Siege of Mombasa
13 March 1696 – 13 December 1698
The siege of Mombasa was an attack on the Portuguese city of Mombasa and Fort Jesus by the army of the Ya'rubid ruler of Oman, Saif I bin Sultan, from 13 March 1696 to 13 December 1698.
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14 of 14 events · 1696 – 2026
The Story of
Kenya
1696 – 2026
Country in Eastern Africa
Lari Massacre
26 March 1953
The Lari massacre was an incident during the Mau Mau Uprising in which the Mau Mau massacred approximately 74 people, including some members of the loyalist Home Guard, but mostly their families: women, children and elderly relatives. Those murdered included prominent local loyalist Luka Kahangara.
Shifta War
1963–1967
The Shifta War or Gaf Daba (1963–1967) was a secessionist conflict in which ethnic Somalis, Muslim Borana, Sakuye, Gabbra and Rendille in the then Northern Frontier District (NFD) of Kenya attempted to join Somalia. The Kenyan government named the conflict "shifta", after the Swahili word for "bandit", as part of a propaganda effort.
Lufthansa Flight 540
20 November 1974
Lufthansa Flight 540 was a scheduled commercial flight for Lufthansa, serving the Frankfurt–Nairobi–Johannesburg route. On 20 November 1974, the Boeing 747-130 that was operating as Flight 540 was carrying 157 people (139 passengers and 18 crew members) crashed and caught fire shortly after taking off from Embakasi Airport in Nairobi, Kenya, for the last leg of the flight, resulting in the deaths of 54 passengers and 5 crew members.
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
26 December 2004
On 26 December 2004, at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7), a Mw 9.2–9.3 earthquake struck with its epicenter off the west coast of Aceh, in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The undersea megathrust earthquake, known in the scientific community as the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, was caused by a rupture along the fault boundary between the Burma plate and the Indian plate, and reached a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX in some areas.
2007–08 Kenyan crisis
27 December 2007 – 28 February 2008
The 2007–2008 Kenyan crisis was a violent political, economic, and humanitarian crisis in Kenya. The crisis erupted after incumbent President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner of the 2007 presidential election.
Westgate shopping mall shooting
September 2013 – 24 September 2013
On 21 September 2013, four gunmen attacked the Westgate shopping mall, an upmarket mall in Nairobi, Kenya. There are conflicting reports about the number killed in the attack, since part of the mall collapsed due to a fire that started during the siege.
Garissa University College attack
2 April 2015
On 2 April 2015, gunmen stormed the Garissa University College in Garissa, Kenya, killing 148 people, and injuring at least 79. The militant groups Al-Qaeda and Al-Shabaab, which the gunmen claimed to belong to, took responsibility for the attack.
2019 Nairobi attack
15 January 2019
On January 15, 2019, a coordinated attack perpetrated by Al-Shabaab occurred at the DusitD2 complex in Westlands District, Nairobi, Kenya. The attack began at around 14:30 EAT (UTC+3), shortly after a suicide bomber blew himself up near the centre of the complex at a restaurant.
COVID-19 pandemic
1 December 2019
The global COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an outbreak in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. It spread to other parts of Asia and then worldwide in early 2020.
2023 Africa floods
5 February 2023
From February to late-December 2023, floods killed over 2,600 people in 15 countries across Africa.
2024 Mai Mahiu flash flood
29 April 2024
On 29 April 2024, a blockage in a culvert beneath a railway embankment led to a catastrophic failure and inundation in Kenya, killing at least 50 people. The event was initially described as a 'dam failure'.
Kenya Finance Bill protests
18 June 2024 – 8 August 2024
A series of decentralized mass protests took place in Kenya in response to tax increases proposed by the Government of Kenya in the Finance Bill 2024. Following the storming of the Kenyan Parliament, president William Ruto reportedly rejected the Bill on 28 June; signed into law the "Appropriations Bill 2024" to address the budget shortfall caused by the rejection.
2026 Kenya floods
2026
Between early March and late May 2026, flash flooding caused by heavy rainfall affected parts of Kenya, particularly the capital, Nairobi, killing at least 66 people. Floodwaters inundated roads across the city after intense overnight rainfall caused rivers to overflow, sweeping away vehicles and stranding motorists.