{{infobox country|native name	''Jamhuri ya Kenya''
Conventional long name	Republic of Kenya
Common name	Kenya
Image coat	Coat of arms of Kenya.svg
National motto	"Harambee"(Swahili)"Let us all pull together"
National anthem	''Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu''"O God of All Creation"
Official languages	Swahili, English
Other languages	gKĩkũyũ, Luhya, Luo, Maasai, Meru, Embu, Arabic, Somali, Hindi and numerous others.
Demonym	Kenyan
Capital	Nairobi
Government type	Semi-presidential Republic
Leader title1	President
Leader title2	Prime Minister
Leader name1	Mwai Kibaki
Leader name2	Raila Odinga
Largest city	Nairobi
Area km2	580,367
Area sq mi	224,080
Area rank	47th
Area magnitude	1 E11
Percent water	2.3
Population estimate	41,070,934
Population estimate year	2011
Population estimate rank	33rd
Population census	38,610,097
Population census year	2009
Population density km2	67.2
Population density sq mi	174.1
Population density rank	140th
Gdp ppp year	2010
Gdp ppp	$66.032 billion
Gdp ppp per capita	$1,661
Gdp nominal	$32.163 billion
Gdp nominal year	2010
Gdp nominal per capita	$809
Hdi year	2010
Hdi	0.470
Hdi rank	128th
Hdi category	low
Fsi	91.3 2.7
Fsi year	2007
Fsi rank	31st
Fsi category	Alert
Sovereignty type	Independence
Sovereignty note	from the United Kingdom
Established event1	Date
Established date1	12 December 1963
Established event2	Republic declared
Established date2	12 December 1964
Currency	Kenyan shilling
Currency code	KES
Time zone	EAT
Utc offset	+3
Time zone dst	''not observed''
Utc offset dst	+3
Drives on	left
Cctld	.ke
Calling code	+254
Footnotes	1. According to cia.gov, estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex, than would otherwise be expected. }}

Kenya ( or ), officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa. Lying along the Indian Ocean to its southeast and at the equator, it is bordered by Somalia to the northeast, Ethiopia to the north, South Sudan to the northwest, Uganda to the west and Tanzania to the south. Lake Victoria is situated to the southwest, and is shared with Uganda and Tanzania. With its capital city in Nairobi, Kenya has numerous wildlife reserves containing thousands of animal species. It has a land area of 580,000 km² and a population of nearly 39 million, representing many different peoples and cultures. The country is named after Mount Kenya, a significant landmark and second among Africa's highest mountain peaks.

Kenya is a country of 47 districts, each with its own government semi-autonomous to the central government in the capital, Nairobi. The country's geography is as diverse as its people. It has a long coastline along the Indian Ocean but inland the landscape changes to savannah grasslands, arid and semi-arid bushes. The central regions and the western parts have forests and mountains while the northern regions are near desert landscapes.

As part of East Africa, Kenya has seen human habitation since the Lower Paleolithic period. The Bantu expansion reached the area by the first millennium AD, and the borders of the modern state comprise the crossroads of the Nilo-Saharan, the Afro-Asiatic and the Bantu linguistic areals of Africa, making Kenya a truly multi-ethnic state. European and Arab presence in Mombasa dates to the Early Modern period, but European exploration of the interior began only in the 19th century. The British Empire established the East Africa Protectorate in 1895, known from 1920 as the Kenya Colony. The independent Republic of Kenya was founded in December 1963.

Kenya's capital, Nairobi is a major commercial hub. The economy of Kenya is the largest by GDP in East and Central Africa. The country traditionally produces world renowned tea and coffee, and has more recently become a major exporter of fresh flowers to Europe. The service industry is driven by the telecommunications sector. Kenya is also a major and world-renowned athletics powerhouse producing such world champions as Paul Tergat and, most recently, David Rudisha.

Etymology

The word ''Kenya''', , originates from the Kikuyu, Embu and Kamba names for Mount Kenya, "''Kirinyaga''", "''Kirinyaa''" and "''Kiinyaa''". The English meaning of the words, in all three languages, is "place with ostriches" – in reference to the black and white plumage of male ostriches. From a distance the snow-capped peak of the mountain looks like the white feathers of a male ostrich. Prehistoric volcanic eruptions of Mount Kenya (now extinct) may have resulted in its association with divinity and creation among the indigenous Kikuyu-related ethic groups who are the original native inhabitants of the vast agricultural land surrounding Mount Kenya.

In the 19th Century, the German explorer Ludwig Krapf recorded the name as both ''Kenia'' and ''Kegnia'' believed by some to be a corruption of the Kamba version. Others say that this was—on the contrary—a very precise notation of a correct African pronunciation . During the colonial period, the name was pronounced . That pronunciation has been abandoned since independence in favour of the African version.

Geography and climate

At , Kenya is the world's forty-seventh largest country (after Madagascar). It lies between latitudes 5°N and 5°S, and longitudes 34° and 42°E. From the coast on the Indian Ocean, the low plains rise to central highlands. The highlands are bisected by the Great Rift Valley; a fertile plateau lies in the east. The Kenyan Highlands comprise one of the most successful agricultural production regions in Africa. The highlands are the site of the highest point in Kenya (and the second highest in Africa): Mount Kenya, which reaches and is the site of glaciers. Mount Kilimanjaro () can be seen from Kenya to the South of the Tanzanian border.

Kenya's climate varies from tropical along the coast to temperate inland to arid in the north and northeast parts of the country. The country receives a great deal of sunshine all the year round, and summer clothes are worn throughout the year. It is usually cool at night and early in the morning inland at higher elevations. The "long rains" season occurs from March/April to May/June. The "short rains" season occurs from October to November/December. The rainfall is sometimes heavy and often falls in the afternoons and evenings. The temperature remains high throughout these months of tropical rain. The hottest period is February and March, leading into the season of the long rains, and the coldest is in July and August.

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:right;" |+ !colspan="2" style="text-align:left;"| City ! Elevation (m) !! Max (°C) !! Min (°C) |- |align="left" | Mombasa | style="text-align:center;"| | 17 || 30.3 || 22.4 |- |align="left" | Nairobi | style="text-align:center;"| | 1,661 || 25.2 || 13.6 |- |align="left" | Eldoret | style="text-align:center;"| | 2,085 || 23.6 || 9.5 |- |align="left" | Lodwar | style="text-align:center;"| | 506 || 34.8 || 23.7 |- |align="left" | Mandera | style="text-align:center;"| | 506 || 34.8 || 25.7 |}

Kenya has considerable land area of wildlife habitat, including the Masai Mara, where Blue Wildebeest and other bovids participate in a large scale annual migration. Up to 250,000 blue wildebeest perish each year in the long and arduous movement to find forage in the dry season. The "Big Five" animals of Africa can be found in Kenya and in the Masai Mara in particular: the lion, leopard, buffalo, rhinoceros and elephant. A significant population of other wild animals, reptiles and birds can be found in the national parks and game reserves in the country. The annual animal migration – especially migration of the wildebeest – occurs between June and September with millions of animals taking part.

Kenya is the setting for one of the Natural Wonders of the World – the great wildebeest migration. 11.5 million ungulates migrate a distance of 1,800 miles from the Serengeti in neighbouring Tanzania to the Masai Mara in Kenya, in a constant clockwise fashion – searching for food and water supplies

History

Prehistory

Giant crocodile fossils have been discovered in Kenya, dating from the Mesozoic Era, over 200 million years ago. The fossils were found in an excavation conducted by a team from the University of Utah and the National Museums of Kenya in July–August 2004 at Lokitaung Gorge, near Lake Turkana.

Fossils found in East Africa suggest that primates roamed the area more than 20 million years ago. Recent finds near Kenya's Lake Turkana indicate that hominids such as ''Homo habilis'' (1.8 and 2.5 million years ago) and ''Homo erectus'' (1.8 million to 350 000 years ago) are possible direct ancestors of modern ''Homo sapiens'' and lived in Kenya during the Pleistocene epoch. In 1984 one particular discovery made at Lake Turkana by famous palaeoanthropologist Richard Leakey and Kamoya Kimeu was the skeleton of a Turkana boy belonging to ''Homo erectus'' from 1.6 million years ago. Previous research on early hominids is particularly identified with Mary Leakey and Louis Leakey, who were responsible for the preliminary archaeological research at Olorgesailie and Hyrax Hill. Later work at the former was undertaken by Glynn Isaac.

Kenya has been inhabited by people for as long as human history has existed. The country is believed by archeologists like Richard Leakey to be the cradle of mankind. Because of its long history with humanity, Kenya boasts of one of the greatest varieties of cultures and languages in Africa. Before the initial contact with Europeans, the name Kenya had not been assigned to the country, however just as it is today, Kenya had a great ethno-linguistic and rich cultural diversity carried on from its long past.

