The

rupee Rupee is the common name for the currencies of India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, ...

was the

currency A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general ...

of Britain's

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historica ...

n colonies and protectorates between 1906 and 1920. It was divided into 100

cent Cent may refer to: Currency * Cent (currency), a one-hundredth subdivision of several units of currency * Penny (Canadian coin), a Canadian coin removed from circulation in 2013 * 1 cent (Dutch coin), a Dutch coin minted between 1941 and 1944 * ...

s. The rupee replaced the

Indian rupee The Indian rupee ( symbol: ₹; code: INR) is the official currency in the republic of India. The rupee is subdivided into 100 '' paise'' (singular: ''paisa''), though as of 2022, coins of denomination of 1 rupee are the lowest value in use ...

, which had previously circulated. In 1920, the rupee was revalued against sterling to a peg of 1 rupee = 2 shillings (1 florin). In East Africa, this was followed in the same year by the replacement of the rupee with the

East African florin The Florin was the currency of the British colonies and protectorates of East Africa between 1920 and 1921. It was divided into 100 cents. It replaced the East African rupee at par, and was replaced in turn by the East African shilling at a rate o ...

at par and then in 1921 by the East African shilling at 2 shillings per florin or rupee. The currency is noteworthy for including the world's first

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...

coin A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order ...

, the 1907 1 cent coin.

Coins

Silver coins were introduced for 25 and 50 cents in 1906, followed by the aluminium 1 cent and cupro-nickel 10 cent coins in 1907, the aluminium ½ cent coin in 1908 and the cupro-nickel 5 cent coin in 1913. Cupro-nickel replaced aluminium in 1909.

Banknotes

In 1906, notes (the first dated 1905) were introduced by the government of the East Africa Protectorate in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 40, 100 and 500 rupees. In 1920, the East African Currency Board issued 1 rupee notes shortly before the rupee was replaced.

References

Global Financial Data currency histories table
Modern obsolete currencies Currencies of Africa Currencies of the British Empire Currencies of Kenya Currencies of Tanzania Currencies of Uganda East Africa 1906 establishments in the British Empire 1920 disestablishments in the British Empire 20th century in Africa {{africa-hist-stub