Eastleigh, Nairobi
| Eastleigh | |
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| Suburb | |
The Somali-owned Eastleigh Mall, Andalus Hotel and Horyal Supermarket in central Eastleigh.
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 Eastleigh
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| Coordinates: 1°16′00″S 36°51′00″E / 1.26667°S 36.85000°ECoordinates: 1°16′00″S 36°51′00″E / 1.26667°S 36.85000°E | |
| Country |
 Kenya
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| District | Nairobi |
| Time zone | EAT (UTC+3) |
Eastleigh is a suburb of Nairobi, Kenya. It is located east of the central business district. Predominantly inhabited by Somali immigrants, it has been described as "Little Mogadishu", as well as "a country within a country with its own economy" on account of its robust business sector.
Eastleigh was founded in 1921. At this time, it was formally called Nairobi East Township and was mostly populated by Somalians who had moved from the Ngara Plains. While the colonial government originally tried to segregate citizens by race and ethnicity, failures at doing so in the Eastleigh neighborhood more or less stopped the practice under colonial rule, so class became the general segregating factor afterwards. The colonial government allotted Nairobi's residential estates by race, and Eastleigh was pointed for Asians and elite Africans who worked as clerks, builders or shoemakers. Eastleigh was originally a large Kenyan Asian enclave until independence in 1963. In recent years, the suburb has been dominated and almost exclusively inhabited by Somali immigrants.
The Eastleigh Airport (Moi Air Base) is located in the northern parts of Eastleigh.
Since 2012, the neighborhood and various areas across Kenya have experienced a number of terrorist attacks linked to the Al-Shabaab militant group, which were launched in retaliation for the Kenyan military's deployment of troops in southern Somalia against the insurgents.
Administratively, Eastleigh is divided into Eastleigh North and Eastleigh South. Both are part of Nairobi's Pumwani division.
Eastleigh is further partitioned into three areas:
Eastleigh is almost entirely inhabited by Somalis, except for a few indigenous residents. The suburb's commercial sector is likewise dominated by Somalis, with most if not all businesses owned by the Somali community. Somalis have invested heavily in the enclave, contributing over $1.5 billion in the neighborhood alone. As of September 2012, Eastleigh accounted for around 25% of the Nairobi City Council's tax revenues.
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Wikipedia