East African rupee

The rupee

Rupee

The rupee is the common name for the monetary unit of account in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, Mauritius, Seychelles, Maldives, and formerly in Burma, and Afghanistan. Historically, the first currency called "rupee" was introduced in the 16th century...

was the currency

Currency

In economics, currency refers to a generally accepted medium of exchange. These are usually the coins and banknotes of a particular government, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...

 of Britain's East African colonies and protectorates between 1906 and 1920. It was divided into 100 cent

Cent (currency)

In many national currencies, the cent is a monetary unit that equals 1⁄100 of the basic monetary unit. Etymologically, the word cent derives from the Latin word "centum" meaning hundred. Cent also refers to a coin which is worth one cent....

s.

The rupee replaced the Indian rupee

Indian rupee

The Indian rupee is the official currency of the Republic of India. The issuance of the currency is controlled by the Reserve Bank of India....

, which had previously circulated. In 1920, the rupee was revalued against sterling

Pound sterling

The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...

 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

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 rupee at par and was replaced by the shilling at a rate of 2 shillings = 1 florin...

 at par.

The currency is noteworthy for including the world's first aluminium

Aluminium

Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....

 coin

Coin

A coin is a piece of hard material that is standardized in weight, is produced in large quantities in order to facilitate trade, and primarily can be used as a legal tender token for commerce in the designated country, region, or territory....

, the 1907 1 cent.

Coins

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