The course of the history of the Kikuyu was radically altered by the momentous events that took place in the last quarter of the 19th century. By the mid-19th century, only a handful of Kikuyu had
managed to reach the coast, while others had had a glimpse of the out side world by coming across the white man and the Swahili nearer home in the Kamba villages* This trend, of increasing contact with the outside world, was one of the chief features of the second half of the 19th century and culminated in the last resort in the colonization of the Kikuyu country by the white man. The Kikuyu were steadily drawn into the orbit of Swahili commercial activity and enterprise, a pro cess that was facilitated by the decline of the former Kamba commercial empire which had reached its nadir by the 1870s. Hard on the heels of the Swahilitcommercial intrusion into the hinterland, came the Imperial British East Africa Company (hereafter IBEACo.), founded by philanthropists, businessmen and empire builders, and which was granted a royal charter in 1888. In turn the IBEACo. paved the way for the
subsequent establishment of the British administration, from 1895 onwards, and thereby opened the way for all the new forces that were to influence the development of the Kikuyu in this century. Administrators, settlers, traders and missionaries poured into the Kikuyu country bringing with them what was, in the Kikuyufs eyes, a new and strange way of life with its sometimes incomprehensible demands and ideas. Gradually the
Kikuyu realized that they had to come to terms with the new order and the period between the last decade of the 19th century and the end of
the first World War witnessed the attempt, on their part, to adjust themselves to the rapidly changing circumstances and environment.
The attitude of the Kikuyu to all the newcomers - the Swahili, the Arabs and the Europeans - was largely governed by the initial behaviour of the Swahili caravans which penetrated into Kikuyuland, Traditionally, the Kikuyu are hospitable people who believe that
"muffeni ni ruin. a visitor is like a river that passes away. They were also particularly hospitable to the coastal traders, per se, because of the Kikuyu attitude towards trade# By the time that the coastal traders reached the borders of Kikuyuland, the Kikuyu had had a long tradition of trading activities with their neighbours. More over a few of their more adventurous traders had ventured as far as the coast and Kamba villages in search of trade. The Kikuyu were very much aware, therefore, of the profits that would accrue from having direct trade relations with the coastal traders instead of having to go through the Kamba middlemen# Yet despite their tradi tional hospitality and value for trade, by the 1870s they were hostile to traders and did their best to stop them entering their country#
And even accepting that the coastal traders were wont to spread false and alarming stories about the interior people, in order to discourage the Europeans from venturing into the hinterland, it was evident that fighting between the Kikuyu and the foreigners had become common by the 1880s# Thomson, for example, heard stories of "some bitter lessons” that the Kikuyu had been taught by the traders ”in several
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fearful massacres at Ngongo and other places” by 1883* That there 1# Thomson, op cit, pp 306,
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were increasing quarrels between the traders and the Kikuyu is borne out, too, by the genuine fear that appears to have been exhibited by the porters as they approached the borders of Kikuyu country. What then changed the attitude of the Kikuyu to the newcomers so decisively?
There were many grounds for friction. The truculence of some of the Kikuyu warriors was a contributory factor in spite of the elders* efforts to control them. On the other hand, the behaviour of the caravans was a major cause of friction - their failure to pay for goods, foraging for food in the Kikuyu shambas. or cultivated fields, taking sides in local affairs, or even attempting to overawe the Kikuyu by the Maxim gun. In any case, the coastal traders were generally noted for their outrageous behaviour in the interior of East Africa as a whole, and one would not expect them to have behaved differently in their dealings with the Kikuyu. But the crucial factor must have been the wild stories spread by the Kamba. Already the
Kamba traders, in their attempt to dissuade the coastal traders from venturing into the interior, had impressed upon the traders that the people in the interior were hostile, wild, treacherous or even out right cannibals. The interior people were warned, in turn, that the coastal people - the Comba, Makorobai or Thukumu - were a bunch of human specimens best left alone. Erom the outset, therefore, each group was suspicious of the other and tended to behave accordingly. The Kikuyu, in particular, looked upon the white man with curiosity mingled with awe and fear. Indeed, after Teleki and von Hohnel had traversed Kikuyuland many rams were sacrificed because some believed
that these two were gods, and, according to their religion, one had to make a sacrifice if one saw god in person. Hence they were sus
picious of these brown or white people. It is small wonder consequently that, by all accounts, the early contact between the ICikuyu and the
coastal traders was not a happy one, and it grew worse as the 19th century drew to a close.
All the same, the hostility of the Kikuyu to newcomers should not be exaggerated: as much depended upon the behaviour of the individual caravans as on the temperament of the local inhabitants. Despite the chorus of the "inveterate hostility and treachery" of the Kikuyu, it is significant that this did not deter the coastal traders themselves from trading with them, as one would have expected if the situation was as bad as it was painted. Caravans of 1200 to 1500 men were a common sight at Hgong, and all of them expected to get their provisions
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from the Kikuyu. Of greater importance, however, is the fact that a number of the Swahili caravan headmen and guides were ivory traders in their own right and knew the interior very well. Jumbe Kimemeta, Teleki!s guide, was himself an ivory trader who frequented Maasailand and the Kikuyu country. Thomson had met him at Mianzini "fairly well loaded with ivory from regions never before reached by a coast caravan". And significantly, he did his best to dissuade Thomson from returning to the coast'.by the Kamba route.^ It was from him, too, that rumours
d- bugard. Vol.l, op cit. pp 327* 2* Thomson, op cit. pp 307» 572. 3. Thomson, op cit. pp 571*
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of impending Kikuyu attacks on Telekifs caravan emanated, with devas- I
tating effect on the morale of the porters .* ■ And;.right from the "beginning he had expressed his doubts as to whether Teleki and von
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