Some key dates in Kenya’s history:
c 3.3 million BC – Evidence of some of the earliest human tools have been found in Kenya, suggesting that it was the cradle of humanity from which descendants moved out to populate the world.
600AD – Arabs begin settling coastal areas, over the centuries developing trading stations which facilitated contact with the Arab world, Persia and India.
1895 – Formation of British East African Protectorate.
1920 – East African Protectorate becomes crown colony of Kenya – administered by a British governor.
1944 – Kenyan African Union (KAU) formed to campaign for African independence. First African appointment to legislative council.
1947 – Jomo Kenyatta becomes KAU leader.
1952 – A mostly Kikuyu guerrilla group, officially the Kenya Land and Freedom Army but more often known as Mau Mau, begins violent campaign against white settlers. State of emergency declared, Jomo Kenyatta jailed, KAU banned.
The Mau Mau rebellion largely ends following the capture in 1956 of its leader Dedan Kimathi but the state of emergency is not lifted until 1960.
1961 – Jomo Kenyatta released and takes part in negotiations on the transition to independence.
1963 – Kenya gains independence, with Mr Kenyatta as prime minister.
1964 – Republic of Kenya formed. Jomo Kenyatta becomes president and Oginga Odinga vice-president.
1978 – Kenyatta dies in office, succeeded by Daniel arap Moi.
1991 – Kenya moves to a multiparty political system after 26 years of single-party rule.
1998 – Al-Qaeda operatives bomb the US embassy in Nairobi, killing 224 people and injuring thousands.
2002 – Al-Qaeda attack on Israeli-owned hotel near Mombasa kills 10 Kenyans and injures three Israelis. A simultaneous rocket attack on an Israeli airliner fails.
2002 – Mwai Kibaki wins a landslide victory, ending Daniel arap Moi’s 24-year rule
2007 – Disputed general elections are followed by deadly violence.
2009 – Kenya says that at least 10 million people, or one third of the population, are in need of food aid. The government mobilises the military to distribute food, water and medicines to areas hit hardest by drought.
2010 – Kenya joins its neighbours in forming a new East African Common Market, intended to integrate the region’s economy.
2010 – New constitution designed to limit the powers of the president and devolve power to the regions approved in referendum.
2011 – Kenya intervenes in conflict in Somalia and subsequently suffers several apparent reprisal attacks, including the 2013 massacre at Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi and the 2015 attack on Garissa University College in the northwest.
2014 – At least 48 people die after al-Shabab militants attack hotels and a police station in Mpeketoni, near the island resort of Lamu.
2017 – A multi-billion-dollar railway line linking Mombasa to the capital Nairobi is opened, it is Kenya’s biggest infrastructure project since independence.