Whites in Kenya

Infobox Ethnic group
group = White Kenyan


caption = George Adamson·Louis Leakey
pop = 62, 000 (30, 000 White Kenyans, 32 000 British expatriates)
regions = Nairobi Province, Rift Valley Province
languages = Predominantly English
religions = Mainly Christianity, minorities practicing Judaism or no religion

After the end of the British colonial rule in 1963, realizing that a minority rule in the way of the Rhodesian and South African apartheid régimes was no longer possible after the Mau-Mau uprising, the majority of white settlers departed within one decade, under a willing-buyer-willing-seller scheme, which was largely financed by (secret) British subsidies. The remaining small minority of whites has mostly taken Kenyan citizenship. Economically, virtually all belong to upper middle and upper class.

The recent homicide case of the white Kenyan dairy and livestock farmer and game rancher Thomas Cholmondeley, a descendant of British aristocrats, has brought into question the class bias of the judicial system of the Commonwealth of Nations country and the resentment of many Kenyans toward what is perceived as white privilege. The book and movie "White Mischief" told the tale involving an earlier member of the Cholmondeley family, the fourth Baron Delamere who was married to Diana Broughton, whose lover was murdered in Nairobi in the 1940s. Her first husband was tried and acquitted. See also Happy Valley set.

The whites of Kenya formerly clustered in the country's highland region, the so-called "White Highlands", where the Cholmondeley (Delamere) family, as one of the few remaining white landowners, still owns over 100,000 acres (400 km²) of farmland in the Rift Valley. Nowadays, only a small minority of them still are landowners (livestock and game ranchers, horticulturists and farmers), whereas the majority work in the tertiary sector: in finance, import, air transport, hospitality. Apart from isolated individualists such as Richard Leakey, Kenyan whites have virtually completely retreated from Kenyan politics, and are no longer represented in public service and parastatals, from which the last remaining leftover staff from colonial times retired in the 1970s.

Today, there are an estimated 30,000 whites in Kenya. However, there has been an increasing number of British expatriates that, according to the BBC, number at about 32,000

Notable White Kenyans

*George Adamson – conservationist

*Joy Adamson – conservationist

*Thomas P. G. Cholmondeley – controversial land-owner and aristocrat

*Ian Duncan – rally driver

*Jason Dunford – swimmer

*David Dunford – swimmer

*Aidan Hartley – news correspondent

*Louis Leakey – archaeologist and naturalist

*Mary Leakey - archaeologist

*Meave Leakey – paleontologist

*Richard Leakey - paleontologist, archaeologist and conservationist

*Philip Leakey – politician

*Louise Leakey – artist, writer and archaeologist

*Beryl Markham – author, pilot, horse trainer and adventurer

*Emmanuel de Merode (Belgian) - anthropologist, conservationist, pilot

*Joan Root - conservationist, ecological activist and Oscar-nominated filmmaker

*Allan Root - conservationist, ecological activist and Oscar-nominated filmmaker

Notable Former White Kenyans

*Karen Blixen (returned to Denmark) – author

*Dr. Richard Dawkins (immigrated to England) - ethologist, evolutionary biologist, writer

*Chris Froome (immigrated to England) – road racing cyclist

*John Hein (immigrated to Scotland)– publisher and editor

*Elspeth Huxley (immigrated to England) - polymath, writer, journalist, broadcaster, magistrate, environmentalist, farmer, and government advisor

Colin Leakey (immigrated to England) – botanist
*Simon Shaw (immigrated to England) - rugby union player who plays at lock for Wasps and England.

See also

* Dominant minorities

External links

* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/kenya/story/0,,1931674,00.html A lost World] - article on The Guardian website