This paper analyzes the relationship between international and internal migration and ethnic relations in Kenya in the colonial and post-colonial periods respectively. Under colonial rule (1895-1963), white immigrant farmers alienated large chunks of land from indigenous Kenyans; while the latter were conveniently consigned to the so-called ‘African Trust Lands,’ the immigrants throve as commercial farmers in the ‘White Highlands.’ In time, existing strife between whites and Africans intensified, culminating in a series of events that included the Mau Mau rebellion. When independence finally came, in 1963, the alienated land was transferred to local Kenyans through the settlement of landless peasants and legislation permitting land purchases on the basis of ‘ willing buyer-willing seller.’ In this way, the Rift Valley, the heartland of white settlement, attracted large-scale in-migration of new farmers, mostly Kikuyu from Central province. In 1991-93, at a time when Kenya was going through a democratic transition, this development sparked off ethnic conflict between African Kenyans. Nevertheless, Kenya has managed to become a strong multi-ethnic society in which lively political manoeuvring has taken place, but without plunging the country into the turmoil that characterizes the region.