Society Oldest edifice of colonial era left to rot in KikuyuBuilt to a Greco-Roman design walls are made of compacted clay brick, under a heavy gauge corrugated iron sheets roof. Having recently discovered that the source of the Nile lay in East Africa, the region assumed strategic importance in control of the Suez Canal. East Africa had been a valuable source of fresh supplies from the days of Portuguese conquest in the 15th century. The plan to occupy East Africa was seen as a means of achieving the “altruistic” goal of wiping out the slave trade and replacing it with legitimate business. The Berlin Treaty of 1885 failed to fully resolve the rivalry between the Germans and British in East Africa.

Source: The North Africa Journal March 29, 2018 18:33 UTC