John Aguk Ndalo (of K’obama)—elder and a good friend of Hussein Onyango
Patrick Ngei (of Alego)—retired history teacher who once shared a house with Obama senior in Nairobi
Wilson Obama (of K’obama)—cousin to President Obama, elder brother of Charles Oluoch, and representative of the Obama family members in K’obama, Kendu Bay
Laban Opiyo (of Karachuonyo)—uncle of Hussein Onyango, who as a young man worked for Obama Opiyo on his farm in Kendu Bay
Bishop Nashon Opondo (of Kanyinek-K’ogelo)—Alego elder and historian and friend of Mama Sarah
Roy Samo—consultant and local councilor
TIMELINE
Prehistory
2.4 million BC A manlike ape or hominid called Australopithecus africanus lives in East Africa
2 million BC There is evidence that Homo habilis (“handy man,” the first tool maker) lived around Lake Turkana in northern Kenya
1.6 million BC Homo erectus makes hand axes and cleavers, and spreads throughout East Africa
300,000 BC Homo sapiens lives in the Lake Baringo region
5000 BC Kenya is populated by hunter-gatherers
500 BC to AD 500 Bantu migrants arrive in Kenya, bringing with them metalworking skills; the people enter the Iron Age
AD 43 Romans invade Britain
c. AD 410 Romans leave Britain
Early History
c. 600 Arab traders begin to settle in Mombasa and other ports
1066 King Harold killed at the Battle of Hastings
1095–1291 Europe fights the Crusades to restore control in the Holy Land
1215 King John signs the Magna Carta
1348 The Black Death arrives in Britain and ultimately kills about one-third of the population
c. 1400 The Luo-speakers of southern Sudan begin their migration south into Uganda
1414 A fleet of sixty-two Chinese trading galleons and more than a hundred support ships under the command of Zheng He crosses the Indian Ocean and lands on the African coast
c. 1450 The first Luo are thought to establish the Pubungu military encampment and begin to dominate Uganda
c. 1480 Podho II may have left Pubungu around this time and moved his people eastward, toward Kenya
1492 Christopher Columbus lands on an island in the Bahamas and “discovers” the New World for Spain
1497 Vasco da Gama sets sail from Lisbon in search of a sea route to the Orient
1498 Da Gama arrives in Mombasa but is repulsed; he sails on to Malindi
1500 The Portuguese sack Mombasa
1500–1700 The Portuguese establish a series of trading posts and forts along the Kenyan coast
1502 The Atlantic slave trade begins in earnest, with West African slaves taken to Spanish and Portuguese colonies in the New World; later English, French, and Dutch traders supply the Caribbean islands with slaves
1509 Henry VIII is crowned king of England
c. 1530 Ramogi Ajwang’ is thought to have arrived with his people in western Kenya around this time
1558 Elizabeth I accedes to the English throne
1587 Sir Walter Raleigh founds Roanoke Colony, the first British settlement in the New World
c. 1590 The second wave of Luo arrive in Kenya, the Jok’Owiny, led by President Obama’s (11) great-grandfather Owiny
1593 The Portuguese begin the construction of Fort Jesus in Mombasa
c. 1600 Luo establish a settlement in Gangu, in western Kenya
1603 James VI of Scotland is crowned King James I of England
1607 Jamestown Settlement is founded in what would become Virginia
Nov. 1620 The Mayflower lands in Plymouth, in present-day Massachusetts
1624 New York City is founded, originally as New Amsterdam
1642–51 English Civil Wars
c. 1660 The Luo leader Kisodhi dies and his succession leads to a major dispute between his eldest son, Ogelo, and two of his other sons, Ager and Owiny Sigoma
c. 1670 Ogelo, President Obama’s (9) great-grandfather, settles in Nyang’oma K’ogelo
1698 After a siege lasting nearly three years, the Arabs and their allies take Fort Jesus
c. 1700 The Luo occupy Thimlich Ohinga and build up the defenses
1720 The Portuguese withdraw from Kenya permanently
1760–1820 A third wave of Luo migrants, the Jok’Omolo, enter Nyanza, putting increased pressure on land and resources in the region, and feuding begins among the Luo subclans
1773 The Americans revolt against the British at the Boston Tea Party
1782 The British government informally, but officially, recognizes American independence
1789 George Washington becomes the first president of the United States
