Finance:East African shilling

Short description: Currency of British East Africa from 1921 until 1969

East African shilling

Shilingi ya Afrika Mashariki  (Swahili) Scellino dell'Africa orientale  (Italian) Shilinka Bariga Afrika  (Somali) شلنق شرق أفريقي  (Arabic)
Unit
Symbol	(none)‎
Denominations
Superunit
20	pound (£)
Subunit
​1⁄100	cent
Banknotes	Template:Shilingi, Template:Shilingi, Template:Shilingi, Template:Shilingi, Template:Shilingi, Template:Shilingi, Template:Shilingi
Coins	1c, 5c, 10c, 50c, Template:Shilingi
Demographics
User(s)	All in the 1900s: Kenya Colony ('21–'69) Tanganyika ('21–'64) Uganda (1962–1963) ('21–'66) Zanzibar ('36–'64) British Somaliland ('41–'62) Eritrea ('41–'52) Ethiopia ('41–'45) Italian Somaliland ('41–'50) Aden Protectorate ('51–'63) Colony of Aden ('51–'63) Federation of Arab Emirates of the South ('59–'63) Federation of South Arabia ('63–'65) Protectorate of South Arabia ('63–'65) Tanzania ('64–'69)
Issuance
Central bank	East African Currency Board
This infobox shows the latest status before this currency was rendered obsolete.

The East African shilling was the sterling unit of account in British-controlled areas of East Africa from 1921 until 1969. It was issued by the East African Currency Board. It is also the proposed name for a common currency that the East African Community plans to introduce.

The shilling was divided into 100 cents, and twenty shillings were 1 pound.

The old East African Shilling (left), East African Shilling (right)

History

First East African shilling

Unlike elsewhere in the possessions of the British Empire that used the sterling, in British East Africa the shilling instead of the pound was the primary unit of account, with the pound being a superunit mainly used for recording very large sums of money that would be inconvenient if quoted solely in shillings.

This anomalous state of affairs arose because the first currency used by the British colonial authorities in British East Africa was the rupee, not sterling. The East African shilling was introduced to Kenya, Tanganyika, and Uganda in 1921, replacing the short-lived East African florin at a rate of 2 shillings to 1 florin. The florin had been introduced because of increasing silver prices after World War I. At that time, the Indian rupee was the currency of the British East African states. The rupee, being a silver coin, rose in value against sterling. When it reached the value of two shillings, the authorities decided to replace it with the florin. From the florin thence came the East African shilling. The currency remained pegged to one shilling sterling and was subdivided into 100 cents. In 1936, Zanzibar joined the currency board, and the Zanzibari rupee was replaced at a rate of Template:Shilingi to 1 Zanzibari rupee. It was replaced by local currencies (Kenyan shilling, Ugandan shilling, and Tanzanian shilling) following the territories' independence.

In 1951, the East African shilling replaced the Indian rupee in the Aden colony and protectorate, which became the South Arabian Federation in 1963. In 1965, the East African Currency Board was breaking up, and the South Arabian dinar replaced the shilling in the South Arabian Federation at a rate of Template:Shilingi to 1 dinar.

The shilling was also used in parts of what is now Somalia, Ethiopia, and Eritrea when they were under British control. Before 1941, these areas, then known as Italian East Africa, used the Italian East African lira. In 1941, as a result of World War II, Britain regained control and introduced the shilling, at a rate of Template:Shilingi to 24 Lire. Italian Somaliland was returned to Italy in 1949 as a UN Trusteeship and soon switched to the somalo, which was at par with the shilling. British Somaliland gained independence in 1960, and joined what had been Italian Somaliland to create Somalia. In that year, Somalia began using the Somali shilling (replacing the Somali somalo) at par with the East African shilling.

Ethiopia regained independence in 1941, with British support, and began using the East African shilling. Maria Theresa thalers, Indian rupees, and Egyptian pounds were also legal tender at the beginning of this time, and it is unclear exactly when this status ended. Full sovereignty was restored in late 1944, and the Ethiopian dollar was reintroduced in 1945 at a rate of $1 = Template:Shilingi. Eritrea was captured from the Italians in 1941, and began using the East African shilling, as well as the Egyptian pound. The lira was demonetised in 1942. When Eritrea formed a federation with Ethiopia in 1952, the dollar, which was already in use in Ethiopia, was also adopted in Eritrea.

Second East African shilling

A revived version of the currency has been proposed by the East African Community, which consists of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

It had been proposed that the Second East African shilling would be introduced into circulation in 2012, but the target was not met. A second target date of 2015 was set, but that was not met either. The third target date is 2024.

