British East Africa was formerly the name for a large area of British colonised Africa north of the then German West Africa and south and west of the then Italian Somaliland, extending inland to the Congo State and the then Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. It had a coast-line of about 450 milea, from the river Umba on the south to the river Juba on the north. This vast region included Masailand and the Kenya Uplands, parts of Somaliland and Gallaland, Lakes Rudolf and Stefanie, the Albertine head-waters of the Nile, Lake Albert Nyanza, the northern part of Victoria Nyanza, the then countries of Uganda, Kavirondo, Unyoro, Ankole, Koko, etc. Britain also had authority over the coast islands of Pomba and Zanzibar.
In 1888 a charter was granted to a company called the Imperial British East Africa Company, In 1893, however, the Company retired from Uganda, and a protectorate was declared in the following year over that portion of the country. In 1896 and subsequently this Uganda protectorate was extended to the neighbouring regions of Unyoro, Usoga, Ankole, etc. All the rest of the country, with the exception of the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, constituted the East Africa Protectorate, declared in 1895. It was administered under the Colonial Office by a Commissioner, and was divided into seven provinces. These were: (1) Seyyidieh, with Mombasa as its chief town; (2) Ukamba, with Nairobi as its capital; (3) Tanaland, capital Lamu; (4) Jubaland, capital Kismayu; (5) Kenya, capital Fort Hall; (6) Naivasha, capital Naivasha; (7) Kisumu, capital Kisumu or Port Florence. The total area was about 180,000 square miles. Research British East Africa
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Abbreviations
Gazetteer
Research British East Africa
