East Africa Protectorate
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The East Africa Protectorate was a British dependency extending from the Indian Ocean inland to Uganda. It was about 246,800 mi² (639,209 km²) in size. About 1885, the British East Africa Association was founded by William Mackinnon with encouragement from the British government. This led to the creation of the Imperial British East Africa Company, chartered in 1888, and given the original grant to administer the dependency. The administration was transferred to the Foreign Office in 1895, and to the Colonial Office in 1905. Nairobi was the administrative headquarters. 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.
A racial powderkeg had begun to grow after 1896 as immigrants from India came to the area as money lenders, traders, and artisans. Racial segregation was normalized, with the Europeans assigning the Highlands to themselves. Other restrictions included commercial and residential segregation in the towns, and restrictions on Indian immigration. It was a sticky wicket as 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. The question was whether the Indians were to be recognized as citizens of the British Empire or as a subject race.
In 1920, East Africa Protectorate became a crown colony known as Kenya Colony. In particular, Indians in Kenya objected to the reservation of the Highlands for Europeans. Bitterness continued to grow between the Indians and the Europeans. The population in 1921 was estimated at 2,376,000, of whom 9651 were Europeans, 22,822 Indians, and 10,102 Arabs. Mombasa, the largest city, had a population of 32,000 in 1921. A portion of the Great Rift Valley is a feature of the area.
