Kenya, which was holding elections on Tuesday a decade after deadly post-poll violence, is one of east Africa's leading economies with a crucial tourism sector based on safaris and tropical beaches.<\/p>\n
Kenya was a British colony until independence on December 12, 1963.<\/p>\n
Jomo Kenyatta, the country's first president, died in office in August 1978, to be succeeded by Daniel arap Moi.<\/p>\n
In late 1991 Moi abandoned the single party system under international pressure and won presidential elections in 1992 and 1997.<\/p>\n
Moi was replaced by Mwai Kibaki in late 2002 and the main opposition National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) won the legislative elections the same year.<\/p>\n
Kibaki went on to win re-election in late 2007 against opponent Raila Odinga. A controversial vote-tallying process sparked the most serious political violence since independence, in which more than 1,100 were killed and 600,000 displaced.<\/p>\n
In 2008, Kibaki and Odinga signed a coalition accord, with Odinga named prime minister.<\/p>\n
In March 2013 Uhuru Kenyatta defeated Odinga, despite charges of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the 2007-2008 violence. The court dropped its case against him in December 2014.<\/p>\n
On August 7, 1998, an attack against the US embassy in Nairobi killed 213 people and wounded 5,000.<\/p>\n
On November 28, 2002 suicide bombers drove a vehicle into an Israeli-owned hotel near the port of Mombasa, killing 12 Kenyans and three Israelis.<\/p>\n
The attacks were claimed by Al-Qaeda.<\/p>\n
Since the entry of the Kenyan military into Somalia in October 2011 to fight the Islamist Shabaab group, affiliated to Al-Qaeda, there has been an upsurge of attacks.<\/p>\n
On September 21, 2013, Islamist gunmen stormed Nairobi's Westgate mall, killing at least 67 people.<\/p>\n
On April 2, 2015, another Shabaab attack killed 148 people at the university in Garissa, eastern Kenya.<\/p>\n
Kenya has been overtaken by Ethiopia as east Africa's biggest economy, but remains the region's main trading hub.<\/p>\n
It derives its income from game parks and tropical beaches, as well as exports of cut flowers.<\/p>\n
Since the attacks claimed by the Shabaab, several western countries have advised their citizens to stay away from Kenya's coastal zones, including the port of Mombasa, the country's second city.<\/p>\n
Kenya has seen growth of more than five percent since 2013, thanks to public investment in infrastructure.<\/p>\n
However the growth has not benefited all Kenyans and the price of corn flour, the staple for many Kenyans, has spiralled.<\/p>\n
The country suffers from endemic corruption and was ranked 145th out of 176 countries in 2016 on Transparency International's graft perceptions index.<\/p>\n
Kenya has a mostly Christian population of 48.5 million people, according to the African Development Bank. Its most populous ethnic groups are the Kikuyu, Luhya, Luo and Kalenjin.<\/p>\n
- Athletics champions -<\/p>\n
Kenya is renowned for its athletes, especially its long distance runners, competing against neighbour and rival Ethiopia for world championship medals and records.<\/p>\n
Among its numerous stars are Olympic champions David Rudisha and Eliud Kipchoge.<\/p>\n
Kenyan athletics is nevertheless going through a deep crisis, affected by doping allegations and strong suspicions of corruption.<\/p>\n
The Rift Valley, which stretches from Tanzania to Ethiopia via Kenya was the scene of major discoveries of fossils, and has been dubbed the \"cradle of mankind\".<\/p>\n
The remains of hominids believed to be nearly two million years old have been found in Kenya.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kenya, which was holding elections on Tuesday a decade after deadly post-poll violence, is one of east Africa's leading economies with a crucial tourism sector based on safaris and tropical beaches. - Post-election violence - Kenya was a British colony until independence on December 12, 1963. Jomo Kenyatta, the country's first president, died in office […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[],"ji_location":[2299],"class_list":["post-34280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-other","ji_location-kenya"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n