Uasin Gishu County

The county is named after Illwuasin-kishu, a Maasai clan. The land was the grazing area of the clan. They surrendered the land to the colonial government in the Anglo-Maasai agreement of 1911 and were subsequently pushed towards Trans Mara District. The plateau that they once occupied was then registered in its Anglicised version, Uasin Gishu.^[4]

In 1903, the area was proposed as a potential Jewish homeland; British Uganda Programme, which was rejected by the Jewish community leaders in the Seventh Zionist Congress (1905).

In 1908, fifty-eight families of Afrikaans-speaking South Africans settled in the Uasin Gishu plateau. They were followed by sixty more families in 1911 and more later.^[5] The town of Eldoret was established in the midst of the farms they created.

Uasin Gishu is divided into six sub-counties namely: Turbo - with a Total of six wards; Kesses - With a Total of four wards; Moiben - With a Total of Five wards; Kapseret - with a total of five wards; Ainabkoi -with a total of three wards; and Soy - With a Total of Seven wards. The sub-counties boundaries also correspond with the electoral constituencies in the counties.

Each Sub County has an administrative office in charge of it from the county Government. Wards administrators are in charge of wards and Sub County administrators admin the sub Counties.

Uasin Gishu is the 8th Largest Economy in Kenya with a GDP of $6.8B at PPP and $2.5B at Nominal. It is the 11th richest County in Africa with a GDP per Capita of $2,050.^{[citation needed]}

Agriculture

Uasin Gishu along with neighbouring Trans-Nzoia, are considered Kenya's breadbasket due to their large-scale maize and wheat farms which produce the bulk of the country's total harvest.^[11]

The National Cereals Board has a cereal storage depot located at Moi's Bridge town located in the north of the county, which consists of eight large silos with a capacity of approximately 5 million tonnes of grain.^[12] It is one of the largest in the country and plays a significant role in Kenya's food security.

The county also produces sizable quantities of milk and horticultural produce, with a wide variety of crops and animals produced in smaller quantities.

Uasin Gishu has 300 kilometres (190 mi) of tarmac roads, 549 kilometres (341 mi) of murram roads and 377 kilometres (234 mi) of earth roads. It also has 17 kilometres (11 mi) of railway line with 8 railway stations in addition to an inland container depot. The Eldoret International Airport and two airstrips are also located in the county, all combining to make it the regions service hub.^[17]

The county has several universities including Moi University and the University of Eldoret, which have their main campuses in the county. Several technical and vocational institutes are also located in the county, including Eldoret National Polytechnic, Rift Valley Technical Training Institute, Kipkabus Technical and Vocational College, Moiben Technical and Vocational College, Kosyin Technical Training Institute, Chebororwa Agricultural Training Centre, Tumaini and Technical Training Institute, Eldoret Technical training institute Kenya School of TVET (Moiben Campus), amongst others.^{[citation needed]}

• Philip Boit (born 1971), cross-country skier
• Rachel Ruto (born 1968), First lady of Kenya
• William Ruto (born 1966), 5th president of Kenya
• Sabastian Sawe (born 1995), world-class distance runner
• Elisha Tanui (born 1983), world-class distance runner