AfricaBib 
bibliographic database
| Previous page | New search |
The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here
 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
 WorldCat |
| Title: | Massacre at Ribo Post: Expansion and Expediency on the Colonial Frontier in East Africa |
| Author: | Anderson, David M. |
| Year: | 2004 |
| Periodical: | International Journal of African Historical Studies |
| Volume: | 37 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Pages: | 33-54 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Kenya |
| Subjects: | colonial conquest colonialism History and Exploration |
| External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/4129071 |
| Abstract: | The extension of the British colonial frontier in western Kenya was not a coordinated and orderly advance, but a spasmodic and opportunistic struggle for ascendancy in a political environment that was both obscure and unpredictable. Between 1899 and 1901, in the Baringo region of the northern Rift Valley, the British made a bold - perhaps even reckless - attempt to extend colonial authority far to the north of the road and railway that connected Mombasa to the great lake. The advance into Baringo was prompted by the desire to control the rich ivory trade of the northern regions. The difficulty of this task was, however, seriously underestimated. Since the British were only dimly aware of the workings of the ivory trade, without any established base of support among local Kalenjin-speaking peoples who dominated the region, and completely dependent for supply and military support upon small pockets of Maa-speaking allies, this imperial venture proved to be premature. This first expansion of British authority into Baringo led to a humiliating military defeat with the massacre of a British garrison, and vividly demonstrates the fragility of imperial power. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract] |
