Arab traders visisted Kenya, looking for ivory and slaves, in the ninth century AD. Coins were produced locally as early as the eleventh century. After 1593, the Portuguese used Mombasa as a base for traveling between the Cape and India. They brought coins with them, but did not issue any coins locally. The Kenyan coast was under Arab rule in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the Omani governor issued some small tin coins for local use.
The Sultan of Zanzibar granted coastal lands, which included Kenya, to the British East African Association on May 25, 1887. The British East African Company got involved in a civil war in Uganda and lacked the resources to develop the territory, so the British government declared a protectorate over Bugunda in 1894 and offered to buy the Company's concession. This area became the British East Africa Protectorate on July 1, 1895, which was separated into British East Africa (Kenya) and the Uganda Protectorate in 1903. British East Africa was renamed the Kenya Colony and Protectorate in 1920. Kenya became self-governing in June 1963, gained its independence on December 12, 1963 and became a republic in December 1964.
Indian Rupees were the principal medium of exchange in Kenya when the British East Africa Protectorate was formed. The British East Africa Company issued coins minted in Calcutta and Birmingham and denominated in rupees and annas (XEAR). The Government of the East Africa Protectorate issued Rupee coins in 1897. The Rupee was divisible into 16 Annas or 64 Pice until 1906 when it was made divisible into 100 Cents. Indian coins circulated in Uganda until their importation was made illegal on July 31, 1920.
The East Africa Currency Board of Nairobi was established in 1918 to provide a medium of exchange for British East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda). On July 31, 1920, the Florin (XEAF) replaced the Rupee, equal to two British Pound Shillings or one Indian Rupee and divisible into 100 Cents. On June 8, 1921, the East Africa Shilling (XEAS), equal to half a East African Florin and one British Shilling Sterling, and also divisible into 100 Cents, replaced the East Africa Florin. The East African Shilling continued to be used until September 14, 1966 when Kenya introduced the Kenya Shilling at par with the East Africa Shilling (KES). |
