East Africa under Colonial Rule (1885–1963). Trade, labour and economic structures

This chapter focuses on the economic history of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania under colonial rule. We first explore the region’s integration into global markets on the eve of colonialism, highlighting long-distance trade, production, and commodity currency circulation, which connected the region. We then examine how colonial conquest reshaped these dynamics as borders disrupted interregional exchange, while railways, plantations, labor mobilization, and new currencies transformed economic institutions. Economies once based largely on subsistence saw the rise of export-oriented agriculture, which influenced new migration patterns and created long-term dependence on a few cash crops. The region came entirely under British rule by 1920, but each colony developed differently. We then turn to the late colonial period, analyzing the impact of the Second World War and post-war developmental schemes. We conclude with failed efforts by post-colonial governments to establish an East African Federation as legacies of uneven colonial-era development undermined integration.