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ABSTRACT
This article combines insights on colonial monetary policies and daily practices of money use, to discuss the impact of international monetary developments on the local usage of money during the rupee crisis in East Africa (1919–1923). To do so, the paper will follow two related lines of investigation. On one hand, it will analyse the protests against the depreciation of East African cents. Even if Africans were excluded from decision-making processes connected to currency, this organized protests offer an example of how Africans could make their voices heard in the official arena in which currency matters were discussed. On the other hand, the article will investigate individual acts of appropriation and rejection of colonial currencies that African societies developed during and after the rupee crisis. These acts partly altered the boundaries of subordination imposed by the colonial regime and made the process of colonial monetization a prolonged and negotiated transition that was, in part, shaped by monetary practices on the ground.
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank Max Bolt, Katie Eagleton, Ellen Feingold, Leigh Gardner, Akinobu Kuroda, Sophie Mew, the participants of the workshop ‘Transnational money and the formation of economies and states in Africa’ at Osaka University, as well as the two anonymous reviewers, for their insightful comments.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 Titles of articles appearing in the Leader of British East Africa (hereafter ‘LBEA’); Uganda Herald (hereafter ‘UH’); East Africa Chronicle (hereafter ‘EAC’) from 24 March 1919 to 26 February 1922.
2 Aiyar, “Empire”; the kipande was a certificate showing personal details introduced in 1919. Every African man over the age of sixteen had to produce it when demanded by a police officer.
3 Mwangi, “Of Coins,” 765.
4 Thuku, Autobiography, 20; Indians in Kenya were often accused of sending money back to India without investing it in Kenya; see Aiyar, “Empire,” 141.
5 India Office Record (hereafter ‘IOR’), L/F/7/505, Indian Overseas Association to Secretary of State, 24 December 1919; Wedgewood to Daily News and Leader, 9 March 1920.
6 Wylie, “Norman Leys”; Gorman, “Organic Union.”
7 Maxon, “The Kenya.”
8 Mwangi, “Of Coins.”
9 Ibid., 763.
10 Hopkins, “The Creation,” 130.
11 See, among others, Ofonagoro, “From Traditional”; Saul, “Money in Colonial Transition.”
12 Bohannan, “The Impact.”
13 See, among others, Guyer, “Introduction.”
14 Swanepoel, “Small Change.”
15 Guyer, “Introduction,” 5.
16 Ibid., 25.
17 Bandelj, Wherry, and Zelizer, Advancing Money Talks, 14.
18 Maurer, “The Anthropology,” 27.
19 Comaroff and Comaroff, “Beasts,” 107; see also Miller, Materiality, 1–50.
20 Haselgrove and Krmnicek, “The Archaeology,” 245.
21 Maurer, “The Anthropology,” 17.
22 Cooper, “Conflict,” 1517; 1528.
23 Cooper, “Conflict,” 1520–1. For a discussion on the distinction between collective and individual resistance, see Johnson, “On Agency.”
24 Helleiner, The Making, 163.
25 The National Archives, London (hereafter ‘TNA’) FO/881/7027/X “Order in Council. East Africa Currency,” 1898. Indian rupees became official currency in Uganda only in 1905.
26 Gardner, “The Curious,” 308.
27 Clauson, “The British,” 16–7.
28 See Helleiner, The Making, 165.
29 Eichengreen, Globalizing, 44–5.
30 Roy, “Price Movements,” 121.
31 Dadachanji, History, 105–7; Colonial Reports, Report for 1919–20, 5.
32 Clauson, “The British,” 16–7.
33 On the Declaration, see Maxon, “The Devonshire Declaration.”
34 Between 1919 and 1922 the price for Kenya’s coffee and sisal fell by 50%; see Ndege, “Foreign Trade,” 232.
35 Maxon, “The Kenya,” 324.
36 TNA/CO/533/208 Secretary of State to Treasury, 5 July 1919; UH, 4 February 1921.
37 On the role of the banks, see Maxon, “The Kenya.”
38 Ibid., 330.
39 The board supplied local currency on demand in return for sterling at a fixed rate of exchange and vice versa; see Zwanenberg, An Economic History, 286–7; Clauson, “The British,” 11–3.