Feb. 1807 Britain bans the slave trade, but not slavery itself
Jan. 1808 The United States bans the importation of slaves
1817 The first American trading vessel reaches Zanzibar
1822 Seyyid Sa’id, the new ruler in Oman, sends a fleet of warships to subdue the querulous Swahili coastal towns
1822 The Mazrui chief Sulaiman bin Ali asks for British protection against Seyyid Sa’id of Oman
1824 The British warship HMS Leven arrives in Mombasa and Captain William Owen declares the town a British protectorate
c. 1825 Obong’o, (3) great-grandfather to President Obama, leaves his ancestral home in K’ogelo and establishes a new homestead in south Nyanza
1827 The British government withdraws the protectorate from Mombasa
1830–80 The East African slave trade flourishes under Seyyid Sa’id
1833 The United States exchanges most-favored-nation status with Zanzibar and establishes the first U.S. trade consul in 1835
c. 1833 Opiyo, great-great-grandfather to President Obama, is born in Kendu Bay, south Nyanza
Aug. 1833 Britain finally abolishes slavery
1841 Britain establishes a trade consul in Zanzibar
Exploration
Early 1844 Dr. Johann Ludwig Krapf, a German Protestant missionary and accomplished linguist, arrives in Zanzibar
1846 Krapf and his countryman Johannes Rebmann begin their evangelical journeys inland
1848 Johannes Rebmann becomes the first European to see Mount Kilimanjaro
1849 Johannes Rebmann becomes the first European to see Mount Kenya
1854 Johann Krapf produces the “slug map” of central Africa, showing a large inland lake—possibly Lake Victoria
1856 Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke explore inland to determine if this “inland sea” is the source of the Nile
1858 Speke becomes the first European to see Lake Victoria; in Egypt, work starts on the Suez Canal
1860 British Roman Catholic missionaries arrive in Zanzibar
1861–65 The American Civil War
c. 1864 Obama, great-grandfather to President Obama, is born in Kendu Bay, south Nyanza
Jan. 1866 Dr. David Livingstone first arrives in East Africa with the intention of finding the source of the Nile
Nov. 1869 The Suez Canal opens to shipping
Mar. 1871 Henry Stanley sent out to find Livingstone
Nov. 1871 Stanley meets Livingstone in Ujiji in present-day Tanzania
1873 The British force the ruler of Zanzibar to close his slave market, but with only limited success
May 1873 David Livingstone dies in the village of Ilala, Zambia
Nov. 1874 Henry Stanley leaves Zanzibar on a second expedition to cross Africa from east to west
Mar. 1875 Henry Stanley sails north up the eastern coastline of Lake Victoria and becomes the first European to enter Luoland
1883 Joseph Thomson explores inland from Mombasa and makes contact with the Maasai
Nov. 4, 1884 Karl Peters and two companions arrive in Zanzibar to establish a German colonial presence in East Africa
Nov. 15, 1884 Berlin Conference opens
Feb. 12, 1885 Karl Peters establishes the Deutsche Ost-Afrika Gesellschaft, the German East
Africa Company, to which he cedes all his territorial gains in Africa
Feb. 17, 1885 Bismarck agrees to issue an imperial charter, which gives the protection of the emperor to all the territories acquired by the German East Africa Company
Feb. 26, 1885 Berlin Conference closes with an agreement to carve up Africa among the European nations
1885 More than three hundred Europeans are now living in East Africa, mostly Anglican or Catholic missionaries
1886 The Anglo-German Agreement defines the spheres of influence in East Africa of Britain and Germany
1888 The British East Africa Company is granted a royal charter and is renamed the Imperial British East Africa Company (IBEAC); it establishes its headquarters in Mombasa and creates its own currency and stamps
1890 The Treaty of Berlin brings all of Uganda and Kenya under British jurisdiction, and Tanzania under German control; Charles William Hobley arrives in Mombasa and works for the IBEAC as a transport superintendent
1891 Karl Peters is made imperial high commissioner to German East Africa (later Tanzania)
1892 Johnstone Kamau, later known as Jomo Kenyatta, is born in the Kikuyu highland region north of Nairobi
British East Africa
1880–92 Luoland is hit by a series of natural disasters, including contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, locust invasions, the ong’ong’a famine, rinderpest, anthrax, and smallpox, resulting in virtual civil war among the Luo