Pre-colonial history

The first inhabitants of present-day Kenya were hunter-gatherer groups, akin to the modern Khoisan speakers. These people were later replaced by agropastoralist Cushitic speakers from the Horn of Africa. During the early Holocene the regional climate shifted from dry to wetter climatic conditions, this provided an opportunity for the development of cultural traditions, such as agriculture and herding, in a more favorable environment.

Around 500 BC Nilotic speaking pastoralists (ancestral to Kenya's Nilotic speakers) started migrating from present-day Southern Sudan into Kenya. Nilotic groups in Kenya include the Samburu, Luo, Turkana, Maasai.

By the first millennium AD, Bantu speaking farmers moved into the region. The Bantus originated in West Africa along the Benue River in what is now eastern Nigeria and western Cameroon. The Bantu migration brought new developments in agriculture and iron working to the region. Bantu groups in Kenya include the Kikuyu, Luhya, Kamba, Kisii, and Mijikenda among others.

Arab traders began frequenting the Kenya coast around the 1st century AD. Kenya's proximity to the Arabian Peninsula invited colonization, and Arab and Persian settlements sprouted along the coast by the 8th century. Some of the "Arabs", like in much of East Africa, were Afro-Arabs.

The Kenyan coast had served host to communities of ironworkers and communities of subsistence farmers, hunters and fishers who supported the economy with agriculture, fishing, metal production and trade with foreign countries. Around the 6th or 9th century AD Kenya switched to a maritime-based economy and began to specialize in shipbuilding to travel south by sea to other port cities such as Kilwa Masoko and Shanga along the East African coast. Mombasa became the major port city of pre-colonial Kenya in the Middle Ages and was used to trade with other African port cities, Persia, Arab traders, Yemen and even India. Fifteenth-century Portuguese voyager Duarte Barbosa claimed, "Mombasa is a place of great traffic and has a good harbour in which there are always moored small craft of many kinds and also great ships, both of which are bound from Sofala and others which come from Cambay and Melinde and others which sail to the island of Zanzibar."

In the centuries preceding colonization, the Swahili coast of Kenya was part of the east African region which traded with the Arab world and India especially for ivory and slaves (the Ameru tribe is said to have originated from slaves escaping from Arab lands some time around the year 1700). Initially these traders came mainly from Arab states, but later many came from Zanzibar (such as Tippu Tip). Close to 90% of the population on the Kenya coast was enslaved.

Swahili, a Bantu language with Arabic, Persian, and other Middle Eastern and South Asian loanwords, later developed as a ''lingua franca'' for trade between the different peoples.

Throughout the centuries the Kenyan Coast has played host to many merchants and explorers. Among the cities that line the Kenyan coast is the City of Malindi. It has remained an important Swahili settlement since the 14th century and once rivaled Mombasa for dominance in this part of East Africa. Malindi has traditionally been a friendly port city for foreign powers. In 1414, the Arab Sultan of Malindi initiated diplomatic relations with Ming Dynasty China during the voyages of the explorer Zheng He. Malindi authorities welcomed Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama, in 1498.

Colonial history

The colonial history of Kenya dates from the establishment of a German protectorate over the Sultan of Zanzibar's coastal possessions in 1885, followed by the arrival of the Imperial British East Africa Company in 1888. Incipient imperial rivalry was forestalled when Germany handed its coastal holdings to Britain in 1890. This followed the building of the Kenya–Uganda railway passing through the country. This was resisted by some tribes — notably the Nandi led by ''Orkoiyot'' Koitalel Arap Samoei for ten years from 1895 to 1905 — still the British eventually built the railway. The ''Nandi'' were the first tribe to be put in a native reserve to stop them from disrupting the building of the railway. During the railway construction era, there was a significant inflow of Indian peoples, who provided the bulk of the skilled manpower required for construction.

While building the railroad through Tsavo, a number of the Indian railway workers and local African labourers were attacked by two lions known as the Tsavo maneaters. They and most of their descendants later remained in Kenya and formed the core of several distinct Indian communities such as the Ismaili Muslim and Sikh communities.

At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, the governors of British East Africa (as the Protectorate was generally known) and German East Africa agreed a truce in an attempt to keep the young colonies out of direct hostilities. Lt Col Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck took command of the German military forces, determined to tie down as many British resources as possible. Completely cut off from Germany, von Lettow conducted an effective guerilla warfare campaign, living off the land, capturing British supplies, and remaining undefeated. He eventually surrendered in Zambia eleven days after the Armistice was signed in 1918. To chase von Lettow the British deployed the British Indian Army troops from India and then needed large numbers of porters to overcome the formidable logistics of transporting supplies far into the interior by foot. The Carrier Corps was formed and ultimately mobilised over 400,000 Africans, contributing to their long-term politicisation.

During the early part of the 20th century, the interior central highlands were settled by British and other European farmers, who became wealthy farming coffee and tea. (One depiction of this period of change from one colonist's perspective is found in the memoir "Out of Africa" by Danish author Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke, published in 1937.) By the 1930s, approximately 30,000 white settlers lived in the area and gained a political voice because of their contribution to the market economy. The area was already home to over a million members of the Kikuyu people, most of whom had no land claims in European terms, and lived as itinerant farmers. To protect their interests, the settlers banned the growing of coffee, introduced a hut tax, and the landless were granted less and less land in exchange for their labour. A massive exodus to the cities ensued as their ability to provide a living from the land dwindled. By the 1950s, the white population numbered 80,000.

From October 1952 to December 1959, Kenya was under a state of emergency arising from the Mau Mau rebellion against British rule. The governor requested and obtained British and African troops, including the King's African Rifles. The British began counter-insurgency operations; in May 1953 General Sir George Erskine took charge as commander-in-chief of the colony's armed forces in May 1953, with the personal backing of Winston Churchill.

The capture of Warũhiũ Itote (aka General China) on 15 January 1954, and the subsequent interrogation led to a better understanding of the Mau Mau command structure. Operation Anvil opened on 24 April 1954, after weeks of planning by the army with the approval of the War Council. The operation effectively placed Nairobi under military siege, and the occupants were screened and the Mau Mau supporters moved to detention camps. The Home Guard formed the core of the government's strategy as it was composed of loyalist Africans, not foreign forces like the British Army and King's African Rifles. By the end of the emergency, the Home Guard had killed 4686 Mau Mau, amounting to 42% of the total insurgents. The capture of Dedan Kimathi on 21 October 1956, in Nyeri signified the ultimate defeat of the Mau Mau and essentially ended the military offensive. During this period, substantial governmental changes to land tenure occurred, the most important of which was the Swynnerton Plan, which was used to both reward loyalists and punish Mau Mau.

Post-colonial history

The first direct elections for Africans to the Legislative Council took place in 1957. Despite British hopes of handing power to "moderate" African rivals, it was the Kenya African National Union (KANU) of Jomo Kenyatta that formed a government shortly before Kenya became independent on 12 December 1963, on the same day forming the first Constitution of Kenya. During the same year, the Kenyan army fought the Shifta War against ethnic Somalis who wanted Kenya's NFD joined with the Republic of Somalia. The Shifta War officially ended with the signature of the Arusha Memorandum in October, 1967, but relative insecurity prevailed through 1969. To discourage further invasions, Kenya signed a defence pact with Ethiopia in 1969, which is still in effect.

On 12 December 1964 the Republic of Kenya was proclaimed, and Jomo Kenyatta became Kenya's first president. At Kenyatta's death in 1978, Daniel arap Moi became President. Daniel arap Moi retained the Presidency, being unopposed in elections held in 1979, 1983 (snap elections) and 1988, all of which were held under the single party constitution. The 1983 elections were held a year early, and were a direct result of an abortive military coup attempt on 1 August 1982.

The abortive coup was masterminded by a lowly ranked Air Force serviceman, Senior Private Hezekiah Ochuka and was staged mainly by enlisted men in the Air Force. The attempt was quickly suppressed by Loyalist forces led by the Army, the General Service Unit (GSU) — a paramilitary wing of the police — and later the regular police, but not without civilian casualties. This event led to the disbanding of the entire Air Force and a large number of its former members were either dismissed or court-martialled.

The election held in 1988 saw the advent of the ''mlolongo'' (queuing) system, where voters were supposed to line up behind their favoured candidates instead of a secret ballot. This was seen as the climax of a very undemocratic regime and it led to widespread agitation for constitutional reform. Several contentious clauses, including one that allowed for only one political party were changed in the following years. In democratic, multiparty elections in 1992 and 1997, Daniel arap Moi won re-election. In 2002, Moi was constitutionally barred from running, and Mwai Kǐbakǐ, running for the opposition coalition "National Rainbow Coalition" — NARC, was elected President. Anderson (2003) reports the elections were judged free and fair by local and international observers, and seemed to mark a turning point in Kenya's democratic evolution.