40 EAC, 29 January 1921; 26 February 1921.
41 TNA/CO/533/258, “Currency in East Africa,” 1921.
42 TNA/CO/533/230, Tel. from Bowring to Churchill, 11 February 1920.
43 TNA/CO/533/231, “Currency in East Africa,” 1920.
44 The settlers had asked the discontinuation of the use of the name ‘rupee’, as they perceived it to be too closely associated with India; they proposed to use ‘simba’ (lion); see Weston Library, Oxford (hereafter ‘WL’), MSS.Afr.s.594/11, Papers of the Convention of Associations, Minutes, February 1920–October 1922. Northey came up with the name ‘florin;’; see Maxon, “The Kenya,” 331.
45 TNA/CO/542/14, “The East Africa and Uganda (Currency) Order-in-Council,” 1920.
46 Dar es Salaam Times (hereafter ‘DeST’), 25 April 1921.
47 UH, 4 February 1921; TNA/CO/533/269, Associated Producers of East Africa and Uganda to Mercer, 10 January 1921.
48 TNA/CO/533/269, “Memorandum of an Interview with the Banks Operating in East Africa,” 2 February 1921.
49 WL/MSS.Afr.s.1467/4, Papers of the Nairobi Chamber of Commerce, Minutes, 3 February 1921.
50 UH, 1 July 1921.
51 DeST, 5 March 1921.
52 Kenya National Archives (hereafter ‘KNA’) DC/MKS/25/1/1, Espie to DC Machakos, Nairobi, 17 May 1918; Uganda National Archives (hereafter ‘UNA’) N/202, The Treasury, Entebbe, 15 June 1918.
53 TNA/CO/544/29, “Minutes of the Proceedings of the KLC,” 10 February 1921.
54 Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, Report for 1920–21, 4–5.
55 TNA/CO/533/258, “Currency in East Africa,” 1921.
56 McGregor Ross, Kenya, 204.
57 EAC, 12 February 1921.
58 EAC, 26 February 1921.
59 UH, 21 October 1921. The Lukiiko was an advisory body to the kabaka. After the 1900 Uganda Agreement, it became a legislature and a court of appeal.
60 LBEA, 26 February 1921.
61 TNA/CO/533/255, Tel. from Northey to Churchill, 14 February 1921.
62 KNA/AG/48/7, “Resolution by the Association of Farmers of the Rift Valley,” 2 April 1921.
63 TNA/CO/533/257, “Report of the Committee appointed on 10th February in Accordance with Motion of Legislative Council (hereafter ‘Report’).”
64 TNA/CO/533/257, 14 March 1921. 25 and 50-cent coins could, instead, be redeemed.
65 McGregor Ross, Kenya, 199.
66 WL/MSS.Afr.s.782.1/2, Huxley Papers, “Questionnaire on Kenya,” n.d.
67 Gardner, “The Curious,” 309; Hopkins, “The Creation,” 130.
68 Gorman, “Organic Union,” 259.
69 Mwangi, “Of Coins,” 763.
70 Ofonagoro, “From Traditional,” 628.
71 Hopkins, “The Creation,” 106.
72 Helleiner, The Making, 179.
73 International Missionary Council Africa Papers, SOAS, London (hereafter ‘IMCA’) Box 236, McGregor Ross to Leys, Nairobi, 25 March 1921.
