Mpeketoni is a town in

Lamu County Lamu County is a county of Kenya located along the North Coast of the country and is one of the six Coastal Counties in Kenya. Its capital is the town of Lamu. It borders Tana River County to the southwest, Garissa County to the north, Somal ...

, on the

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

n coast. It is a settlement scheme started in 1960s by the first president of the Republic of Kenya,

Jomo Kenyatta Jomo Kenyatta (22 August 1978) was a Kenyan anti-colonial activist and politician who governed Kenya as its Prime Minister from 1963 to 1964 and then as its first President from 1964 to his death in 1978. He was the country's first indigeno ...

near a fresh water lake bearing his name.

Location

Mpeketoni lies in Lamu County, , south of the Garsen–Witu–Lamu Highway, approximately southwest of Mokowe, on the coast. The coordinates of the town are: 2°23'28.0"S, 40°41'50.0"E (Latitude:-2.391119; Longitude:40.697233).

History

Originally, Mpeketoni and its surroundings were inhabited by

Swahilis The Swahili people ( sw, WaSwahili) comprise mainly Bantu, Afro-Arab and Comorian ethnic groups inhabiting the Swahili coast, an area encompassing the Zanzibar archipelago and mainland Tanzania's seaboard, littoral Kenya, northern Mozambique, ...

called Wabajuni and a small hunting and gathering tribe by the name of Wasanye or the Sanyes who are almost extinct. In the early 1970s Mpeketoni was transformed into a settlement area for landless Kenyans. Most of those who settled there were Kenyans from up country, largely members of the Kikuyu community who had been living in

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

but decided to return home because of the changing political climate. The Kikuyu tribe, which is traditionally a farming community, mostly populates this area. Other tribes found in Mpeketoni include the Luos and Kambas as well as the original local Swahili people. The town is on a route that was used by the Arab traders taking their commodities "slaves" to

Lamu Island Lamu Island is a port, city, and island just off the shore of Kenya in the Indian Ocean approximately 150 miles from Mombasa. It is a part of the East African country of Kenya. Lamu was founded in the 12th Century. Lamu is one of the longest esta ...

. Up to now huge

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It is believed to have originated in the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in Sout ...

trees along the way from Mpeketoni to Lamu Island are still visible and are said to have grown from the seeds of the mangoes slaves were eating.

Overview

The land has since been painstakingly transformed to arable land for farming. The main cash crops include maize, cotton, cassava, cashew nuts, mangoes, and bananas. The people of Mpeketoni have benefited from the efforts from a variety of non-profit organizations, a German not-for-profit organization GTZ and a Dutch philanthropist with ongoing charity projects since 1987. Schools, a clinic and a church have been built with funds collected from the Netherlands in collaboration with the Groen van Prinsterer school in Vlaardingen, in the Netherlands. The clinic was named Maria Teresa Nuzzo Health Centre after the foundress of the Catholic Sisters', a congregation that run it. It is now the Mpeketoni Hospital. Mpeketoni is host to Lake Kenyatta, a fresh-water lake that covers about . The lake is an ecological site with variety of fish, not less than 3,500 hippos and a large array of birds.

Population

As of June 2015, the population of the town was estimated at about 50,000.

Administration

The Division is divided into small administrative villages, including Kiongwe, Baharini, Mkunumbi, Bomani, Uziwa, Mapenya, Lakeside, Kibaoni, Hongwe and Tewa.

Mpeketoni attacks

On June 16, 2014, gunmen killed at least 48 people in a bloody attack.

References

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External links

Mpeketoni attack fits into developing scenario blaming Cord for targeting the Kikuyu
Lake Kenyatta Populated places in Lamu County