Kisumu is strategically located at an intersection of major roads, waterways, ports, and, until recently, railroads, connecting it to major markets, towns, cities, and countries in the Great Lakes region. In fact, the emergence of Kisumu as a hub of important social, economic, and political activities was in no small measure due to the construction of the Kenya-Uganda Railway, which reached the shore of Lake Victoria in Nyanza Province in 1901. Almost overnight after the construction of the railroad, Kisumu (then called Port Florence) became the nerve center of major social, economic, and political connections spanning present-day Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi. With the construction and expansion of more roads and the recent opening of an international airport, Kisumu has grown in huge leaps and bounds, evolving from a small entrepot into a busy international city.
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Locations
Makasembo Road, Kisumu, Kenya
A Rambunctious, Boisterous, and Busy Thoroughfare Full of Modern City Conveniences
Located in downtown Kisumu, Makasembo Road is an active thoroughfare and is known for the many different shops that are found there. Makasembo Road is a 1.04-kilometer-long road and is bordered by Karume Road to the east, Oginga Odinga Road...
Odera Street, Kisumu, Kenya
A Historical Look at the Bazaar around Odera Street
Odera Street is located in downtown Kisumu, Kenya, slightly more than one kilometer from the Kisumu Railway Station to the Kisumu-Busia Highway. Odera Street intersects with Oginga Odinga Road, and after that intersection it continues as Ke...
The Kenya-Uganda Railway
How the Railroad Shaped the Development of Kenya
The calm, quiet haze of the early morning day settles on a town. The people there have seen thousands of days like this, and for what reason should there be any surprise? It is midafternoon when a group of investors roll on through, talking...
The Kisumu Port
The Challenges and Promise of a Port City on Lake Victoria
On December 20, 1901, Florence Preston, the wife of the engineer building the <a href="https://macleki.org/stories/the-kenya-uganda-railway/">Kenya-Uganda Railway</a>, drove the last nail in the last sleeper (crosstie) of the railway by the...