imported>Kofi at 01:30, 18 March 2012

2012-03-18T01:30:05Z

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{{Infobox Former Country
|native_name =
|conventional_long_name = East Africa Protectorate
|common_name = East Africa Protectorate
|
|continent = Africa
|region =
|country =
|era =
|status = Protectorate
|status_text=
|empire = British Empire
|government_type = Constitutional monarchy
|year_start = 1895
|year_end = 1920
|event_start =
|date_start = 1 July
|event_end =
|date_end = 23 July
|
|p1 = Imperial British East Africa Company
|flag_p1 =
|s1 = Kenya Colony
|flag_s1 = Flag of British East Africa.svg
|image_flag = Flag of British East Africa.svg
|flag =
|flag_type = Flag of British East Africa and the subsequent Colony of Kenya
|
|image_coat =
|symbol =
|image_map = Britisheastafrica 1.png
|image_map_caption = Map of British East Africa in 1911.
|
|capital = [[Mombasa]] (-1905)<br>[[Nairobi]] (1905-)
|national_motto =
|national_anthem = God Save the Queen
|common_languages = [[English language|English]]
|religion =
|currency =
|
|leader1 = [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Victoria]]
|year_leader1 = 1895-1901
|leader2 = [[George V of the United Kingdom|George V]]
|year_leader2 = 1910-1920
|title_leader = [[British monarchy|Monarch]]
|representative1 = [[Arthur Henry Hardinge]]
|year_representative1 = 1895-1897
|representative2 = Sir [[Edward Northey (British Army officer)|Edward Northey]]
|year_representative2 = 1919-1920
|title_representative = [[List of colonial heads of Kenya|Commissioner, Governor]]
}}

{{Main|History of Kenya}}
'''East Africa Protectorate''' (also known as '''British East Africa''') was an area of [[East Africa]] occupying roughly the same terrain as present-day [[Kenya]] (approximately 246,800 mi² / 639,209 km²) from the [[Indian Ocean]] inland to [[Uganda]] and the [[Kenyan Rift Valley|Great Rift Valley]]. It was controlled by [[United Kingdom|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 [[Kenya Colony|colony of Kenya]].<ref name="BEACo">[http://flagspot.net/flags/eaf-brit.html#%3Cww1 British East Africa Company]</ref>

==Administration==

[[Europe]]an 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 [[Sir William Mackinnon, 1st Baronet|William Mackinnon]], who already had an agreement with the Sultan and whose shipping company traded extensively in East Africa, 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 {{convert|150|mi|km}} of coastline stretching from the [[Tana River (Kenya)|River Tana]] 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.<ref name="BEA_Sinclair">[http://www.heliograph.com/trmgs/trmgs2/bea.shtml British East Africa, by Grant Sinclair]</ref>

However, the company began to fail, and on 1 July 1895 the British government proclaimed a [[protectorate]], the administration being transferred to the [[Foreign Office]]. In 1902 administration was again transferred to the [[Colonial Office]] and the Uganda territory was incorporated as part of the protectorate also. In 1902, the East Africa Syndicate received a grant of {{convert|500|sqmi|km2}} in order to promote white settlement in the [[Highland (geography)|Highlands]]. The capital was shifted from Mombasa to [[Nairobi]] in 1905 and in 1906 an order in council constituted the administrator a governor and provided for legislative and executive councils. Lieutenant Colonel J. Hayes Sadler was the first governor and commander in chief. On 23 July 1920 the protectorate became the [[Kenya Colony]].<ref name="BEA_Sinclair"/>

==Development==
[[Image:British East Africa Currency.png|left|200px|thumb|One cent and ten cent British East Africa pieces (note the inscription: ''REX ET IND. IMP. GEORGIVS V'' or ''George V, King and Emperor of India'')]]
After 1896, immigrants from [[India]] came to the area as money lenders, traders, and artisans. Racial segregation was normalized, with the [[European ethnic groups|European]]s assigning the Highlands to themselves. Other restrictions included commercial and [[residential segregation]] in the towns, and restrictions on Indian immigration. Nevertheless, the Indians rapidly grew to outnumber the Europeans by more than two to one by 1919. [[India]] was a crown colony whose citizens enjoyed certain privileges but it was unclear whether the Indians in East Africa were to be recognized as citizens of the [[British Empire]] or as a subject race.