Politics

Kenya is a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President is both the head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the National Assembly. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. There was growing concern especially during former president Daniel arap Moi's tenure that the executive was increasingly meddling with the affairs of the judiciary.

Kenya has maintained remarkable stability despite changes in its political system and crises in neighbouring countries. A cross-party parliamentary reform initiative in the autumn of 1997 revised some oppressive laws inherited from the colonial era that had been used to limit freedom of speech and assembly. This improved public freedoms and contributed to generally credible national elections in December 1997.

In December 2002, Kenyans held democratic and open elections, most of which were judged free and fair by international observers. The 2002 elections marked an important turning point in Kenya's democratic evolution in that power was transferred peacefully from the Kenya African Union (KANU), which had ruled the country since independence to the National Rainbow Coalition (Narc), a coalition of political parties.

Under the presidency of Mwai Kibaki, the new ruling coalition promised to focus its efforts on generating economic growth, combating corruption, improving education, and rewriting its constitution. A few of these promises have been met. There is free primary education. In 2007 the government issued a statement declaring that from 2008, secondary education would be heavily subsidised, with the government footing all tuition fees.

2007 elections

The latest general elections were held on 27 December 2007. In them, President Kibaki under the Party of National Unity ran for re-election against the main opposition party, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). The elections were seen to have been flawed with international observers saying that they were below international standards. After a split which would take a crucial 8% of the votes away from the ODM to the newly formed Orange Democratic Movement-Kenya (ODM-K)'s candidate, Kalonzo Musyoka, the race tightened between ODM candidate Raila Odinga and Kibaki. As the count came in to the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) headquarters, Odinga was shown to have a slight, and then substantial lead as the results from his strongholds came in early. As the ECK continued to count the votes, Kibaki closed the gap and then overtook his opponent by a substantial margin after votes from his stronghold arrived later. This led to protests and open discrediting of the ECK for complicity and to Odinga declaring himself the "people's president" and calling for a recount.

The protests escalated into violence and destruction of property, almost 1,000 people were killed and nearly 600,000 displaced. The dispute caused underlying tensions over land and its distribution to re-erupt, as it had in the 1992 and 1997 elections. Hundreds of thousands were forced off their land to relatives elsewhere in the country and some claim weapons are being bought in the region, perhaps in anticipation of the 2012 elections.

A group of eminent persons of Africa, led by former United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan, brokered a peaceful solution to the political stalemate.

2008

On 28 February 2008, Kibaki and Odinga signed an agreement on the formation of a coalition government in which Odinga would become Kenya's second prime Minister. Under the deal, the president would appoint cabinet ministers from both PNU and ODM camps depending on each party's strength in Parliament. The agreement stipulated that the cabinet would include a vice-president and two deputy Prime Ministers. After being debated and passed by Parliament, the coalition would hold until the end of the current Parliament or if either of the parties withdraws from the deal before then.

The new office of the PM will have power and authority to co-ordinate and supervise the functions of the Government and will be occupied by an elected MP who will be the leader of the party or coalition with majority members in Parliament. The world watched Annan and his UN-backed panel and African Union chairman Jakaya Kikwete as they brought together the erstwhile rivals to the signing ceremony, beamed live on national TV from the steps of Nairobi's Harambee House. On 29 February 2008, representatives of PNU and ODM began working on the finer details of the power-sharing agreement. Kenyan lawmakers unanimously approved a power-sharing deal 18 March 2008, aimed at salvaging a country usually seen as one of the most stable and prosperous in Africa. The deal brought Kibaki's PNU and Odinga's ODM together and heralded the formation of the grand coalition, in which the two political parties would share power equally.

Grand coalition

On 13 April 2008, President Kibaki named a grand coalition cabinet of 41 Ministers- including the prime minister and his two deputies. The cabinet, which included 50 Assistant Ministers, was sworn in at the State House in Nairobi on Thursday, 17 April 2008 in the presence of Dr. Kofi Annan and other invited dignitaries.

A constitutional change was considered that would eliminate the position of Prime Minister and simultaneously reduce the powers of the President. A referendum to vote on the proposed constitution was held on 4 August 2010, and the new constitution passed by a wide margin. Among other things, the new constitution delegates more power to local governments and gives Kenyans a bill of rights. It was promulgated on 27 August 2010 at a euphoric ceremony in Nairobi's Uhuru Park, accompanied by a 21-gun salute. The event was graced by a number of African leaders and praised by the international community. As of that day the new constitution, heralding the Second Republic, came into force.

Administrative Regions

Kenya is currently divided into 47 semi-autonomous counties each having its own semi-autonomous government headed by an elected governor. Under the old constitution, Kenya comprised eight provinces each headed by a Provincial Commissioner (centrally appointed by the president). The provinces (''mkoa'' singular ''mikoa'' plural in Swahili) were subdivided into districts (''wilaya''). There were 69 districts as of 1999 census. Districts are then subdivided into 497 divisions (''taarafa''). The divisions are then subdivided into 2,427 locations (''mtaa'') and then 6,612 sublocations (''mtaa mdogo''). The City of Nairobi enjoys the status of a full administrative province. The government supervises administration of districts and provinces. The provinces are:

Under the current Kenya constitution local government authorities are not recognized. However, under old constitution local governance in Kenya was practised through local authorities. Many urban centres host city, municipal or town councils. Local authorities in rural areas are known as county councils. Local councillors are elected by civic elections, held alongside general elections.

Constituencies are an electoral subdivision. An Interim Boundaries commission was formed in year 2010 to review the constituencies and in its report. It recommended creation of additional 80 constituencies. Currently, there are 210 Constituencies in Kenya.

Economy

Kenya's economy is market-based, with a few state-owned infrastructure enterprises, and maintains a liberalized external trade system. The country is generally perceived as Eastern and Central Africa's hub for financial, communication and transportation services. As of May 2010, economic prospects are positive with 4–5% GDP growth expected, largely because of expansions in tourism, telecommunications, transport, construction and a recovery in agriculture. The World Bank predicts growth of 4% in 2010 and a potential of 4.9% growth in 2011.

In March 1996, the Presidents of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda re-established the East African Community (EAC). The EAC's objectives include harmonizing tariffs and customs regimes, free movement of people, and improving regional infrastructures. In March 2004, the three East African countries signed a Customs Union Agreement.

Finance and investment

Kenya is East and Central Africa's hub for Financial services. The Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) is ranked 4th in Africa in terms of Market capitalization.

The Kenya banking system is supervised by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK). As of late July 2004, the system consisted of 43 commercial banks (down from 48 in 2001), several non-bank financial institutions, including mortgage companies, four savings and loan associations, and several score foreign-exchange bureaus.

Tourism

Kenya's services sector, which contributes about 63 percent of GDP, is dominated by tourism. The tourism sector has exhibited steady growth in most years since independence and by the late 1980s had become the country's principal source of foreign exchange. Tourists, the largest number from Germany and the United Kingdom, are attracted mainly to the coastal beaches and the game reserves, notably, the expansive Tsavo National Park (20,808 square kilometers) in the southeast. Tourism has seen a substantial revival over the past several years and is the major contributor to the pick-up in the country's economic growth.

Tourism is now Kenya's largest foreign exchange earning sector, followed by flowers, tea, and coffee. In 2006 tourism generated US$803 million, up from US$699 million the previous year.

Agriculture

Agriculture is the second largest contributor to Kenya's gross domestic product (GDP), after the service sector. In 2005 agriculture, including forestry and fishing, accounted for about 24 percent of GDP, as well as for 18 percent of wage employment and 50 percent of revenue from exports. The principal cash crops are tea, horticultural produce, and coffee; horticultural produce and tea are the main growth sectors and the two most valuable of all of Kenya's exports. The production of major food staples such as corn is subject to sharp weather-related fluctuations. Production downturns periodically necessitate food aid—for example, in 2004 aid for 1.8 million people because of one of Kenya's intermittent droughts.

Tea, coffee, sisal, pyrethrum, corn, and wheat are grown in the fertile highlands, one of the most successful agricultural production regions in Africa. Livestock predominates in the semi-arid savanna to the north and east. Coconuts, pineapples, cashew nuts, cotton, sugarcane, sisal, and corn are grown in the lower-lying areas.

