Kenya

Nairobi serves as the political, cultural and economic heart of Kenya, positioned in Eastern Africa. As the seat of government and often the most populous city, it concentrates the country's main institutions, universities and cultural landmarks. Beyond the capital, major cities include Mombasa, Kisumu — each a hub of regional culture, economy and history. Nairobi was founded in 1899 as a railway depot on the Uganda Railway and grew into East Africa's most dynamic city — a tech hub sometimes called 'Silicon Savannah' where mobile money platform M-Pesa launched in 2007 to become the world's first major mobile money system, now processing more GDP transactions than Kenya's banking system.

With a population of approximately 54.0M, Kenya is a vibrant society with a rich mix of traditions and communities. The principal languages spoken are Swahili, English, which reflect the country's cultural heritage and open doors to a wide international community. Internationally, Kenya is reached via the dialling code +254. Kenya's 44 officially recognised ethnic groups — Kikuyu, Luo, Luhya, Kamba, Maasai, and many others — navigate a political landscape where ethnicity and electoral allegiance are inseparable following the violence of the 2007-08 post-election crisis, while simultaneously producing a literary tradition (Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o), music (Benga), and journalism of continental significance.

Kenya spans 580,367 km², in the Eastern Africa subregion of Africa. Geographically centred around 1.0°N, 38.0°E, the country offers a diverse range of landscapes shaped by its location, climate and geology. Road traffic follows the left-hand rule, in line with surrounding Africa convention.

The official currency is the Kenyan shilling (Sh), used for everyday transactions and commerce throughout the country. Kenya's economy is shaped by its geography, natural resources and trade relationships. Business and daily life operate under UTC+03:00, aligning the country with its regional neighbours.

The emblematic dish of Kenya is Ugali. Nyama choma — grilled goat or beef eaten with hands directly from the bone — is Kenya's great social food, consumed at celebrations and weekend gatherings with ugali (stiff maize porridge), kachumbari (tomato and onion salsa), and Tusker beer in a combination that serves the same function across ethnic and class lines that the braai does in South Africa.

Long-distance running holds a special place in the heart of Kenya's national identity. Kenyan long-distance running dominates world athletics with a consistency that defies statistical probability — athletes from the Rift Valley's Kalenjin ethnic group win a disproportionate share of marathon and 10,000-metre titles globally, a dominance partly attributed to altitude training, partly to the tradition of running to school from young ages, and partly to a cultural orientation that elevates endurance as a supreme athletic virtue.

The highest point in Kenya is Mount Kenya, rising to 5,199 metres above sea level. The Great Rift Valley cuts through Kenya from north to south in a geological fault that is slowly tearing Africa apart — its floor occupied by soda lakes including Lake Nakuru, whose flamingo population of 1.5 million was the largest single congregation of any bird species on Earth before algae changes reduced the population, and the Maasai Mara savanna whose annual wildebeest migration crosses the Mara River in a spectacle of predator-prey interaction visible from nowhere else.