Provinces of Kenya

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Updates: 

ISO 3166-2 has come out in a second edition, dated 2007-12-15. Unexpectedly, the code for Western province was changed from 900 to 800.

I added the results of the 1999 census of Kenya, as reported on the Central Bureau of Statistics  Website.

Country overview: 

At the start of the 20th century, British East Africa included the territory of Kenya and Uganda, plus some parts of Congo, Ethiopia, and Somalia. Kenya was split off as a British colony on 1905-04-01, under the same administration as the Kenya Protectorate, a coastal strip about ten miles wide owned by the Sultan of Zanzibar and leased to the British. The tiny Witu Protectorate was also included. The name British East Africa continued in use as a geographical term. Kenya became independent on 1963-12-12.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Kenya
2. Dutch: Kenia, Republiek Kenia (formal)
3. English: Republic of Kenya (formal)
4. Finnish: Kenia
5. French: Kenya m
6. German: Kenia n
7. Icelandic: Kenía
8. Italian: Kenia, Kenya m
9. Norwegian: Kenya, Republikken Kenya (formal)
10. Portuguese: Quénia, Quênia (Brazil), República f do Quénia m (formal)
11. Spanish: Kenia, República f de Kenya f (formal)
12. Swahili: Jamhuri ya Kenya (formal)
13. Swedish: Kenya

Origin of name: 

after Mount Kenya, from Kikuyu kere-nyaga: Mountain of Whiteness

Primary subdivisions: 

Kenya is divided into seven provinces and one national capital area.

Postal codes: 

Kenya uses five-digit postal codes. Generally a space is inserted after the first digit. The first digit indicates the province, with some exceptions.

Further subdivisions:

See the Districts of Kenya page.

The provinces are subdivided into 40 districts.

Territorial extent: 

Coast includes all the islands along Kenya's coast, such as Funzi, Wasini (Shimoni), and the Lamu Archipelago (Lamu, Pate, Manda, and others).

There are three sizable islands in Lake Turkana. North Island is entirely within Rift Valley, South Island is entirely within Eastern, and Central Island is split between the two.

Origins of names: 

1. Nairobi: Masai for the cool place
2. Rift Valley: contains the Kenyan section of the Great Rift

Change history: 

1. 1909: Kenya consisted of six provinces: Kenia, Naivasha, Nyanza, Seyide, Tanaland, and Ukamba.
2. ~1913: Jubaland and Northern Frontier provinces added, probably annexed from Somaliland and Uganda, respectively; Kenia and Naivasha provinces enlarged, probably at the expense of neighboring provinces. Spelling of Kenia changed to Kenya.
3. ~1922: Seyide and Tanaland provinces merged to form Coast. Name of Kenya province changed to Kikuyu. Masai province created, probably split from Ukamba.
4. 1925-06-29: Transjuba (everything west of the Juba River in modern Somalia) transferred from Kenya to Italian Somaliland.
5. The divisions of Kenya at the time of the 1948 census were as follows, according to the Encyclopædia Britannica World Atlas, 1957 edition.

1. ~1955: Name of Masai district changed to Nairobi. Southern province formed; its capital was Ngong.
2. 1962: Kenya reorganized into Central, Coast, Eastern, Northern, Nyanza, Rift Valley, and Western regions, and the Nairobi area. By 1970 the status of the regions had changed to provinces.
3. 1963: North-Eastern province formed from Northern and part of Coast.

Other names of subdivisions: 

1. Central: Kati (Swahili)
2. Coast: Pwani (Swahili)
3. Eastern: Mashariki (Swahili)
4. Nairobi: Federal Area, Nairobi District (variant); Masai District (obsolete)
5. North-Eastern: Kaskazini Mashariki (Swahili)
6. Nyanza: Nyanza (Swahili)
7. Rift Valley: Bonde la Ufa (Swahili)
8. Western: Magharibi (Swahili)

Population history:

Notes: 1962 total includes 2,600 persons in transit at the time of the enumeration. 1962 figures adjusted for boundary changes made in 1963.