During the 1950s and 60s, the anthropologist L. S. B. Leakey discovered the remains of hominids who lived about 2 million years ago. He discovered these in Tanzania. These remains were perhaps the earliest humans on earth. they most likely inhabited in Kenya, too.

    On December 12, 1963, Kenya became an independent nation. In 1964 the country became a republic, with Jomo Kenyatta as president. His picture is at the top of this page. More than 70% of the country was affected by the sub-Saharan drought of the early 1970s. Kenya is named that because of Jomo Kenyatta's last name.

     Kenyatta died in 1978. Then, Vice President of Kenya, Daniel arap Moi took over as president. In 1992, Moi was re-elected president in Kenya's first multiparty election in 26 years. When Moi was forced to retire, he nominated Uhuru Kenyatta, the son of Kenya's first leader. Mwai Kibaki, who ran against Moi in 1992 and 1997 and was once his vice president, was the most popular of all the candidates. Kibaki was elected president with 62% of the vote.

     In August of 2004, some Masai (a tribe of Kenya) begin to mount protests over land on which they said the lease, signed 99 years ago with the British, had expired. The British government challenged that action, but the Masai actions tried to sign many long-term leases (some more than 900 years long) that the British forced on the native people of Kenya. Early 2005 saw outbreaks of fighting between Masai herders and Kikuyu farmers over scarce water resources.