BRITISH EAST AFRICA 1918

25 photographs mainly of British East Africa (170 x22mm) and a few of German East Africa. Each photograph has a handwritten date at the top of the page and a caption underneath. They are all taken in 1918. They are laid down in an album with cloth covers – the front cover is half green cloth and half brown pebble grained cloth, which is slightly soiled and worn, with the title at the bottom – Photo Sketches. The photographs are in good condition.

Contents include:

Beira (storm damage) in April1918
Nairobi - buildings
Mombasa – Old Fort
Dar es Salaam – the harbour and bulidings

East Africa was divided into British and German spheres of influence by the Anglo-German agreement of 1886. British East Africa (now Kenya) came under the formal control of the British government in 1895, while immediately to the south lay German East Africa (now Tanzania). In 1914, it has been estimated that there were between 3 and 4 million Africans, over 12,000 Asians and approximately 3,500 Europeans in British East Africa.

When war broke out in August 1914, British and German colonial authorities directly faced each other across a long border. The governors of the two colonies, Sir Henry Belfield and Heinrich Schnee, had previously agreed to remain neutral in the event of a war in Europe. However, Britain had devised a plan to invade the German colony in 1897, in response to Germany’s offer of support to the Transvaal Republic before the Anglo-Boer War (WO 106/46). East Africa was to see a long running military campaign which lasted until the end of the First World War. https://livelb.nationalarchives.gov.uk/first-world-war/a-global-view/africa/british-east-africa/