Dedan Kimathi captured in Mau Mau Uprising - October 21, 1956

On this day in 1956, Mau Mau leader Dedan Kimathi was captured, signaling the effective end of the Mau Mau Uprising. 

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio. Hi everyone, I'm Eves and you're listening to
This Day in History Class, a podcast where we build
the time machine and all you have to do is
hop in. Today is October one, nineteen. The day was

(00:24):
October twenty one, nineteen fifty six, leader of the Mau
Mau Uprising in Kenya, day Dan Kimathi was captured. The
Mau Mau Uprising was a conflict in British Kenya between
British colonists and the Kenya Land and Freedom Army, also
known as the Mau Mau. Britain had been establishing its
rule in Kenya since the late nineteenth century as part

(00:47):
of the scramble for Africa. Kenya became part of the
British Empire in nineteen twenty. As the British began to buy,
for control and exploit resources in East Africa, they also
attempted to quell resistance from local Africans. Though some locals
were initially tolerant of the British, some ethnic groups rebelled

(01:07):
against the intrusion and violence of British forces and authorities.
In turn, the British met this resistance with violence including executions.
On top of the suppression by British forces, Famine and
disease were also affecting local populations, and European colonists were
seizing and claiming land for themselves. As more Europeans moved

(01:31):
into Kenya and indigenous canyons were dispossessed of their land,
Africans began forming groups that advocated for their rights, like
the Kenyan African Union. There was also a large disparity
of wealth between the disenfranchised Kenyons and the Europeans and
Indians who lived in and around Nairobi, as well as
some rural areas. Relations between colonists and indigenous canyons were hostile,

(01:55):
and the oppression that Kenyans faced under British rule fed
the spirit of resistance and led to nationalist movements. As
discontentment grew, nationalists with radical ideologies separated themselves from Kenyans
who were working for constitutional reform. Many of them were Kikuu,
an ethnic group and Kenya that was seriously affected by

(02:17):
European colonization and land dispossession. In the early nineteen fifties,
Kikilu militants, along with Inbo and Meru fighters, carried out
attacks on Europeans rated farms and destroyed livestock. They gained
support for their anti colonial cause using a campaign of
oath taking, often resorting to intimidation and threats. As the

(02:39):
movement grew, some branches of the Kenyan African Union became
more radical. Still, Europeans and the colonial government made few
concessions and continued their oppressive rule. By mid nineteen fifty two,
an overwhelming majority of Kikiu adults had taken the mau
Mau oath. The origin and meaning of the term maum

(03:00):
maw are nebulous, but it broughtly referred to the anti
colonial militants in the conflict. The mau Mau went after
kiku You who aligned themselves with the colonists, and soon
the government realized that the militants were a threat that
could not be ignored. In October of nineteen fifty two,
just weeks after a kiku U chief who opposed the

(03:21):
mau Mau movement was assassinated, a state of emergency was
declared in Kenya and British troops were sent in. This
marked the start of the Mau Mau uprising. Police rounded
up Kikuu who were suspected of being leaders of the
Mau Mau uprising, but the Mau Mau continued to organize
and kill colonists and their Kikuu supporters. Some people emerged

(03:44):
as military commanders, including Wa Rohio Itote and Dadan Kimati.
The government responded by evicting Kikuu from land claimed by
colonists on a mass scale. It also put suspected Mau
Mau actors and concentration camps, where they faced torture and abuse.
These actions drove more indigenous Kenyons to join the anti

(04:06):
colonial fight. The Mau Mau continued to lead raids and
attacks against police and loyalists. Even after British forces dropped
bombs on Mau Mau camps and Itote was captured. The
rebels continued fighting, but by the end of nineteen fifty five,
most Mau Mau fighters had been driven out of the
forest and we're basically incapable of organizing any military campaigns.

(04:31):
The conflict lasted until nineteen sixty, when the state of
emergency was ended, though it effectively was over when ki
Mati was captured and put on trial in nineteen fifty six.
The true death toll is a subject of debate. The
official number of deaths is at eleven thousand Mau Mau
and rebels, and only thirty two white colonists along with
about twenty six Asians, but other estimates put the death

(04:55):
toll at a much higher number, with up to ninety
thousand Kenyons executed, tortured or injured, and even more detained.
Though the Mau Mau had been defeated and endured thousands
of deaths, the conflict encouraged anti colonialism and nationalism in
Kenya and inspired a movement for independence from colonial rule.

(05:16):
I'm Eve s Jeffcote, and hopefully you know a little
more about history today than you did yesterday. If you've
seen any good history memes lately, you can send them
to us on social media at t d I h
C podcast. Our email address is this day at i
heart media dot com. Thanks again for listening. We'll see

(05:40):
same place tomorrow. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio,
visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows.