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British East Africa Company

by Martin Grieve, 10 Oct 2002

Prior to World War 1
East Africa Union Jack
East Africa Blue Ensign
East Africa Red Ensign
A brief history of the British East African/Kenyan colonial flags
Badge for the Union flag
Badge for the Ensigns

See also:

Prior to World War 1

There are two quite different "East Africas" that must be distinguished. Prior to World War 1, Kenya (and Kenya alone) was known officially as British East Africa, just as Tanganyika was officially known as German East Africa in the same period. Subsequently, the term "East Africa" was loosely applied to Kenya, Tanganyika and Uganda collectively because they shared a number of institutions - a common currency (the East African shilling), airline (East African Airways), etc. After independence, the three countries were grouped in an East African Economic Community, administered by an East African Commission for a time. This co-operation collapsed in the 1970's, but was revived in the late 1990's.
Vincent Morley, 8 Feb 2000

British East Africa, which later became the Kenya Colony - the interior of Kenya - was originally colonised by a Chartered Company, the British East Africa Company. I suspect the flag you have there is the Company's, which would be anachronistic as the territory was transferred to the Crown in 1906 (according to my Notebook of Commonwealth History). Certainly by independence the colonial flag was the standard Blue Ensign with a badge of the red lion rampant on a white disc.
Roy Stilling, 14 Feb 1996

This flag was used only in Kenya (prior to the adoption of the name Kenya), not in German East Africa or the Uganda Protectorate. At the time Kenya was called British East Africa, it incorporated a large slice of what is now Uganda, as well as Jubaland. The common British administration of Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika (later Tanzania) was never formally called "British East Africa", although it was described as being "East Africa".
Mike Oettle, 14 Oct 2002

East Africa Union Jack

The Imperial British East Africa Company, founded by the Scottish ship-owner Sir William Mackinnon in 1887, was granted a Royal Charter in 1888. Land between Mombassa on the coast and Lake Victoria was leased from the Sultan of Zanzibar. The aim of the company seems to have been partly