Kenya is a sovereign state in East Africa that is officially known as the Republic of Kenya with Nairobi as the Capital and largest city. The country lies on the equator bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south-east and Tanzania, another East African country to the south, Uganda lies on the west while South Sudan is located in the north-western part of Kenya, Ethiopia to the north and Somalia to the north-east. This article highlights some of those interesting, informative, fascinating and sometimes not too well-known facts about Kenya.

It is believed that the word Kenya originates from the Kikuyu, Embu and Kamba names for Mount Kenya, “Kirinyaga“, “Kirinyaa” and “Kiinyaa“. There’s another story that traced the name to the Hebrews where it means ‘animal horn’. In Russia, they also have the name where it means ‘innocent’ or ‘harmless’. In ancient English, just like you have in Russia, the name means innocence. Another version associates it with a colonial mistake of pronunciation, the story goes that when the British landed in Kenya, they found the Kikuyu already calling the present day Mount Kenya, ‘Kirinyaga’ but because the Brits found it difficult to pronounce kirinyaga, they put it down as Kenia, which was later adopted as the name of the whole British protectorate. Prehistoric volcanic eruptions of Mount Kenya (which is now extinct) may have led to the association of that name with divinity and creation among the indigenous Kikuyu-related ethnic groups inhabiting the agricultural land surrounding Mount Kenya.

Kenya is one of the top agricultural producers in Africa thanks to the rich soil of the Kenyan highlands. Coffee, tea, tobacco, cotton, pyrethrum, flowers, cashew nuts and sisal are Kenya’s cash crops, with fruit, vegetables, beans, and cassava emerging as key crops for subsistence. Cattle, goats and sheep are also important agricultural products. Major export markets include Kenya’s neighboring countries, as well as several European and Asian countries, and the United States.