When British Captain Frederick Lugard arrived in western Kenya in 1890, Nabongo Mumia of the Wanga Kingdom made a calculation. The British had guns. The Wanga had enemies. An alliance seemed logical. Mumia offered the British safe passage, porters, supplies and military support. In return, the British supported Wanga authority against rival communities. It was a pragmatic decision by a pragmatic king. But it also made the Wanga Kingdom the instrument of British conquest in western Kenya, a fact that communities in the region have not forgotten.