Industry and manufacturing

Although Kenya is the most industrially developed country in East Africa, manufacturing still accounts for only 14 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). Industrial activity, concentrated around the three largest urban centers, Nairobi, Mombasa, and Kisumu, is dominated by food-processing industries such as grain milling, beer production, and sugarcane crushing, and the fabrication of consumer goods, e.g., vehicles from kits. There is a vibrant and fast growing cement production industry. Kenya has an oil refinery that processes imported crude petroleum into petroleum products, mainly for the domestic market. In addition, a substantial and expanding informal sector engages in small-scale manufacturing of household goods, motor-vehicle parts, and farm implements.

Kenya's inclusion among the beneficiaries of the U.S. Government's African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has given a boost to manufacturing in recent years. Since AGOA took effect in 2000, Kenya's clothing sales to the United States increased from US$44 million to US$270 million (2006). Other initiatives to strengthen manufacturing have been the new government's favorable tax measures, including the removal of duty on capital equipment and other raw materials.

Energy

The largest share of Kenya's electricity supply comes from hydroelectric stations at dams along the upper Tana River, as well as the Turkwel Gorge Dam in the west. A petroleum-fired plant on the coast, geothermal facilities at Olkaria (near Nairobi), and electricity imported from Uganda make up the rest of the supply. Kenya's installed capacity stood at 1,142 megawatts a year between 2001 and 2003. The state-owned Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen), established in 1997 under the name of Kenya Power Company, handles the generation of electricity, while the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC), which is slated for privatization, handles transmission and distribution. Shortfalls of electricity occur periodically, when drought reduces water flow. To become energy sufficient, Kenya is already building capacity to produce nuclear power by year 2020.

Kenya has yet to find hydrocarbon reserves on its territory, despite several decades of intermittent exploration. Kenya currently imports all crude petroleum requirements. Petroleum accounts for 20 to 25 percent of the national import bill.

Vision 2030

In 2007, the Kenyan government unveiled Vision 2030, which is an economic blueprint which is believed to have the potential of putting the country in the same league as the Asian Economic Tigers.

GDP	$17.43 billion (2005) at Market Price. $ 41.36 billion (Purchasing Power Parity, 2006)	There exists an informal economy that is never counted as part of the official GDP figures.
Annual growth rate	5.8% (2005): 2006 = 6.1% : Estimate for 2007 = 7.2%
Per capita income	Per Capita Income (PPP)= $1,200
Natural resources
Agricultural produce
Industry	petroleum products, grain and sugar milling, cement, beer, soft drinks, textiles, vehicle assembly, paper and light manufacturing, tourism

Exports	$2.2 billion	tea, coffee, horticultural products, petroleum products, cement, pyrethrum, soda ash, sisal, hides and skins, fluorspar
Major markets (2006)
Imports	$3.2 billion	machinery, vehicles, crude petroleum, iron and steel, resins and plastic materials, refined petroleum products, pharmaceuticals, paper and paper products, fertilizers, wheat
Major suppliers

Oil exploration

Early in 2006 Chinese President Hu Jintao signed an oil exploration contract with Kenya, the latest in a series of deals designed to keep Africa's natural resources flowing to China's rapidly expanding economy.

The deal allowed for China's state-controlled offshore oil and gas company, CNOOC, to prospect for oil in Kenya, which is just beginning to drill its first exploratory wells on the borders of Sudan and Somalia and in coastal waters. No oil has been discovered yet, and there has been no formal estimate of the possible reserves.

Donor relations

Since independence, Kenya, a nonaligned country, has seen both substantial foreign investment and significant amounts of development aid, some from Russia, some from China and others from the West.

Kenya's development assistance has come from increasingly diverse sources in recent years with China taking an increasingly more prominent role than the west. The share of funding provided by the United Kingdom has fallen significantly, while that of multilateral agencies, particularly the World Bank and the European Development Fund, has increased. The most active investors currently are the Chinese.

Criticism and challenges

The economy's heavy dependence on rain-fed agriculture and the tourism sector leaves it vulnerable to cycles of boom and bust. The agricultural sector directly and indirectly employs nearly 70 percent of the country's 38 million people. Half of the sector's output remains subsistence production.

Poor governance and corruption have had a negative impact on growth, making it expensive to do business in Kenya. According to Transparency International, Kenya ranks poorly in the corruption perception index.

HIV/AIDS continues to pose a long term risk to the economy. The government has implemented awareness programmes to control its spread. Antiretroviral drugs are available at government subsidized rates.

Despite early disillusionment of western donors with the government, the economy has seen a broad-based expansion, led by strong performance in tourism and telecommunications, and acceptable post-drought results in agriculture, especially the vital tea sector. Kenya's economy grew by more than 7% in 2007 and its foreign debt was greatly reduced.

Demographics

Kenya's population has rapidly increased over the past several decades, and consequently it is relatively young. Some 73% of Kenyans are under 30. In 80 years, Kenya's population has grown from 2.9 million to 37 million.

Kenya is a country of great ethnic diversity. Most Kenyans are bilingual in English and Swahili. A large percentage speak the mother tongue of their ethnic tribe.

; Ethnic groups: Kikuyu 22%, Luhya 14%, Luo 13%, Kalenjin 12%, Kamba 11%, Kisii 6%, Meru 6%, other African 15%, non-African (Asian, European, and Arab) 1%.

Population of major cities

{|class="wikitable" |- !City!!Population |- | Nairobi ||3 138 295 |- | Mombasa ||707 400 |- | Nakuru ||337 200 |- | Kisumu ||273 400 |- | Eldoret ||249 100 |- | Meru ||273 000 |- | Nyeri ||179 500 |- | Machakos ||140 900 |}

It is noteworthy that the Dadaab refugee camp complex in northern Kenya currently houses almost 500,000 people (http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/search?page=search&docid=4e579df59&query=dadaab). Were it considered a city, Dadaab would be Kenya's 3rd largest.

Religion

{{bar box |title=Religion in Kenya |titlebar=#ddd |left1=religion |right1=percent |float=left |bars= }}

The vast majority of Kenyans are Christian with 45% regarding themselves as Protestant and 33% as Roman Catholic. Sizeable minorities of other faiths do exist (Muslim 10%, indigenous beliefs 10%), but estimates for the percentage of the population that adheres to Islam or indigenous beliefs vary widely. Sixty percent of the Muslim population lives in Coast Province, comprising 50 percent of the total population there. Western areas of Coast Province are mostly Christian. The upper part of Eastern Province is home to 10 percent of the country's Muslims, where they are the majority religious group. In addition, there is a fairly large Hindu population in Kenya (around 500,000), who have integrated well with the community and play a key role in Kenya's economy, as well as a minority group of Baha'is.

Health

There are 3–5 births per woman on average. Life expectancy is estimated at between 47 and 55 years. There is a large number of HIV-positive people in Kenya. Maternal mortality is high, partly because of female genital mutilation.

Education

Kenya's education system consists of early childhood education, primary, secondary and college. Early childhood education takes at least three years, primary eight years, secondary four and university four or six years depending on the course. Preschooling, which targets children from age three to five, is an integral component of the education system and is a key requirement for admission to Standard One (First Grade). At the end of primary education, pupils sit the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE), which determines those who proceed to secondary school or vocational training. Primary school age is 6/7-13/14 years. For those who proceed to secondary level, there is a national examination at the end of Form Four – the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE), which determines those proceeding to the universities, other professional training or employment. The Joint Admission Board (JAB) is responsible for selecting students joining the public universities. Other than the public schools, there are many private schools in the country, mainly in urban areas. Similarly, there are a number of international schools catering for various overseas educational systems.

Historical background

Independent Kenya's first system of education was introduced by British colonists. After Kenya's independence on 12 December 1963, an authority named the Ominde Commission was formed to introduce changes that would reflect the nation's sovereignty. The commission focused on identity and unity, which were critical issues at the time. Changes in the subject content of history and geography were made to reflect national cohesion. Between 1964 and 1985, the 7–4–2–3 system was adopted – seven years of primary, four years of lower secondary, two years of upper secondary, and three years of university. All schools had a common curriculum.

In 1981, the Presidential Working Party on the Second University was commissioned to look at both the possibilities of setting up a second university in Kenya as well as the reforming of the entire education system. The committee recommended that the 7–4–2–3 system be changed to an 8–4–4 system (eight years in primary, four years in secondary, and four years in university education). The table under Present-day education in Kenya below shows the structure of the 8–4–4 system. Although the 7–4–2–3 system theoretically ended with the introduction of the new 8–4–4 system in 1985, the last batch of students from the former system graduated from Kenyan Universities in 1992.

Present-day education in Kenya

The current 8–4–4 system was launched in January 1985. It put more emphasis on vocational subjects on the assumption that the new structure would enable school dropouts at all levels either to be self-employed or to secure employment in the informal sector.

In January 2003, the Government of Kenya announced the introduction of free primary education. As a result, primary school enrollment increased by about 70%. Secondary and tertiary education enrollment has not increased proportionally because payment is still required for attendance.

