Huge white clouds of smoke spiralled into the sky as the flames took hold, fuelled by thousands of litres of diesel and kerosene injected through steel pipes.
Lighting the fire in Nairobi's national park, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta demanded a total ban on trade in ivory to end the "murderous" trafficking and prevent the extinction of elephants in the wild.
"The height of the pile of ivory before us marks the strength of our resolve," Kenyatta said, before thrusting a burning torch onto the ivory.
"No-one, and I repeat no-one, has any business in trading in ivory, for this trade means death of our elephants and death of our natural heritage."
The tusks are expected to burn for days.
Kenyatta on Friday led a summit of African heads of state and conservationists pushing for a total ban.
"We will not be the Africans who stood by as we lost our elephants," he told the meeting in a keynote address.
The bonfires are the largest-ever torching of ivory, containing 105 tonnes from thousands of dead elephants, seven times bigger than any stockpile burned before.
Another 1.35 tonnes of rhino horn are also being burned, representing the killing of around 340 of the endangered animals.
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