The New International Encyclopædia/British East Africa Protectorate

BRITISH EAST AFRICA PROTECTORATE, or Ibea (originating from the initials of Imperial British East Africa Company). The southeastern part of British East Africa (q.v.), extending from the Umba to the Juba River, and inland as far as the boundaries of Uganda (q.v.). Its area is estimated at 280,000 square miles. The northern portion of the territory presents a striking contrast to the southern. The former is generally only slightly elevated, although the part bordering on Abyssinia is interspersed with isolated mountains from 5000 to 7000 feet high. It is a dry region, swarming in the vicinity of the coast with tsetse(lies, which render impossible the employment of animals for the carriage of burdens. The southern part resembles in its formation the northern part of German East Africa, and is covered by mountain masses of volcanic origin, some of the summits as those of the Alerdare and Kenia mountains, reaching altitudes of 13,000 and 17,000 feet. The district bordering on Uganda has an elevation of 4000 to 7000 feet and is well adapted for cattle-raising. The climate is generally unhealthful except in the more elevated parts of the interior, which are practically the only part of the colony adapted to European colonization. The only rivers flowing through the coast region are the Sabaki and the Tana, the latter being navigable for about 280 miles. The lack of sufficient water communication on the coast presents an almost insuperable obstacle to the development of that region, and before the construction of the Uganda Railway considerably hindered the development of the interior as well. The agricultural land is situated mainly around the upper stream of the Tana and the Umba, and yields bananas, sugar, rice, corn, and cocoanuts. The principal products exported are ivory, rubber, live animals, and animal products. The annual value of the trade amounts at present to over $1,000,000, of which nearly $1,400,000 represent imports. The territory is making slow progress and the commerce has not materially increased since the territory was first put under the administration of the Crown, a fact due in part to the instability of the British rule and tho frequent disturbances with which the British military force is unable to cope. The protectorate is administered by a commissioner, who is also the British agent at Zanzibar. The rule of the British Government extends only along the coast and in the vicinity of the Uganda Railway. In the interior the natives are very little interfered with, and daring raids on caravans almost in view of English forts, are by no means rare occurrences. The Uganda Railway was completed in 1901 to Kisimui on Lake Victoria Nyanza, 572 miles. The population of the protectorate is estimated at 2,500,000. It consists mainly of numerous tribes of Bantu and Hamitic origin. The latter confine themselves mainly to agriculture and are generally subject to the nomadic herdsmen of their own race. The number of Europeans is about 450. and there are about 25,000 Asiatics, mostly Arabian merchants and Indian coolies imported for the Uganda Railway. The capital and the largest town is Mombasa, with a population of about 27,000.

The British East Africa Protectorate was constituted in 1895 as an administrative division of British East Africa, the other division being the Uganda Protectorate (q.v.). which was organized in 1894. For about seven or eight years previous the region had been under the control of the Imperial British East Africa Company. Treaties delimiting the British sphere of influence were made with Germany in 1886 and 1890, and with Italy in 1891. Consult: Purvis, Handbook of British East Africa and Uganda (London. 1900); British Empire Series (London, 1899); The Rise of Our East African Empire (London, 1893); Lugard, British East Africa and Uganda (London, 1892).