In class eight of primary school the Kenya Certificate of Primary Examination (K.C.P.E.) is written. The result of this examination is needed for placement at secondary school. In form four of secondary schools the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination (K.C.S.E.) is written. Students sit examinations in eight subjects.

In 2007 the government issued a statement declaring that from 2008, secondary education would be heavily subsidized, with the government footing all tuition fees.

Culture

Kenya is a diverse country. Notable peoples include the Swahili on the coast, pastoralist communities in the north, and several different communities in the central and western regions. The Maasai culture is well known because of tourism, despite being a minor percentage of the Kenyan population. They are renowned for their elaborate upper body adornment and jewelry.

Kenya has an extensive music, television and theatre scene.

Literature

Ngugi wa Thiong'o is one of the best known writers of Kenya. His book, ''Weep Not, Child'' is an illustration of life in Kenya during the British occupation. This is a story about the effects of the Mau Mau on the lives of black Kenyans. Its combination of themes—colonialism, education, and love—helped to make it one of the best-known novels in Africa.

M.G. Vassanji's 2003 novel ''The In-Between World of Vikram Lall'' won the Giller Prize in 2003. It is the fictional memoir of a Kenyan of Indian heritage and his family as they adjust to the changing political climates in colonial and post-colonial Kenya.

Since 2003, the literary journal ''Kwani?'' has been publishing Kenyan contemporary literature.

Music

Sports

Kenya is active in several sports, among them cricket, rallying, football (soccer), rugby union and boxing. But the country is known chiefly for its dominance in Middle-distance and long-distance athletics. Kenya has consistently produced Olympic and Commonwealth Games champions in various distance events, especially in 800 m, 1,500 m, 3,000 m steeplechase, 5,000 m, 10,000 m and the marathons. Kenyan athletes (particularly Kalenjin) continue to dominate the world of distance running, although competition from Morocco and Ethiopia has reduced this supremacy. Kenya's best-known athletes included the four-time women's Boston Marathon winner and two-time world champion Catherine Ndereba, former Marathon world record-holder Paul Tergat, and John Ngugi.

Kenya won several medals during the Beijing Olympics, 5 gold, 5 silver and 4 bronze, making it Africa's most successful Nation in the 2008 Olympics. New athletes gained attention, such as Pamela Jelimo, the women's 800m gold medalist who went ahead to win the IAAF Golden League jackpot, and Samuel Wanjiru who won the men's marathon.

Retired Olympic and Commonwealth Games champion Kipchoge Keino helped usher in Kenya's ongoing distance dynasty in the 1970s and was followed by Commonwealth Champion Henry Rono's spectacular string of world record performances.

Lately, there has been controversy in Kenyan athletics circles, with the defection of a number of Kenyan athletes to represent other countries, chiefly Bahrain and Qatar. The Kenyan Ministry of Sports has tried to stop the defections, but they have continued anyway, with Bernard Lagat the latest, choosing to represent the United States. Most of these defections occur because of economic or financial factors. Some elite Kenyan runners who cannot qualify for their country's strong national team find it easier to qualify by running for other countries.

Kenya has been a dominant force in women's volleyball within Africa, with both the clubs and the national team winning various continental championships in the past decade. The women's team has competed at the Olympics and World Championships but without any notable success.

Cricket is another popular and the most successful team sport. Kenya has competed in the Cricket World Cup since 1996. They upset some of the World's best teams and reached semi-finals of the 2003 tournament. They won the inaugural World Cricket League Division 1 hosted in Nairobi and participated in the World T20. Their current captain is Steve Tikolo. They participated in ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

Kenya is represented by Lucas Onyango as a professional rugby league player who plays with Oldham Roughyeds. Besides the former European Super League team, he has played for Widnes Vikings and rugby union with Sale Sharks.

Rugby union is increasing in popularity. It is popular in Kenya especially with the annual Safari Sevens tournament. Kenya sevens team ranked 9th in IRB Sevens World Series for the 2006 season.

Kenya was a regional power in soccer but its dominance has been eroded by wrangles within the Kenya Football Federation. This has led to a suspension by FIFA which was lifted in March, 2007.

In the motor rallying arena, Kenya is home to the world famous Safari Rally, commonly acknowledged as one of the toughest rallies in the world, and a part of the World Rally Championship for many years until its exclusion after the 2002 event owing to financial difficulties. Some of the best rally drivers in the world have taken part in and won the rally, such as Björn Waldegård, Hannu Mikkola, Tommi Makinen, Shekhar Mehta, Carlos Sainz and Colin McRae. Though the rally still runs annually as part of the Africa rally championship, the organisers are hoping to be allowed to rejoin the World Rally championship in the next couple of years.

See also

Foreign relations of Kenya

Languages of Kenya

List of diplomatic missions of Kenya

List of Kenyans

List of World War II prisoner of war camps in Kenya

Military of Kenya

References

Further reading

Barsby, Jane. ''Kenya'' (Culture Smart!: a quick guide to customs and etiquette) (2007) excerpt and text search

Bindloss, Joe. ''Kenya'' (Country Guide) (2009) excerpt and text search

DK. ''Kenya'' (Eyewitness Travel Guide) (2009) excerpt and text search

Gatheru, R. Mugo. ''Kenya: From Colonization to Independence, 1888–1970.'' McFarland, 2005. 236 pp.

Haugerud, Angelique. ''The Culture of Politics in Modern Kenya.'' Cambridge U. Press, 1995. 266 pp. excerpt and text search

Maxon, Robert M. and Ofcansky, Thomas P. ''Historical Dictionary of Kenya.'' (2nd ed. Scarecrow, 2000). 449 pp

Mwaura, Ndirangu. ''Kenya Today: Breaking the Yoke of Colonialism in Africa.'' Algora, 2005. 238 pp.

Ndege, George Oduor. ''Health, State, and Society in Kenya.'' U. of Rochester Press, 2001. 224 pp.

Ochieng, William R., ed. ''Themes in Kenyan History.'' Ohio U. Press, 1991. 261 pp.

Ochieng, William R., ed. ''A Modern History of Kenya: In Honour of Professor B. A. Ogot.'' Nairobi, Kenya: Evans Brothers, 1989. 259 pp.

Ogot, B. A. ''Historical dictionary of Kenya'' (1981)

Parkinson, Tom, and Matt Phillips. ''Lonely Planet Kenya'' (2006) except and text search

Pinkney, Robert. ''The International Politics of East Africa.'' Manchester U. Pr., 2001. 242 pp. compares Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

Press, Robert M. ''Peaceful Resistance: Advancing Human Rights and Democratic Freedoms.'' Ashgate, 2006. 227 pp.

''Rough Guide To Kenya'' (8th ed. 2006)

External links

; Government

Government Spokeperson Office of the Government Spokesperson of the Republic of Kenya.

Government of Kenya Official site.

Kenya Law Reports Kenyan Legislation, Case Law, Official Gazette Notices and legal Info.

State House Kenya Official site State House, Kenya.

Chief of State and Cabinet Members

; General

Country Profile from BBC News

Republic of Kenya General Info

Kenya from the Encyclopædia Britannica

Kenya from ''UCB Libraries GovPubs''

; Media

Kenya news media list from Stanford University

; Tourism

Kenya Tourist Board (Magical Kenya) ''official travel and tourism guide''

; History

1911 Encyclopædia Britannica on the Kenya Colony

1911 Encyclopædia Britannica on the 1908 Demarcation of the Ethiopian-Kenyan Border

}}

Category:African countries Category:Bantu countries and territories Category:Countries of the Indian Ocean Category:East Africa Category:English-speaking countries and territories Category:G15 nations Category:Member states of the African Union Category:Member states of the Commonwealth of Nations Category:Republics Category:States and territories established in 1963 Category:Swahili-speaking countries and territories Category:Member states of the United Nations

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Name	Solange Piaget Knowles
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Solange Piaget Knowles
Alias	Solange Knowles-Smith
Born	June 24, 1986Houston, Texas, U.S.
Instrument	Vocals, keyboards, percussion
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, actress, model, dancer, DJ
Genre	R&B, pop, soul, hip-hop indie
Years active	2001–present
Label	Columbia, Music World, Geffen
Associated acts	Destiny's Child, Beyoncé
Website	}}

Solange Piaget Knowles (born June 24, 1986), who performs under the mononym Solange is an American recording artist, actress, model and DJ. Knowles was born and raised in Houston, Texas along with her older sister singer Beyoncé, a former member of R&B group Destiny's Child. Showing an interest in music recording at an early age, she eventually broke into the music scene at 16. She has released two studios albums: ''Solo Star'' in 2003 and ''Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams'' in 2008, which peaked at number nine in the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart.