Jul. 1895 The British government takes control of the assets of the IBEAC in order to maintain strategic control in the region
1895 Onyango Obama, grandfather to President Obama, is born in Kendu Bay, western Kenya; Charles Hobley is made the new regional colonial administrator in Luoland (Nyanza)
May 1896 The construction of the Uganda Railway begins
1896–1900 The British mount a series of punitive raids to suppress the Luo
1899 The railway headquarters are established at Nyrobi, later to be renamed Nairobi
1901 Sir Charles Eliot is appointed the new governor of the IBEAC; there are thirteen white farmers resident in Kenya
Dec. 1901 The railway reaches Port Florence (later to be called Kisumu) on Lake Victoria
1902–8 The tsetse fly returns to Luoland and at least 250,000 people die from sleeping sickness
1903 Large grants of land are made available to white farmers around the Lake Naivasha region in the Rift Valley
1905 There are 700 Afrikaner farmers and more than 250 European settlers established in the Rift Valley
Oct. 1905 Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen shoots Koitalel, the Nandi leader, which breaks the resistance of the Nandi to the construction of the Uganda Railway
Nov. 1906 Arthur Carscallen establishes the first Seventh-Day Adventist mission in Kendu Bay
c. 1910 Onyango Obama leaves home and lives with white missionaries
1912 There are now 3,175 white settlers in Kenya and 11,886 Asians
1914–18 First World War, and members of the King’s African Rifles (KAR) fight in East Africa; Onyango Obama is drafted into the KAR
1915 The government increase the land tenure of white farmers from 99 years to 999
1916 The British increase the hut and poll tax payable by Africans
1918 British East Africa is formally annexed by Britain and made a colony, called Kenya; the British government offers veterans of the Great War land in the Kenyan Highlands
1919 The Treaty of Versailles creates “mandates” in Africa, under the administration of the League of Nations; Luoland is struck by the Kanga famine
c. 1920 Onyango Obama returns from the war having lived in Zanzibar for two years; he has converted to Islam and takes the name Hussein
1920 Onyango’s older brother Ndalo returns to the family’s ancestral lands in K’ogelo
1921 There are now 9,651 white farmers in Kenya; Harry Thuku establishes the Young Kikuyu Association (YKA), Kenya’s first nationalist organization
Dec. 1921 The Young Kavirondo Association is formed in Nyanza
c. 1922 Having built his hut in Kendu Bay, Hussein Onyango goes to seek employment in Nairobi
Mar. 1922 Harry Thuku is arrested and exiled without charge
1924 The Kikuyu Central Association evolves from the Young Kavirondo Association, with Jomo Kenyatta as its secretary
c. 1925 Ndalo and his two wives die in K’ogelo from smallpox; Onyango takes their three children, Odero, Peter, and Judy, into his care
1926 About 22,000 Africans are working in domestic service in Kenya
c. 1927 Hussein Onyango marries a woman (name unknown) from Kawango in Mumias; she becomes his first wife
c. 1929 Hussein Onyango marries Halima, his second wife
1929 Kenyatta goes to London to make the case for Kenyan independence
c. 1930 Obama, President Obama’s great-grandfather, dies in Kendu Bay
c. 1931 Hussein Onyango marries Sofia Odera, his third wife
1933 Hussein Onyango abducts and then marries Akumu, his fourth wife; she converts to Islam and takes the name Habiba
1934 Sarah Nyaoke is born in Kendu Bay, the first child of Hussein Onyango and Habiba Akumu
1936 Barack Hussein Obama senior is born in Kendu Bay
1939–45 The Second World War, and members of the King’s African Rifles fight in Ethiopia, India, and Burma; Hussein Onyango is posted to Ethiopia and Burma
1940 The Kikuyu Central Association and other African organizations are banned
1941 Hussein Onyango returns from the war and marries Sarah Ogwel, his fifth wife
Dec. 7, 1941 The Japanese attack Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, and the United States enters the Second World War
1942 Barack Obama senior starts his schooling at Gendia primary school, near Kendu Bay; Hawa Auma is born in Kendu Bay, the third child of Hussein Onyango and Habiba Akumu
