Our Timeline
A working chronology of the nation and the Foundation.
“Even the longest journey is one footfall at a time.”
Pokot travellers' saying
This is the chronological record. It is a working document. Entries in ordinary type are settled; italicised entries are provisional and awaiting final confirmation from our historians and elders.
Chronology
- 01
Antiquity
The ancestor communities live along the northern rivers.
- 02
Around 1000 CE
The southern migration is well underway. Our stories place a long pause at Tulwet ap Kony, the mountain now called Mount Elgon.
- 03
1600s to 1800s
Settlement across the Rift Valley highlands. Distinct communities and clans consolidate.
- 04
1895
The Kenya Protectorate is proclaimed. Colonial rule begins.
- 05
1905
Koitalel arap Samoei, orkoiyot of the Nandi, is killed after eleven years of resistance.
- 06
1940s to 1950s
Kalenjin soldiers broadcast home on Kenyan radio. A new generation hears itself named.
- 07
1955
A students' union at Alliance High School adopts Kalenjin as its name.
- 08
1963
Independence. Our peoples enter the Kenyan republic as one recognised nation among many.
- 09
1978
Daniel Toroitich arap Moi, a Kalenjin son, ascends to the presidency of Kenya.
- 10
2007 to 2008
Post election violence tears at the fabric of the Rift Valley. Reconciliation begins slowly and continues.
- 11
2010
Kenya's new constitution establishes counties. Our peoples take up the work of devolved government.
- 12
2022
William Ruto is elected president. The question of what the nation itself will do, beyond politics, is renewed.
- 13
2023 to 2024
Councils of elders meet across the fifteen communities to consider a shared foundation.
- 14
2024
Kalenjin Foundation is established in Nairobi. First board of seven trustees is seated.
- 15
2025 to 2026
First programmes launch across the counties where Kalenjins are found.