Kisumu is a port city in Kisumu County, Kenya at 1,131 m (3,711 ft), with a population of 394,684 (2009 census). It is the third largest city in Kenya, the largest city in western Kenya and the headquarters of Kisumu County. It is the second most important city after Kampala in the greater Lake Victoria basin.
The port was founded in 1901 as the main inland terminal of the Uganda Railway and named Port Florence. Although trade stagnated in the 1980s and 1990s, it is again growing around oil exports.
Kisumu literally means a place of barter trade "sumo". (Read more...)