In April 1902, the first application for land in British East Africa was made by the East Africa Syndicate - a company in which financiers belonging to the [[British South Africa Company]] were interested - which sought a grant of 5,382 square feet (500 m²)., and this was followed by other applications for considerable areas, including a large [[Jewish]] settlement. In April 1903, [[Frederick Russell Burnham|Major Frederick Russell Burnham]], the famous American scout and then a Director of the East African Syndicate, sent an expedition consisting of [[John Weston Brooke]], John Charles Blick, Mr. Bittlebank and Mr. Brown, to assess the mineral wealth of the region. The party, known as the "Four B.'s", travelled from [[Nairobi]] via [[Mount Elgon]] northwards to the western shores of [[Lake Rudolph]], experiencing plenty of privations from want of water, and of the danger from encounters with the [[Maasai people|Maasai]].<ref>Fergusson, W.N. (1911). ''Adventure, Sport and Travel on the Tibetan Steppes'', p. preface. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York</ref> With the arrival in 1903 of hundreds of prospective settlers, chiefly from [[South Africa]], questions were raised concerning the preservation for the [[Maasai people|Maasai]] of their rights of pasturage, and the decision was made to entertain no more applications for large areas of land.

In the carrying out of this policy of colonisation a dispute arose between [[Charles Eliot (diplomat)|Sir Charles Eliot]], then [[Commissioner]] of British East Africa and [[Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne|Lord Lansdowne]], the British [[Foreign Secretary]]. Lansdowne, believing himself bound by pledges given to the East Africa Syndicate, decided that they should be granted the lease of the 500 mi². they had applied for; but after consulting officials of the protectorate then in [[London]], he refused Eliot permission to conclude leases for 50 mi². each to two applicants from [[South Africa]]. Eliot thereupon resigned his post, and in a public telegram to the [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]], dated [[Mombasa]], the 21st of June, 1904, gave as his reason:- ''"Lord Lansdowne ordered me to refuse grants of land to certain. private persons while giving a monopoly of land on unduly advantageous terms to the East Africa Syndicate. I have refused to execute these instructions, which I consider unjust and impolitic."'' On the day Sir Charles sent this telegram the appointment of Sir Donald William Stewart, the chief commissioner of [[The Ashanti|Ashanti]] ([[Ghana]]), to succeed him was announced.

== Stamps and postal history of British East Africa ==
[[Image:Stamp British East Africa 1896 2.5a.jpg|right|100px|thumb|2½ annas, 1896]]

The territory had its own mail system during the 1890s; see [[Postage stamps and postal history of British East Africa]] for further details.

==See also==
* Sir [[Charles Eliot (diplomat)|Charles Eliot]]
* [[Colonial Heads of Kenya]]
* [[East African Campaign (World War I)]]
* [[History of Kenya]]
* [[East Africa and Uganda Protectorates]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*[http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search2?coll_id=149&inst_id=19 Sir William Mackinnon]
*''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]''

==Further reading==
*John S. Galbraith, '' Mackinnon and East Africa 1878–1895'' (Cambridge 1972)
*[http://unimaps.com/kenya1901/index.html Map of British East Africa in 1901]
*[http://purl.pt/787/1/index.html ''A map of part of Eastern Africa, prepared by authority of the Imperial British East Africa Company'', 1889]
*[http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/British_East_Africa 1911 Encyclopedia]

[[Category:1920 disestablishments]]
[[Category:History of Kenya]]
[[Category:Former British protectorates]]
[[Category:East Africa]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1895]]
[[Category:Former colonies in Africa]]
[[Category:Kenya Colony]]

East Africa Protectorate - Revision history

imported>Kofi at 01:30, 18 March 2012