I just checked our 1960 World Book Encyclopedia. It has an article under the heading "KENYA", which says "it is a British colony and protectorate in East Africa". Among interesting comments on African nationalism, the
Mau Mau organization is said to have killed more than 1,800 Africans, 32 Europeans and 28 Asians while losing over 10,000 terrorists killed by security forces. The security forces included British troops, Kenya local forces, and a Kikuyo "Home Guard".
Robert Ruark's novel "Something of Value" has the Mau Mau war as background and gives a feeling for what the country was like in the early to mid 1950s.