Aside from recording, Knowles has ventured into film, modeling, and entrepreneurship. She co-launched the junior apparel collection Deréon, a sister line to House of Deréon that was established by her mother and sister. Knowles has been compared to her sister by the media, but she dismisses the notion, saying they are artistically different.

Early life

Knowles was born on June 24, 1986, in Houston, Texas, to Mathew and Tina Knowles. Solange is the second child of Mathew and Tina, and the younger sister of Beyoncé. Her father is African American and her mother is Creole (of African American, Native American, and French descent). Her maternal grandparents are Lumis Beyincé and Agnéz Deréon, (a seamstress). As a child, Knowles studied dance and theater. At the age of five, she made her singing debut at an amusement park. She began writing songs at the age of nine. At 13, she decided to pursue recording, but her parents initially advised her to wait. At the age of 15 Knowles replaced a departed dancer and performed with her sister's group Destiny's Child on tour. During the group's opening stint for American pop singer Christina Aguilera's tour, Knowles temporarily replaced Destiny's Child member Kelly Rowland after Kelly broke her toes backstage during a costume change. When Knowles was 16, her father, who was then also her manager, signed her to his recording company, Music World Entertainment.

Music career

2001–2003: Early career and ''Solo Star''

Managed by her father Mathew, Knowles' first foray into the music business was in 2001 as the lead singer, backed with Destiny's Child, on the title theme song for the animated television series ''The Proud Family''. She also was a featured performer on "Hey Goldmember" for the soundtrack to the 2002 film Austin Powers in Goldmember, as well as a backup singer on the track "Little Drummer Boy" on her sister's group's 2001 holiday album ''8 Days of Christmas''. In 2002, she was featured on Lil Romeo's second studio album ''Game Time'', singing portions of Luther Vandross-penned "So Amazing" on the single "True Love", and on Rowland's debut solo album ''Simply Deep'', for which she also wrote the title track and "Alone". In 2001 she also appeared as Lil' Bow Wow's date in the music video for his single "Puppy Love".

In June 2003, Mathew Knowles excitedly announced that he was considering adding Solange to Destiny's Child when the group reunited in 2004, thus turning them into a quartet for the first time since short-lived member Farrah Franklin left in 2000. Mathew Knowles said he was testing the reactions, and, judging by what he had heard, "it seems like a good idea". Later in August, however, Beyoncé said it was only a rumor and Destiny's Child would remain a trio. Rowland added, "She's a Solo Star," namedropping Knowles' debut album.

At the age of 14, Solange Knowles started working on her debut album ''Solo Star'', which involved American producers such as Jermaine Dupri, The Neptunes, Linda Perry and Timbaland among others. The album is primarily uptempo R&B, although Knowles said there are pop, rock, reggae and hip hop influences. Knowles co-wrote and co-produced some of the 15 tracks in the album, including its lead single, "Feelin' You (Part II)". The song failed to enter the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, but reached number three on both the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales and Hot Dance Singles Sales chart. ''Solo Star'' was released on January 21, 2003 in the United States, where it debuted at number 49 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and reached number 23 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. ''Solo Star'' had a mixed critical reception: William Ruhlmann of Allmusic called it a "state-of-the-art contemporary R&B album", but deemed Knowles "lost somewhere in the mix". As of mid-2008, the album had sold 112,000 copies domestically according to Nielsen Soundscan.

2004–2008: Career break and ''Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams''

After the release of her debut album, Knowles started acting in films followed by a career break. When she was married, her family moved to Idaho, and, while staying there, resumed writing songs including the singles "Get Me Bodied" and "Upgrade U" off her sister's second solo album, ''B'Day''. Knowles earned the R&B and Hip-Hop Song accolade for "Get Me Bodied" at the 2008 ASCAP Awards. She had also written songs for Destiny's Child, and members Rowland and Michelle Williams. In 2004, while pregnant with son Daniel, she made a cameo appearance in Destiny's Child's music video for "Soldier".

After the divorce, Knowles returned to Houston to began working on her second album. Knowles renewed her management, signing a record deal with Geffen and a publishing deal with EMI. Knowles finished working on her second studio album in 2008 and titled the project ''Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams''. It includes production by Cee-Lo Green, Soulshock & Karlin and Mark Ronson as well as an appearance by Bilal. A collection of 1960s- and 1970s-influenced songs, it is seen as a departure from her pop-oriented debut, with what ''Billboard'' magazine called "more of a modern twist on hip-hop and R&B flecked with tinges of blues and jazz". The album was released on August 26, 2008 in the United States. By December 2008, the album had sold over 114,000 copies according to Nielsen Soundscan. The album was positively received by critics, some of whom considered it far better than her debut. The album's lead single, "I Decided", was released in April 2008, and reached the top of the ''Billboard'' Hot Dance Club Play; ''Rolling Stone'' magazine labelled it her breakthrough single. In support of the album, Knowles began the Solange Presents Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams Tour in Britain in November 2008.

Knowles announced, via her blog HadleyStreetJournal.com, that she will be releasing a series of mixtapes, to coincide with the album. The first mixtape, "I Can't Get Clearance...", includes the leaked track "Fuck the Industry (Signed Sincerely)". On this record, Knowles expresses her views on the current state of the music industry. The lyrics to the song name check some major artists such as Mary J. Blige, Ashanti, Keyshia Cole, and Beyoncé, although she made a point of stating that it does not have "a negative light to any of [them]".

2009–present: Third studio album

In an interview with MTV in 2009, Knowles revealed that she was determining the type of sound for the follow-up to ''Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams''. Knowles also parted ways with the Interscope-Geffen-A&M record label group. She will now release her third studio album independently. Early in 2010, Knowles traveled to Australia to work with Australian rock band, Midnight Juggernauts on her third studio album Knowles plans to release the album in summer as revealed on her official twitter account in 2009 She also revealed on her twitter account that she rented a house in Santa Barbara, California to get into a certain state of mind while writing and making music On 7 May 2010, Knowles made a guest appearance on the popular children show, ''Yo Gabba Gabba!'' for a "Mothers Day Special" where she performed an original song called, "Momma Loves Baby". In an interview with ''Vibe'' on 7 July 2010, Knowles said she suffered "a little bit of a breakdown" while recording her new album: "I literally gave up my sanity for a while to do this record. [...] We literally were waking up in the morning and just making music all day and all night. [...] It just started to wear on me in so many different ways. I started having these crazy panic attacks." Knowles explained how she made sacrifices "mentally, emotionally and financially", and continued, "It’s more than an album to me. It’s a transitional time in my life." Regarding the musical direction of the album, she said the inspiration came from New Wave music and stated, "This is a dance record, but the lyrics can get pretty dark at times."

Other ventures

Aside from recording, Knowles ventured into film, modeling, and entrepreneurship. According to her father Mathew Knowles, her goal of merging music and film was part of the overall plan for her career. Knowles appeared as a nubile teenager in the 2004 comedy film ''Johnson Family Vacation'', starring alongside American actors Cedric the Entertainer, Vanessa Williams and Bow Wow. She provided a song for its soundtrack—"Freedom", a collaboration with the Houston-based funk-jazz band Drop Trio. Although the reviews were generally negative, Knowles earned praise from ''Variety'' magazine: "Solange Knowles is nearly as dazzling as big sister Beyoncé and does little more than smile winningly in her first bigscreen outing." In 2006, she starred as a cheerleading captain in the film ''Bring It On: All or Nothing'', the third installment of the ''Bring it On'' series, alongside American actress and singer Hayden Panettiere. What little critical reaction the low-budget, direct-to-DVD movie got was negative, and Knowles was described as an "affordable young starlet". Knowles uses her full name for her acting, rather than just the first name she uses when singing; for ''Bring It On: All or Nothing'', she was billed as Solange Knowles-Smith, reflecting her married state at the time.

Knowles also appeared in several television series. In 2002, she lent her voice for the character Chanel, the cousin of the protagonist Penny Proud, in the episode "Behind Family Lines" to the animated television series ''The Proud Family''. In 2004, she guest starred in the episode "The Catch" to the sitcom ''One on One''.

Knowles and sister Beyoncé model for their families' clothing line, House of Deréon, named after their grandmother, Agnéz Deréon. She also helped launch Deréon, a junior apparel collection and a sister line to House of Deréon. Both sisters model for Deréon, and are featured in most of Deréon's marketing campaigns. They were featured in a "Got Milk?" campaign ad, while still wearing House of Deréon. In 2008, Knowles was named as ambassador for Giorgio Armani's younger diffusion line, Armani Jeans. Armani said Knowles epitomizes the style, which is a "vision of a young, independent, casual lifestyle with a strong and cool, fashion sensibility".

