Growing coffee was the Kikuyu's main source of income, and hence, a rebellion was inevitable. The Kikuyus were one of the largest and most popular ethnic tribes in Kenya. Hence, the mau-mau provided them with an opportunity to rebel against British rule. In addition, the social conditions of the tribe cannot be ignored when addressing the reasons as to why the mau-mau group was formed. Racial tensions increased as a result of restrictions that were placed among the Kikuyus, such as high taxes. Considering that they only earned little wages, then imposing high taxes on the Kikuyu was a way of placing them in low living standards. On the contrary, the white settler was making huge amounts of money for agricultural practices, yet they were not paying much taxes. The lives of the white settlers were flourishing at the expense of the landowners. Besides, the disciplinary measure was introduced on the Kikuyu workers, where they were frequently tortured. Such treatment played a role in creating the gap between the blacks and the whites. Therefore, British rule was bound to come to an end. In addition to the economic deprivation, the Kikuyus had become outsiders in their homes. Most of them became squatters in a land that rightfully belonged to their ancestors. The mau-mau rebellion was majorly a peasant revolt against the whites and the wealthy. Social tensions had largely grown between the Kikuyu landowners and the workers. The growth of the Kikuyu Central Association played a part in the outbreak of the mau-mau rebellion. The union's aim was to take back the land that rightfully belonged to them by carrying out campaigns of civil disobedience. Such campaigns would make it easy for them to protest against the British, thus explaining the unrest that was witnessed prior to the mau-mau rebellion. The group made radical demand regarding the return of their lands to get back to their economic situations prior to the colonial rule. As a result of the economic deprivation from the white settlers, the region had developed social c...