Did you know that the region where Nairobi County is currently situated was once a swamp? The name was derived from the Maasai word Nyrobi that means “the place of cool waters.” It was once a paradise for wildlife and the herds of the Maasai. In 1892, the area became depopulated because of the emergence of rinderpest and smallpox. When surveys for the Lunatic Line reached Nyrobi in 1896, the place was relatively empty. A depot was put up at Mile 237 and the county’s first municipal map was drawn up in 1898.