Eldoret
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Eldoret Eldoret |
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|---|---|
| Town | |
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| Nickname(s): Eldy, Sisibo(64, LD | |
 Eldoret
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| Coordinates: 0°31′N 35°17′E / 0.517°N 35.283°ECoordinates: 0°31′N 35°17′E / 0.517°N 35.283°E | |
| Country |
 Kenya
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| County | Uasin Gishu County |
| Government | |
| Population (2009) | |
| • Total | 289,380 |
| Time zone | EAT (UTC+3) |
| Post code, Postal code | 30100 |
| Area code(s) | +254 53 |
| Climate | Cfb |
| Website | www.uasingishu.go.ke |
Eldoret is a principal city in western Kenya. It also serves as the capital of Uasin Gishu County. Lying south of the Cherangani Hills, the local elevation varies from about 2100 metres above sea level at the airport to more than 2700 metres in nearby areas (7000–9000 feet). The population was 289,380 in the 2009 census, and it is currently the fastest growing town in Kenya. It is also the second largest urban centre in midwestern Kenya after Nakuru and the fifth largest urban centre in the country.
The name "Eldoret" is based on the Maasai word "eldore" meaning "stony river"; a reference to the bed of the Sosiani River (a tributary of the Nile), that runs through the city.
The area that is now Eldoret and the plateau around it had been occupied by the Sirikwa for several centuries prior to the era of Maasai ascendancy. Innovation in weaponry, brought about the Maasai era of the 16th and 17th centuries. With new weapons and forms of governance, they swept down from their original homelands in the north, closer to Lake Turkana, down to their present homelands south of Kenya. The Maasai clan that took over the Plateau were known as the Ilwasin Kishu, after whom it is presently named.
Eldoret as a town, founded as it was by Afrikaners is almost unique in the British-dominated Kenya of the early 20th century. The first of the Afrikaners, the Van Breda brothers arrived in 1903 and were joined two years later by Franz Arnoldi and his family. The big influx followed shortly thereafter.
In August 1908, fifty-eight families of displaced Afrikaners left Nakuru for the Uasin Gishu plateau after a journey from South Africa by sea and by rail from Mombasa. Led by Jan van Rensburg, they endured an arduous trek laden as they were with wagons that would often get bogged in mud, finally arriving at Sergoit Hill on 22 October of that year. Jan Ernest Kruger would later own the 5,000 Sergoit farm, now owned owned by Sergoit Golf and Wildlife resort.
The land had earlier been surveyed by a certain van Breda and the new arrivals took up leaseholds of between 800 and 5,000 acres (320 and 2,020 ha) on condition that they would develop it within five years. Each family built a shack, put up fences, in-spanned oxen to simple ploughs and turned the first furrows. They sowed wheat, maize and vegetables laying the foundation for the transformation of the Plateau into a prosperous agricultural region.
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Wikipedia