*** Welcome to piglix ***

British East Africa

East Africa Protectorate
Dominion of the Sultan of Zanzibar and Protectorate of the British Empire
1895–1920
Flag of British East Africa and the subsequent Colony of Kenya Coat of arms
Anthem
God Save the Queen/King
Map of British East Africa in 1911.
Capital Mombasa (1895–1905)
Nairobi (1905–1920)
Languages English (official)
Swahili, Gikuyu, Kamba, Luo, Gusii, Meru, Nandi–Markweta also spoken
Religion Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, traditional African religion
Government Constitutional monarchy
Monarch
 •  1895–1901 Victoria
 •  1910–1920 George V
Commissioner, Governor
 •  1895–1897 Arthur Henry Hardinge
 •  1919–1920 Sir Edward Northey
History
 •  Established 1 July 1895
 •  Disestablished 23 July 1920
Area
 •  1904 696,447 km² (268,900 sq mi)
Population
 •  1904 est. 4,000,000 
     Density 5.7 /km²  (14.9 /sq mi)
Currency Rupee
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Imperial British East Africa Company
Kenya Colony
Today part of  Kenya

East Africa Protectorate (also known as British East Africa) was an area in the African Great Lakes occupying roughly the same terrain as present-day Kenya (approximately 639,209 km2 (246,800 sq mi)) from the Indian Ocean inland to Uganda and the Great Rift Valley. Although part of the dominions of the Sultan of Zanzibar, it was controlled by Britain in the late 19th century; it grew out of British commercial interests in the area in the 1880s and remained a protectorate until 1920 when it became the colony of Kenya, save for a 16-kilometre-wide (10 mi) coastal strip that became the Kenya protectorate.

European missionaries began settling in the area from Mombasa to Mount Kilimanjaro in the 1840s, nominally under the protection of the Sultan of Zanzibar. In 1886, the British government encouraged William Mackinnon, who already had an agreement with the Sultan and whose shipping company traded extensively in the African Great Lakes, to establish British influence in the region. He formed a British East Africa Association which led to the Imperial British East Africa Company being chartered in 1888 and given the original grant to administer the dependency. It administered about 240 kilometres (150 mi) of coastline stretching from the River Jubba via Mombasa to German East Africa which were leased from the Sultan. The British "sphere of influence", agreed at the Berlin Conference of 1885, extended up the coast and inland across the future Kenya and after 1890 included Uganda as well. Mombasa was the administrative centre at this time.


...
Wikipedia

...