Kenyan Emergency and Mau Mau Uprising

The Kenyan Emergency was declared in 1952 after rising conflict over land, political representation and colonial rule. The Mau Mau movement drew much of its support from Kikuyu communities dispossessed or constrained by settler agriculture and colonial labour policies.

British and colonial forces used detention, village consolidation, collective punishment and counter-insurgency operations against insurgents. The conflict caused extensive civilian suffering and became inseparable from negotiations over constitutional change.