This paper is to pursue the development of Metropolitan Nairobi since its formulation based on oral narratives given by various Nairobians of different racial and ethnic segments. The paper specially focuses on the development of Eastleigh which is one of many African and Asian residential areas of Nairobi.
Nairobi was initially a tiny depot in the middle of railway construction between Mombasa and kampala. Now, it is the 12th largest city with the population of 3,141,065(2009) in African continent and the post-prosperous urban space in East Africa. It was founded in 1899 by the British, named after Maasai watering hole, Enkare Nairobi, cold water, however, the place became the residential settlement for railway workers, mostly Indian indentured labourers. It eventually grown up into a small town, and with favourable natural environments, residents sored up. In 1905, the British colony made it the capital of the British East African Protectorate. Nairobi was designed for European settlers and colonial administration which meant that the rest of races, i.e. African and Asian population, was out of map. Or at best, African and Asian population were accommodated just for serving colonial administration. Residential areas were mainly located outskirt Nairobi center, good distance for serving European settlers and colonial administration, but yet far enough to keep distance from European settlers.
Eastleigh was spaced for Asians and some African elites (Somali-Kenyans) during 1920s, nevertheless, we have lack of enough academic publications to trace back the development of Eastleigh to present.
That is the main purpose of this paper : Examining the developmental history of Eastleigh based on oral histories of residents. Three different voices from Somali-Kenyans, Indians and Africans tell us that Eastleigh, initially known as the land of Kikuyu and Masaai people, became the designed residential area for Asians by the British colonial administration; then Africanized after its independence since 1963; and known as ‘little Mogadishu’ after the massive flux of Somali-Somali since 1990s.
The voices also tell the story that Eastleigh is not a singular and homogeneous racial, ethnic and cultural space but a multiple and complex, competing and harmonizing space for different racial, ethnic and cultural components. This is the written story from voices.