The British detained most of the 1.5 million Kikuyu in camps and fortified villages. They participated in the Atlantic Slave Trade, but they also shipped British and Irish criminals and rebels off to the West Indies, where they were at a level with slaves bought from Africa. British Tyranny in Kenya. Tragedy and Vindication for Colonial Kenya: Faculty Insight with Caroline Elkins - Duration: 6:59. Uncovering the brutal truth about the British empire Nairobi, Kenya, 1952. 1950s British War Crimes in Africa. The Mau Mau fighters were mainly drawn from Kenya… In 1952, the Kikuyu, Kenya’s largest ethnic group, launched an anti-colonial struggle and over the next eight years the British would employ horrific violence in a bid to suppress what became known as the “Mau Mau Uprising”. by Gwydion M. Williams. To talk about British atrocities in Kenya during the Mau Mau era is nonsense John Allen It was the Mau Mau, not colonial officers like me, who terrorised ordinary Kenyans. Harvard Extension School 9,177 views In 1920 the country was designated as a British colony and named Kenya for its tallest mountain peak. The British built a railroad through the country, which became known as British East Africa, using imported labor from India, and built large agricultural estates taking advantage of the fertility of the soil and the tropical climate. 18 th century Britons were mostly not racist. The uprising is now regarded in Kenya as one of the most significant steps towards a Kenya free from British rule.