Kenya Emigration and Immigration

Online Sources

 * 1878-1960 UK and Ireland, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960 at Ancestry - index and images. ($)
 * 1890-1960 Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960 at Findmypast - index & images ($)
 * 1946-1971 Free Access: Africa, Asia and Europe, Passenger Lists of Displaced Persons, 1946-1971 Ancestry, free. Index and images. Passenger lists of immigrants leaving Germany and other European ports and airports between 1946-1971. The majority of the immigrants listed in this collection are displaced persons - Holocaust survivors, former concentration camp inmates and Nazi forced laborers, as well as refugees from Central and Eastern European countries and some non-European countries.

British Overseas Subjects

 * 1628-1969 UK, Foreign and Overseas Registers of British Subjects, 1628-1969, index ($)
 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Births and Baptisms, Kenya, index & images ($)
 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Banns and Marriages, Kenya, index & images ($)
 * British Armed Forces and Overseas Deaths and Burials, Kenya, index & images ($)

Finding the Town of Origin in Kenya
If you are using emigration/immigration records to find the name of your ancestors' town in Kenya, see Kenya Finding Town of Origin for additional research strategies.

Kenya Emigration and Immigration
"Emigration" means moving out of a country. "Immigration" means moving into a country. Emigration and immigration sources list the names of people leaving (emigrating) or arriving (immigrating) in the country. These sources may be passenger lists, permissions to emigrate, or records of passports issued. The information in these records may include the emigrants’ names, ages, occupations, destinations, and places of origin or birthplaces. Sometimes they also show family groups.

Immigration into Kenya

 * European contact began in 1500 with the Portuguese Empire, though effective colonization of Kenya began in the 19th century during the European exploration of the interior.
 * In the 17th century, the Swahili coast was conquered and came under the direct rule of the Omani Arabs, who expanded the slave trade to meet the demands of plantations in Oman and Zanzibar.
 * The colonial history of Kenya dates from the establishment of a German protectorate over the Sultan of Zanzibar's coastal possessions in 1885, followed by the arrival of the Imperial British East Africa Company in 1888. Imperial rivalry was prevented when Germany handed its coastal holdings to Britain in 1890.
 * This was followed by the building of the Uganda Railway passing through the country. During the railway construction era, there was a significant influx of Indian workers, who provided the bulk of the skilled manpower required for construction. They and most of their descendants later remained in Kenya and formed the core of several distinct Indian communities such as the Ismaili Muslim and Sikh communities.
 * In 1920, the East Africa Protectorate was turned into a colony and renamed Kenya after its highest mountain.[52]
 * During the early part of the 20th century, the interior central highlands were settled by British and other European farmers, who became wealthy farming coffee and tea. By the 1930s, approximately 30,000 white settlers lived in the area and gained a political voice because of their contribution to the market economy. By the 1950s, there were 80,000 white settlers living in Kenya.
 * On 12 December 1964, Kenya became a republic under the name "Republic of Kenya".
 * Europeans in Kenya are primarily the descendants of British migrants during the colonial period.
 * There is also a significant expat population of Europeans living in Kenya. Only a small minority of them are landowners (livestock and game ranchers, horticulturists and farmers), with the majority working in the tertiary sector: in air transport, finance, import, and hospitality.

Emigration From Kenya
KNOMAD Statistics: Emigrants: 475,500. Top destination countries: the United Kingdom, the United States, Tanzania, Uganda, Canada, South Africa, Australia, Germany, South Sudan, Switzerland.