Coins

Issued during the reign of George V

Issued during the reign of George V
Image	Value	Catalogue number	Technical parameters		Description		Dates	Remarks
			Mass	Composition	Obverse	Reverse
[1]	1 cent	KM 22		Bronze	"GEORGIVS V", "REX ET IND:IMP:", crown, value	"EAST AFRICA", value, date	1922-1935	central hole
	5 cents	KM 18					1921-1936
	10 cents	KM 19
[2]	50 cents ​1⁄2 shilling	KM 20	3.8879g	25% silver	"GEORGIVS V", "REX ET IND:IMP:", bust of George V	Dual value, "EAST AFRICA", lion in front of mountain, date	1921-1924
[3]	1 shilling	KM 21	7.7759g			Value, "EAST AFRICA", lion in front of mountain, date	1921-1925

Issued during the reign of Edward VIII

Issued during the reign of Edward VIII
Image	Value	Catalogue number	Composition	Description		Dates	Remarks
				Obverse	Reverse
[4]	5 cents	KM 23	Bronze	"EDWARDVS VIII", "REX ET IND:IMP:", crown, value	"EAST AFRICA", value, date	1936	Central hole
	10 cents	KM 24

Issued during the reign of George VI

As GEORGIVS VI

Issued during the reign of George VI as GEORGIVS VI
Image	Value	Catalogue number	Technical parameters		Description		Dates	Remarks
			Mass	Composition	Obverse	Reverse
	1 cent	KM 29		Bronze	"GEORGIVS VI", "REX ET IND:IMP:", crown, value	"EAST AFRICA", value, date	1942	central hole
	5 cents	KM 25					1936	central hole
		KM 25.1					1937-1941	central hole, thick flan
[5]		KM 25.2					1941-1943	central hole, thin flan
		KM 25.3					1942	NO central hole, thin flan
	10 cents	KM 26.1					1937-1941	some with central hole, some without, thick flan
		KM 26.2					1942-1945	central hole, thin flan
	50 cents ​1⁄2 shilling	KM 27	3.8879g	25‰ silver	"GEORGIVS VI", "REX ET INDIÆ IMPERATOR", bust of George VI	Dual value, "EAST AFRICA", lion in front of mountain, date	1937-1944
	1 shilling	KM 28.1	7.7759g			Value, "EAST AFRICA", lion in front of mountain, date	1937-1944	edge reeding spaced out
		KM 28.2					1941	rare, thicker rim, larger milling, minor design differences
		KM 28.3					1942-1943	retouched central image on reverse
		KM 28.4					1944-1946	same as KM 28.1 with edge reeding close

As GEORGIVS SEXTVS

Issued during the reign of George VI as GEORGIVS SEXTVS
Image	Value	Catalogue number	Composition	Description		Dates	Remarks
				Obverse	Reverse
[6]	1 cent	KM 32	Bronze	"GEORGIVS SEXTVS REX", crown, value	"EAST AFRICA", value, date	1949-1952	central hole
[7]	5 cents	KM 33				1949-1952
	10 cents	KM 34				1949-1952
[8]	50 cents ​1⁄2 shilling	KM 30	Cupronickel	"GEORGIVS SEXTVS REX", bust of George VI	Dual value, "EAST AFRICA", lion in front of mountain, date	1948-1952
[9]	1 shilling	KM 31			Value, "EAST AFRICA", lion in front of mountain, date	1948-1952

Issued during the reign of Elizabeth II

Issued during the reign of Elizabeth II
Image	Value	Catalogue number	Composition	Description		Dates	Remarks
				Obverse	Reverse
[10]	1 cent	KM 35	Bronze	"QUEEN ELIZABETH THE SECOND", crown, value	"EAST AFRICA", value, date	1954-1962	central hole
[11]	5 cents	KM 37				1955-1963
	10 cents	KM 38				1956-1964
[12]	50 cents ​1⁄2 shilling	KM 36	Cupronickel	"QUEEN ELIZABETH THE SECOND", bust of Elizabeth II	Dual value, "EAST AFRICA", lion in front of mountain, year of minting	1954-1963

Issued after independence

Issued after independence
Image	Value	Catalogue number	Composition	Description		Dates	Remarks
				Obverse	Reverse
[13]	5 cents	KM 39	Bronze	"SENTI TANO", 5, "FIVE CENTS", "EAST AFRICA"	"EAST AFRICA", "5", date	1964	central hole
[14][15]	10 cents	KM 40		"SENTI KUMI", 10, "TEN CENTS", "EAST AFRICA"	"EAST AFRICA", "10", date	1964

Banknotes

In 1921, notes were issued by the East African Currency Board in denominations of Template:Shilingi, Template:Shilingi, Template:Shilingi, Template:Shilingi, Template:Shilingi, Template:Shilingi and Template:Shilingi, with the notes of 20 shillings and above also having the denominations expressed in pounds (£1, £5, £10, £50 and £500). In 1943, Template:Shilingi notes were issued, the only occasion that such notes were produced. Template:Shilingi notes were only issued until 1933, with Template:Shilingi notes last issued in 1947. The remaining denominations were issued until 1964.

Shilling denominations were written on banknotes in English, Arabic, and Gujarati, while values in pounds were written in English only.

Gallery

• 

  1925 East African 1 Shilling coin obverse

• 

  1925 East African 1 Shilling coin reverse

• 

  1935 East African 5 cent coin obverse

• 

  1935 East African 5 cent coin reverse

• 

  1930 East African 1 cent coin obverse

• 

  1930 East African 1 cent coin reverse

• 

  British East Africa 1 cent and 10 cent coins

• 

  1956 East African half shilling coin reverse

See also

• British currency in the Middle East

References

The last issued 10,000/= note was dated 1 August 1951 but the high denomination note was used for clearing internally for many years after 1951.

External links

• East African Community
• Images of East African banknotes

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