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General Information

Official Name: the Republic of Kenya
country code:KE
Capital:Nairob
Liland area:582646km2
Population:Kenya has a population of 41 million, including more than 40 ethnic. Its Ethnic groups mainly are: Kikuyu22%, Luhya 14%, Luo 13%, Kalenjin 12%, Kamba 11%, Kisii 6%, Meru 6%, other African 15%, non-African (Asian, European, and Arab) 1%.
Religion:The vast majority of Kenyans are Christian with 45% regarding themselves as Protestant and 33% as Roman Catholic.
Language:Most Kenyans are bilingual in English and Swahili. English is the official language and Swahili is the national language.
Currency:Kenyan shilling(KES)
Time zone:EAT (UTC+3)
Important Festival:National's Day: 12th, December

General introduction
Kenya is a country in East Africa. Lying along the Indian Ocean to its southeast and at the equator, it is bordered by Somalia to the northeast, Ethiopia to the north, South Sudan to the northwest, Uganda to the west and Tanzania to the south. It has a long coastline of 536km along the Indian Ocean. There are many highlands in Kenya with the average altitude 1500m. Mount Kenya is the highest peak in Kenya at 5,199 m (17,057 ft). Kenya is named after the mountain. The forest coverage of Kenya is 15%, including 87000km2. About 18% land of Kenya is Arable land, and the rest lands are applicable to Animal Husbandry.

Kenya's climate varies from tropical along the coast to temperate inland to arid in the north and northeast parts of the country. The country receives a great deal of sunshine all the year round, and summer clothes are worn throughout the year. It is usually cool at night and early in the morning. The "long rains" season occurs from March/April to May/June. The "short rains" season occurs from October to November/December. The highest temperature is 22-26 and the lowest is 10-14 around the year.

History

As one of the cradles of human, Kenya was discovered Fossil human skull dated to 2.5 million years ago. Around the seventh century , Some commercial city was emerged in the south-east coastal zone, and some Arabian began to live and do business there. In 1895, the British government announced kenya "the East African protectorate" and in 1920 , Kenya became one of the colonies of British. on 12 December 1963, Kenya became independent and the Kenya African National Union (KANU) of Jomo Kenyatta formed a government. On 12 December 1964 the Republic of Kenya was proclaimed and kept a member of British Commonwealth.

Politics

Kenya is a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President is both the head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the National Assembly. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The current president is Mwai Kibaki

Administrative Regions

The City of Nairobi enjoys the status of a full administrative province. The government supervises administration of districts and provinces. The provinces are:

Central
Coast
Eastern
Nairobi
North Eastern
Nyanza
Rift Valley
Western

 Economic

Kenya's economic develops very well among the countries in the south of Sahara. The private economy accounts 70% share of the overall economy of Kenya. Agriculture, service industry, and industry are three main parts of Kenya economic. Tea, Coffee, and flowers are the three main exporting item of Kenya agriculture. As one of the largest contributor of foreign exchange, the tourism of Kenya is flourish. The industry is relatively developed in East Africa countries, and it can meet the demands of daily commodities.

Natural resources
 Kenya has many kinds of mineral resources like sodium carbonate, salt, fluorite, Limestone, barite, gold, silver, copper, aluminium, zinc,niobium,thorium, etc. Only  sodium carbonate and fluorite are under exploitation. The main mineral resource are fluorite near Ta Mota, niobium and gold. Gill Gill is one of the biggest Diatomite mine in the world.

Industry
Kenya's industry is relatively complete, and it is the most developed country in East Africa. Industry output accounts 16.2% of DGP. The manufacturing is the main sector of its industry. Oil Refining, tire, cement, steel rolling, electric power, automotive assemble company are relatively big companies. About 85% daily commodities are made in Kenya, some commodities can meet the domestic demand like clothing, paper, food, drink, cigar and some export to other countries.

Agriculture
Agriculture is the second largest contributor to Kenya's gross domestic product (GDP), after the service sector, accounted for about 30 percent of GDP. The principal cash crops are tea, horticultural produce, and coffee; horticultural produce and tea are the main growth sectors and the two most valuable of all of Kenya's exports. In 2007, these three biggest contributor of foreign exchange horticultural products, tea and coffee exports were $ 905 million, $ 746 million, 166 million, accounting for more than 40% of total exports.

Tourism
Kenya's tourism, which contributes about 10 percent of GDP, is now Kenya's largest foreign exchange earning sector, followed by flowers, tea, and coffee. Tourists are attracted mainly to the coastal beaches and the game reserves, notably, the expansive Tsavo National Park (20,808 square kilometers) in the southeast, also the Great Rift Valley, Mount Kenya.

Transportation

Road transportation: Road transportationis the main transportation way of kenya, 150,000km in total, with 6700km Asphalt Road and 18000km All-weather gravel road.
Railway: Kenya has one railway from Mombasa to Uganda, 2765Km, 2.227million ton transport capacity a year.
Airway: Kenya has three international airports, 4 domestic airports and more than 300 small airports. Kenya Airways has 16 international line, and fly to more than 30 countries.

International Trade:

The exports of Kenya accounts for 25% of total its GDP. The main exporting commodities are tea, coffee,horticultural products, cement, pyrethrum, sodium carbonate, and leather.Kenya imports crude oil, machinery, iron and steel, cars, medicine and fertilizer. Its major trading countries are east and south African countries, Britain, Germany, Holland, US, Japan, etc.

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