Nov. 29, 1942 Stanley Ann Dunham is born in Wichita, Kansas
1943 Onyango, his two wives, and his three children move to K’ogelo
1944 The Kenyan African Union is formed to campaign for African independence; the first African appointment is made to the Legislative Council
June 1944 Omar, Hussein Onyango’s second son, born to Sarah
1945 Habiba Akumu attacked by Hussein Onyango; she flees K’ogelo and returns to Kendu Bay
1945 Sarah and her younger brother Barack senior run away from home in K’ogelo; Barack senior moves to Ng’iya primary school
1946 Jomo Kenyatta returns from Britain and becomes chairman of the newly formed Kenya African Union
Late 1940s The General Council of the banned Kikuyu Central Association began a campaign of civil disobedience
1948 Rumors circulate of secret oathing ceremonies in the forests of the White Highlands and in the Rift Valley
1949 Hussein Onyango arrested by the British authorities and detained for six months; no charges are proven
1950 Nairobi-based militants organize mass oathings throughout central Kenya; the Mau Mau insurrection begins in earnest; Barack Obama senior goes to Maseno school at the age of fourteen
Early 1952 The Mau Mau make arson attacks on white farms in the highlands
Oct. 1952 A state of emergency is declared in Kenya and war is declared on Mau Mau
Nov. 18, 1952 Jomo Kenyatta arrested and charged with being a supporter of Mau Mau
Jan. 24, 1953 Roger and Esme Ruck and their six-year-old son Michael are attacked and killed on their isolated farm
Mar. 26, 1953 The Mau Mau massacre more than 120 residents at Lari
Apr. 1953 Kenyatta found guilty and given seven years at hard labor
1953 Kenya African Union declared illegal; Barack Obama senior leaves Maseno at the age of seventeen and works in Mombasa before moving to Nairobi
1955 Barack Obama senior works for the Kenya Railway; he is arrested during the Mau Mau emergency; Tom Mboya wins a scholarship to Ruskin College, Oxford, to study industrial management
1956 First elected Kenyan representativ
es join the Legislative Council
Oct. 21, 1956 Dedan Kimathi captured and Mau Mau emergency is effectively over
Dec. 25, 1956 Barack senior meets Kezia at a party in Kendu Bay
Jan. 1957 Barack senior sets up home with Kezia in Jericho, a residential section of Nairobi for government employees
c. Mar. 1958 Roy Obong’o Malik born, first son of Obama senior and Kezia
1959 Stanley Dunham moves to Hawaii with his wife, Madelyn, and their seventeen-year-old daughter, Ann
Aug. 21, 1959 Hawaii becomes the fiftieth state of the United States
1959 Jomo Kenyatta is released from prison but is put under house arrest; Kezia becomes pregnant with Auma and is three months pregnant when Obama senior leaves Kenya; Tom Mboya returns from a fund-raising visit to the United States and announces that he has scholarships for young Kenyans to study there; Barack Obama senior leaves Nairobi for university in Hawaii
Jan. 1960 Auma, second child of Obama senior and Kezia, born
Feb. 1960 The first Lancaster House conference is held in London and the ban on African political parties is lifted
Jun. 11, 1960 Tom Mboya and Oginga Odinga form the Kenya African National Union (KANU)
Summer 1960 Barack Obama senior meets Ann Dunham in a Russian language class at the University of Hawaii and they start dating
Nov. 1960 Ann Dunham becomes pregnant
Feb. 1961 KANU and the Kenya African Democratic Union (KADU) contest Kenya’s first election
Feb. 2, 1961 Barack Obama senior marries Ann Dunham in Maui, Hawaii
Aug. 4, 1961 Barack junior born at 7:24 p.m. local time, at the Kapi’olani Medical Center for Women and Children, Honolulu
Aug. 21, 1961 Jomo Kenyatta released from detention
Summer 1962 James Odhiambo goes to Harvard
May 1963 First full national elections held in Kenya
Jun. 1, 1963 Jomo Kenyatta becomes prime minister of the autonomous Kenyan government
Summer 1963 Barack Obama senior goes to Harvard to study for a Ph.D.; Ann Obama returns to college; her parents help raise her young baby, Barack Obama
Nov. 22, 1963 U.S. president John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas
Independent Kenya
Dec. 12, 1963 Kenya becomes a fully independent nation
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