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Swahili language

(Encyclopedia)Swahili language, member of the Bantu group of African languages (see African languages and Bantu languages). Swahili is spoken by 30 million people, chiefly in Tanzania, Kenya, Congo (Kinshasa), Buru...

Odinga, Raila Amolo

(Encyclopedia)Odinga, Raila Amolo ōdĭnˈgä [key] 1945–, Kenyan political leader, son of Oginga Odinga, Kenya's first vice president. After earning (1970) a degree in mechanical engineering from the Univ. of M...

Natron, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Natron, Lake nāˈtrən [key], c.35 mi (60 km) long and 15 mi (20 km) wide, in the Great Rift Valley, E Africa, on the Kenya-Tanzania border. It has soda, salt, and magnesite deposits. ...

Tsavo National Park

(Encyclopedia)Tsavo National Park tsäˈvō [key], 8,034 sq mi (20,808 sq km), SE Kenya; est. 1948. Located on the semiarid plains, it is a sanctuary for the large animals of E Africa. The Mzima Springs are found t...

Leakey, Richard Erskine Frere

(Encyclopedia)Leakey, Richard Erskine Frere frĭr [key], 1944–2022, Kenyan paleoanthropologist, conservationist, and ...

Elgon, Mount

(Encyclopedia)Elgon, Mount ĕlˈgŏn [key], extinct volcano, central Africa, on the Kenya-Uganda border. Its highest peak is Wagagai (14,178 ft/4,321 m). The inhabitants of Mt. Elgon's densely populated lower slope...

Owen Falls

(Encyclopedia)Owen Falls, on the Victoria Nile, SE Uganda, near Jinja, site of the Nalubaale Dam (formerly the Owen Falls Dam), completed 1954. The dam, which submerged the waterfall, controls the discharge from La...

Magadi, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Magadi, Lake məgäˈdē [key], c.20 mi (30 km) long and 2 mi (3.2 km) wide, S Kenya, in the Great Rift Valley. Formed and constantly resupplied by volcanic springs, the lake has a thick crust of carb...

Mwanza

(Encyclopedia)Mwanza mwänˈzä [key], city (2012 pop. 706,453), capital of Mwanza prov., NW Tanzania, a port on Lake Victoria. Connected by rail with Dar es Salaam, the city handles much of Tanzania's trade with K...

Kibaki, Mwai

(Encyclopedia)Kibaki, Mwai (Emilio Mwai Kibaki), 1931–, Kenyan political leader. An economist educated at the London School of Economics, he was elected to Kenya's first parliament (1963) as a member of the Kenya...

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