Knowles has been promoting Baby Jamz, a hip hop-styled toy line for pre-schoolers. It was inspired by her son, Julez, who is fond of hip hop music. She is the executive producer of the CD, composed of updated hip hop inspired nursery rhymes, which is featured in all of the toys.

Also, Knowles has been known for her work in the award-winning children's TV show, ''Yo Gabba Gabba!''. She performed "When I Hear Music" during the live performance when it toured the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. She also performed "Mama Loves Baby" during a 2010 episode called "Baby".

She was announced as the new face of Rimmel London.

Personal life

Knowles, at age 17, married Daniel Smith in February 2004. Knowles met Smith at a high school party through mutual friends. He was in high school at the time and Knowles was 13 and in middle school; they called themselves high school sweethearts. On October 18, 2004, Knowles gave birth to their son, Daniel Julez Smith, Jr. Knowles has partly expressed regret that she bore a child at an early age, but calls her son the greatest unplanned blessing. A song she wrote for her baby, "6 O' Clock Blues", was included on ''Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams''.

After Daniel Julez' birth, the family moved to Moscow, Idaho, where Knowles' husband continued studying in college. In October 2007, Solange confirmed in an interview with ''Essence'' magazine that she and Smith had divorced. Both of them co-parent the child. After the divorce, Knowles and her child moved to Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, where they established their new home.

Artistry

Knowles cites as her influences Motown girl groups such as The Supremes and The Marvelettes, and Martha Reeves, lead singer of Martha and the Vandellas. She also listened to the music of English pop singer Dusty Springfield, and according to Knowles, her "greatest music influence" is her mother, Tina Knowles, who was a one-time member of the 1960s harmony group The Veltones.

Knowles says her first passion is writing songs. She has been doing this since she was nine years old, and has collaborated with a number of songwriters and producers. — which was purposely set as the album's opening track to show their differences. In her review for the album, Jody Rosen of ''Rolling Stone'' magazine referred to the lyrics a declaration of independence. In an interview with the ''Daily Mail'', Knowles commented: "People think there should be this great rivalry between us, but there's never been any competition. There's a big age gap and we are two very different characters." In another interview, Knowles said that she would not live by her sister's level of stardom, stressing that she and Beyoncé are artistically different, even stating that blogger Teddy Birmingham was "disrespectful" for saying she was living in her sister shadow on his website "Teddytalks" in June 2009. Beyoncé was unwilling to bring her sister into the recording industry, reasoning that it "involves a lot of pressure". Knowles countered by saying, "It's good to have her advice, but we really have different goals".

Discography

''Solo Star'' (2003)

''Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams'' (2008)

TBA (2011)

Filmography

''Intimate Portrait'' ''The Proud Family'' ''Soul Train'' ''One On One'' ''Listen Up ''Ghost Whisperer''

		!Title	!Role	!Notes
2001	|	Herself	1 Episode
rowspan=3	2002	|	Chanel	1 Episode
''Taina''	Rachel
''Taff''	Herself
rowspan=4>2003	|	Herself	1 Episode
''The 30th Annual American Music Awards''	Herself
''The Today Show''	Herself
''The Brothers Garcia''	Herself
rowspan=2	2004	|	Charlotte	1 Episode
''Johnson Family Vacation''	Nikki Johnson
2005	(TV series)	Listen Up!''	Erika
2006	''Bring It On: All or Nothing''	Camille
2008	|	Singer	Uncredited 1 Episode
2010	''Yo Gabba Gabba''	Herself	1 Episode
2011	''Blondie: The Florence Ballard Story''	Diana Ross	Supporting

Awards and nominations

|- |rowspan="2" align="center"|2009 |rowspan="2"|Solange Knowles |BET Award for BET Centric Award | |- |Soul Train Music Award for Best New Artist |

References

External links

Official blog

Category:1986 births Category:Actors from Houston, Texas Category:African American actors Category:African American female singers Category:African American singer-songwriters Category:American film actors Category:American musicians of French descent Category:American people of Native American descent Category:American rhythm and blues singers Category:American singers of Native American descent Category:American soul singers Category:American vegetarians Category:Columbia Records artists Category:Destiny's Child Category:English-language singers Category:Living people Category:Louisiana Creole people Category:Musicians from Houston, Texas Category:Neo soul singers Category:Sony BMG artists

bs:Solange de:Solange Knowles es:Solange Knowles fr:Solange Knowles ko:솔란지 놀스 id:Solange Knowles it:Solange Knowles nl:Solange Knowles ja:ソランジュ no:Solange Knowles pl:Solange Knowles pt:Solange Knowles ro:Solange Knowles simple:Solange Knowles fi:Solange Knowles sv:Solange Knowles tr:Solange Knowles

Name	Twin Shadow
Birth name	George Lewis
Background	solo_singer
Origin	New York City, USA
Genre	New Wave
Label	Terrible Records/4AD
Website	}}

Twin Shadow is the stage name of American musician George Lewis Jr. Lewis was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in Florida. Around 2000 Lewis moved to Boston where he started the band Mad Man Films, releasing two records independently. Around 2006, Lewis relocated to Brooklyn, NY and adopted the Twin Shadow moniker. In 2010 he released his debut album ''Forget'', produced by Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear. The album has been described as "steeped in 1980s new wave", "building from streaks of haunting synth textures", having "sophisticated melodies", "R&B intimacy", and "poetic lyrics", and "hazily new wave-tinged pop". Twin Shadow was the Rolling Stone 'Band of the Week' on October 7, 2010.

Twin Shadow has been confirmed to play Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April, Sasquatch Music Festival in May 2011, San Miguel Primavera Sound in May 2011 and Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in June 2011 . He will be supporting Florence and the Machine at certain performances during her 2011 U.S. Tour.

Discography

Studio albums

''Forget'' (2010)

References

External links

Rolling Stone Band of the Week

Twin Shadow at 4AD Records

Category:Living people Category:American musicians

name	Kris Meeke
birth date	July 02, 1979
nationality	British
years	2002–present
teams	Interspeed
races	41 (as of 9th June 09)
championships	0
wins	0
podiums	0
stagewins	0
points	0
first race	2002 Rally GB }}

Kris Meeke (born 2 July 1979) is a professional rally driver. He was the 2009 Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion. His current co-driver is Paul Nagle. He originally began his career as a Computer Aided Designer with M-Sport, at the headquarters of the Ford World Rally Team, before moving on to competing in the Peugeot Super 106 Cup in 2001.

For 2011 Meeke will be competing in the World Rally Championship (WRC) driving a MINI for Prodrive. His first event will be the Rally d'Italia Sardegna which will be held between 5–8 May.

Career

Meeke, who was born in Dungannon, Northern Ireland, educated at The Royal School Dungannon, and later went on to study at Queen's University in Belfast where he obtained a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He initially worked for M-Sport as a Computer Aided Designer. He took his first step into rallying in 2000, when he won a Peugeot competition for new rally drivers. His debut event was the Bulldog Rally held in North Wales, even leading the event for a time. After mixed results, his first victory came on the third round of the 2001 Peugeot Super 106 Cup, the Swansea Bay Festival National Rally.

In early 2002, Meeke's career was boosted when he was taken under the wing of the late Colin McRae and contested the British Junior Championship in a Ford Puma. In June, Meeke won in his category in the Scottish Rally after a calculated drive overseen by McRae, and took second on the Jim Clark Rally, his first full tarmac event. Third position in the final round of the series was however enough for Kris to claim the British Junior Rally Championship title in only his second season in the sport, as well as third in the British S1600 series.

JWRC

The following year, Kris moved up to the Junior World Rally Championship (JWRC), driver an Opel Corsa run by Team Palmer. He made an impressive debut setting the fastest time on two of the final leg stages however a string of minor problems dropped Meeke down the order. He retired in the next rally and a potential second place finish in Italy was lost after a crash. Shortly afterwards he claimed consolation by winning the British S1600 title. On the final round of the 2003 JWRC held in Britain, Meeke was running in 2nd place in the JWRC and in 17th position overall before being forced to retire after hitting a rock and rolling his car.

Kris kicked the 2004 season off in style by finishing 3rd in class in the Rally of Monte Carlo. He then took part in the British S1600 event in Wales as a shakedown for the next JWRC in Greece, winning the Welsh event along the way. The next two JWRC events in Greece and Turkey were marred by mechanical problems on the rough gravel terrain. He then took part in the Pirelli Rally in Tampere as shakedown for the next JWRC event in Finland, scoring a class win in Pirelli Rally. He was leading the Finnish JWRC event before a mistake caused him to have a heavy crash and retire. There was further disappointment for Kris when during the last JWRC event in Wales he was plagued by electrical issues in his Opel Corsa. However a spirited drive saw him set seven fastest stage times and finish on the podium in second place.

