Mau Mau knife, 1954 (c)

This home made knife was fashioned from a petrol drum and used by Mau Mau guerillas during the Kenya Emergency (1952-1956).

The Mau Mau was an anti-colonial guerilla campaign, many of its recruits came from the Kikuyu tribe. Insurgents launched a series of terrorist attacks against white settlers and political opponents, which the British Army responded to with repressive measures. Mau Mau guerillas had few modern weapons, even so it took over four years to defeat them.

The revolt, and the way the British dealt with it, boosted the campaign for Kenyan independence, which was granted in 1963.