Central Nyanza was an administrative district of Nyanza Province in western Kenya. It was headquartered in Kisumu. Created as Kisumu District in 1902, after the eastern region of Uganda was transferred to the East Africa Protectorate. At the time the district was under Kisumu Province, later renamed Nyanza Province in 1909. There were boundary alterations between 1920 and 1921, leading to the district being renamed Central Kavirondo. In 1948, Central Kavirondo was renamed Central Nyanza.[1]
The district was one of the forty districts recognised in independence Constitution of Kenya. The district returned one member of Parliament to the Senate of Kenya until its abolition in 1966, when it became purely administrative.[2] [3]
In 1968, Central Nyanza District, split into Kisumu and Siaya districts.[4] The now defuct Central Nyanza District covers the present-day Kisumu and Siaya counties.