Western Kenya, 1880–1902

This chapter discusses changes in western Kenya from 1880 to 1902. Violent expeditions were common in other parts of Kenya during the early years of colonial conquest. Colonial conquest fostered a kind of violence against the Luyia. Western Kenya is dotted today with monuments to the wars and diseases of colonial conquest. The wars of colonial conquest and the diseases and famine that accompanied Luyia men, women, and children left many communities in western Kenya crippled by economic hardship and emotional loss. Although disease and famine took their toll upon them, most damaging was the disruption caused by the number of men killed in the local wars. By 1902, when the first missionaries arrived in western Kenya, the area was no longer the land of “honey and milk” described by Joseph Thomson.