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Imperial Ecology and Indigenous Displacement in Colonial Kenya: A Case of Mwea Plains, 1928-1945

Thomas Njiru Gichobi, Peter Wagura Waweru, and Babere Kerata Chacha

Abstract

This paper examines the profound environmental transformation of Kenya's Mwea Plains between 1928 and 1945, analyzing how British colonial land policies fundamentally altered indigenous human-nature relationships and precipitated ecological degradation. Through archival research and oral testimonies, this study demonstrates that colonial interventions-including the Crown Lands Ordinances, creation of African reserves, forest conservation policies, and the Kenya Land Commission recommendations-disrupted traditional land tenure systems and forced population movements that intensified environmental pressures. The research reveals how colonial “conservation” rhetoric masked land and other resource appropriation strategies while indigenous knowledge systems were systematically marginalized. This case study contributes to broader understandings of colonial environmental history and the lasting impacts of imperial resource extraction policies on African landscapes. Key Words: Ecology, Environment, Land, Transformation.

Keywords

EcologyEnvironmentLandTransformation.

References

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