IRC

In 2009, Meeke alongside co-driver Paul Nagle contest the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) in a Peugeot UK backed 207 S2000. He crashed out heavily on the Monte Carlo Rally but went on to win the next three rounds he competed in at Brazil, Portugal, and Belgium. He won the championship at the penultimate round by winning Rally Sanremo in Italy, after his closest rival Jan Kopecky crashed on the second stage. Meeke finished off the season with a dominant win of the inaugural Rally Scotland, winning 7 of the 13 stages on the way to victory.

Kris starred in a wave of adverts for the Peugeot 207 in 2009, with the tagline "He's Meeke, but he's not mild".

For 2010, Meeke is continuing his successful partnership with Paul Nagle and Peugeot, competing in 10 rounds of the IRC.

WRC

On 2 September 2010, ''Autosport'' magazine announced that Meeke had signed for the Prodrive team that will run MINI World Rally Championship (WRC) return in 2011.

Results

WRC results

! Year

! Entrant

! Car

! 1

! 2

! 3

! 4

! 5

! 6

! 7

! 8

! 9

! 10

! 11

! 12

! 13

! 14

! 15

! 16

! WDC

! Points

! Kris Meeke

Ford Puma#Rallying>Ford Puma S1600

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

! NC

! 0

! Kris Meeke

Opel Corsa>Opel Corsa S1600

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

! NC

! 0

rowspan=2

Kris Meeke

Opel Corsa>Opel Corsa S1600

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

NC

0

! Citroën C2 S1600

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

rowspan=2

Kris Meeke

! Citroën C2 S1600

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

NC

0

! Subaru Impreza WRC

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

! Kris Meeke

! Citroën C2 S1600

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

! NC

! 0

! Kris Meeke

! Subaru Impreza WRC

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

! NC

! 0

rowspan=2

! Kris Meeke

! Renault Clio S1600

bgcolor="#CFCFFF"

NC

0

! Interspeed Racing Team

! Renault Clio R3

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

! Mini WRC Team

Mini Countryman WRC>Mini John Cooper Works WRC

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

! NC*

! 0*

* Season in progress.

IRC results

! Year

! Entrant

! Car

! 1

! 2

! 3

! 4

! 5

! 6

! 7

! 8

! 9

! 10

! 11

! 12

! WDC

! Points

! Peugeot UK

!Peugeot 207 S2000

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#DFFFDF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#000000" style="color: #ffffff"

!

! Peugeot UK

!Peugeot 207 S2000

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#FFFFBF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#dfffdf"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#DFDFDF"

bgcolor="#EFCFFF"

bgcolor="#dfffdf"

bgcolor="#dfffdf"

bgcolor="#ffdf9f"

References

External links

www.krismeeke.com

Category:1979 births Category:Intercontinental Rally Challenge drivers Category:World Rally Championship drivers Category:Rally drivers from Northern Ireland Category:Living people

de:Kris Meeke fr:Kris Meeke it:Kris Meeke hu:Kris Meeke nl:Kris Meeke pl:Kris Meeke fi:Kris Meeke sv:Kris Meeke es:Kris Meeke

Name	Burning Spear
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Winston Godfrey Rodney
Birth date	March 01, 1945
Genre	Reggae
Years active	1969–present
Label	Studio One, Island, EMI, Heartbeat, Slash
Website	www.burningspear.net
Past members	}}

Winston Rodney, OD (born 1 March 1945), also known as Burning Spear, is a Jamaican roots reggae singer and musician. Burning Spear is known for his Rastafari movement messages.

History

Rodney was born in Saint Ann's Bay, Saint Ann, Jamaica, as were reggae singer Bob Marley and political activist Marcus Garvey who both had a great influence on Rodney's life: Garvey in his philosophy, which Burning Spear greatly took to, and Marley in directly helping Burning Spear get started in the music industry (by some accounts) by introducing him to Clement Dodd. Rodney met Marley at the latter's farm in 1969, and having told him that he wanted to get into the music business, Marley advised him to start at Dodd's Studio One label. Reggae singer Larry Marshall claimed that it was he, while visiting St. Ann's Bay with Jackie Mittoo, who was approached by Rodney, and gave him this advice, and arranged the introduction.

Burning Spear was originally Rodney's group, named after Jomo Kenyatta, the first Prime Minister and President of an independent Kenya, and including bass singer Rupert Willington. This duo auditioned for Dodd in 1969, and recorded the debut single "Door Peep". They were joined by tenor Delroy Hinds (brother of Justin Hinds). The trio recorded several more singles for Dodd, and two albums, before they moved on to work with Jack Ruby in 1975. Their first recording with Ruby, "Marcus Garvey", was intended as an exclusive track for Ruby's Ocho Rios-based Hi-Power sound system, but was released as a single, giving them an immediate hit, and was followed by "Slavery Days". These recordings featured the backing band The Black Disciples, which included Earl "Chinna" Smith, Valentine Chin, Robbie Shakespeare and Leroy Wallace. The group worked with Ruby on their third album, ''Marcus Garvey'' (1976), which was immediately successful and led to a deal with Island Records to give the album a wider release. Island remixed and altered the speed of some of the tracks, much to the annoyance of fans and the group, leading Rodney to set up his own Spear label for future releases where he would have full control, although further releases followed on Island including a dub album (''Garvey's Ghost'') and the ''Man in the Hills'' album. In late 1976, Rodney split from both Ruby and group members Willington and Hinds, and from that point on used the name Burning Spear for himself alone. ''Dry and Heavy'' followed in 1977, self-produced but still on Island, and with a sizeable following by now in the United Kingdom, he performed in London that year with members of Aswad acting as his backing band for a sold-out show at the Rainbow Theatre, which was recorded and released as ''Live!''. Aswad also provided backing on his next studio album, ''Social Living'' (1978), which also featured Sly Dunbar and Rico Rodriguez. A dub version of the album, ''Living Dub'' (1979), was mixed by Sylvan Morris. His profile was raised further by an appearance in the film ''Rockers'', performing "Jah no Dead".

In 1980, Rodney left Island Records, and set up the Burning Spear label, which he signed to EMI, debuting on the label with ''Hail H.I.M.'', recorded at Marley's Tuff Gong studio and co-produced by Aston Barrett. A Sylvan Morris dub version followed in the form of ''Living Dub Volume Two''. In 1982, Rodney signed with Heartbeat Records with a series of well-received albums following, including the 1985 Grammy-nominated ''Resistance''. He returned to Island in the early 1990s, releasing two albums before rejoining Heartbeat.

Burning Spear tours extensively, and several live albums have been issued. His 1999 album, ''Calling Rastafari'' brought his first Grammy Award in 2000, a feat which he repeated with ''Jah Is Real'' in 2009.

In the mid 1990s, he set up the Burning Music Production company, handling his own bookings, and in 2002, he and his wife, Sonia Rodney who has produced a number of his albums, restarted Burning Spear Records, giving him a greater degree of artistic control. Since the mid-1990s, he has been based in Queens, New York.

Burning Spear was awarded the Order of Distinction in the rank of Officer on October 15, 2007.

The Track "We Are Going" was featured in cycling documentary "Roam" by The Collective.

Discography

Awards

Burning Spear has won two Grammy Awards for Best Reggae Album; one at the 42nd Grammy Awards in 2000 for ''Calling Rastafari'', and one for 2009's ''Jah Is Real''. He has been nominated for a total of 12 Grammy Awards.

Nominations for Best Reggae Album''

1986 ''Resistance''

1988 ''People of the World''

1990 ''Live in Paris Zenith '88''

1991 ''Mek We Dweet''

1994 ''The World Should Know''

1996 ''Rasta Business''

1998 ''Appointment with His Majesty''

2000 ''Calling Rastafari''

2004 ''Free Man''

2005 ''Our Music''

2008 ''The Burning Spear Experience''

2008 ''Jah Is Real''

References

External links

Official site of Burning Spear

Official Facebook Page

Official Twitter

Winston Rodney's Blog

Our Music: Past, Present, and Future with Burning Spear - The Music Box, Vol. 12, #11

Live performance images

Category:1945 births Category:Living people Category:Converts to the Rastafari movement Category:Jamaican Rastafarians Category:Performers of Rastafarian music Category:Jamaican reggae singers Category:Jamaican songwriters Category:Jamaican male singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:People from Saint Ann Parish

da:Burning Spear de:Burning Spear es:Burning Spear fr:Burning Spear it:Burning Spear he:ברנינג ספיר sw:Burning Spear ht:Burning Spear nl:Burning Spear ja:バーニング・スピア no:Burning Spear pl:Burning Spear pt:Burning Spear sl:Winston Rodney fi:Burning Spear sv:Burning Spear tr:Burning Spear