Caroline Elkins

Africa was opened to colonial domination by the building of railroads

looseness of decentralized control – defining characteristic of British colonial rule

Europeans in Africa acquired large amounts of land

hut tax, poll tax Squatters couldn’t go back to land after

they migrated

Resistance group Guerrillas Oaths Destroyed settler property and Kikuyu loyalists British officials brought in more police officers General Sir George Erksine – Kenya was a

political disaster Governor Baring imposed many new rules and

regulations

Used for trying to find Mau Mau members Detention camps, barbed wire villages Often turned bloody Women and children screened too Didn't stop Mau Mau

Oaths continued Police were told to practice brutality It was common to shoot prisoners when

they tried to escape

At first, not many Mau Mau detention camps

Some were put in common prisons Most were held in heavily guarded camps Lamu

Screened and then shackled beneath a boat Many were convicted without trial Cases were taken up in the courts against

Europeans over manslaughter

British Military forces drove out all Kikuyu living in Nairobi city limits

Erksine believed Mau Mau had strong hold in Nairobi

British would not consider expanding Kikuyu reserves

Swynnerton plan Besides reserves – 2 kinds of work camps Lennox Boyd’s Typhoid Kenya Pipeline

“hard-core detainees” Taken out of camps for “freedom” Some less hard-core but still “evil” were permanently

exiled Those left in camps continued with pointless work Kenyatta was socially and physically seperated from

other detainees Gakaara, a prisoner, wrote politically charged articles Most detainees wrote letters to keep outside world

aware Confessed detainees were forced to take up bible

studies before release

Barbara Castle British Labour Party Arthur Young’s resigned as commissioner

of police in Kenya Anglican Church was first for a call to

action Castle began a personal investigation Stories were published

It was planned to empty most if the hard-core detainees

A legislation authorizing permant exile will take care of the rest

Detainees started rebelling collectively Hunger Strike Brutality continued Lennox-Boyd obscured facts and lied of

brutality Britain won war against Mau Mau but lost

Kenya

I would recommend for this book to stay on the list. It was informative as well as interesting. I also think that it is an important topic to be informed about.