East African shilling

History

In British East Africa, the shilling rather than the pound served as the primary unit of account, with the pound used mainly for large government and business transactions. This arrangement originated because the first colonial currency in the region was the rupee, not sterling. The florin had been introduced due to rising silver prices after World War I, as the Indian rupee—then the currency of British East African states—rose in value against sterling.

When the rupee reached two shillings, authorities replaced it with the florin, from which the East African shilling derived. The shilling remained pegged to one shilling sterling and was subdivided into 100 cents. Following independence, local currencies (Kenyan shilling, Ugandan shilling, Tanzanian shilling) replaced it. The shilling also circulated in parts of modern Somalia, Ethiopia, and Eritrea under British control.

Italian Somaliland returned to Italy in 1949 and soon adopted the somalo at par with the shilling. British Somaliland gained independence in 1960 and joined Italian Somaliland to form Somalia, which began using the Somali shilling at par with the East African shilling.

Banknotes

Other denominations were issued until 1964. Shilling values appeared in English, Arabic, and Gujarati, while pound values were in English only.