74 IOR/L/F/7/505, Guinness, Minutes, 2 June 1921; Maxon, “The Kenya,” 339. These calculations were based on a total amount of 1,074,327 rupee-value of cents. However, the cents produced by the Royal Mint in the 1906–1920 period amounted to ca. 1,700,000. Even if this does not necessarily reflect the total amount of cents in circulation in East Africa, it is reasonable to assume that there were more cents in circulation than the colonial authorities presumed. See The Royal Mint Museum, Llantrisant, Pontyclun (hereafter ‘RMM’), Annual Reports of the Deputy Master and Comptroller of the Mint, 1906–1920.
75 TNA/CO/533/257, “Report.”
76 McGregor Ross, Kenya, 213.
77 TNA/CO/536/114, Coryndon to Bottomley, Drumoak, 15 October 1921.
78 UNA/A/46/2195, Tel. from Chief Secretary (hereafter ‘CS’) to all Heads of Departments, PCs, DCs and Officer Commanding Troops, Entebbe, 2 April 1921.
79 UNA/A/46/2195, PC Northern Province to CS, Masindi, 4 April 1921.
80 UNA/A/46/2195, PC Western Province to CS, Fort Portal, 8 April 1921 (my italics).
81 UNA/A/46/2195, Simpson to CS, Kampala, 6 April 1921.
82 Wylie, “Norman Leys,” 294. Leys, a member of the Fabian Society, had served as Medical Officer in Mombasa from 1905 to 1913.
83 IMCA/Box236, Leys to Woolf, 21 April 1921; Woolf was also a member of the Fabian Society.
84 Woolf, “The Sacred Trust,” The New Statesman, 14 May 1921.
85 IOR/L/F/7/505, Parliamentary Notice, Questions by Ormsby-Gore and Wedgewood, 31 May 1921. See also TNA/CO/533/268.
86 IMCA/Box236, Jones to Wedgewood, Kikuyu, 30 July 1921; Jones to Acting CS, Kikuyu, 22 July 1921.
87 IMCA/Box236, Jones to Churchill, 19 August 1921; IOR/L/F/7/505, Parliamentary Notice, Question by Wedgewood, 24 October 1921. Jones also sent a letter to John Oldham, the Secretary to the International Missionary Council in London. See IMCA/Box236, Oldham to Jones, London, 12 September 1921; Owen to Oldham, Bedford, 9 September 1921.
88 TNA/CO/544/29, “Minutes of Proceedings of the KLC,” 2 September 1921.
89 TNA/CO/536/114, Tel. from Jarvis to Churchill, 10 October 1921.
90 On the tensions between Uganda and Kenya, see, among others, Low and Cranford Pratt, Buganda and British, 157; 180.
91 TNA/CO/536/114, Tel. from Eliot to Churchill, 17 October 1921.
92 LBEA, 29 October 1921.
93 UH, 21 October 1921.
94 TNA/CO/536/114, Tel. from Eliot to Churchill, 20 October 1921.
95 Ibid.
96 TNA/CO/536/114, Tel. from Churchill to Jarvis 20 October 1921.
97 WL/MSS.Afr.s.1467/4, Papers of the Nairobi Chamber of Commerce, Minutes, 22 December 1921; UNA/C/583, Currency Advisory Board to CS, 21 January 1922.
98 Carland has analysed the imperial projects behind the introduction of banknotes in West Africa; Carland, “The Colonial Office.” Hopkins discussed the problems connected to the introduction of paper notes in Southern Nigeria; Hopkins, “The Creation,” 118.
99 Comaroff and Comaroff, “Beasts.”
100 Paper notes were introduced in Nigeria, the Gold Coast and French West Africa to pay labourers during the war or replace small-denomination coins that could not be produced because of the lack of metals. See Guyer and Pallaver, “Money,” 13.
101 KNA/DC/MKS/25/1/1, Espie to DC Machakos, Nairobi, 17 May 1918; UNA/N/202, The Treasury, Entebbe, 15 June 1918. Currency notes were first introduced in 1905, but the minimum denomination was five rupees; see TNA/F881/8349.
102 EAC, 11 June 1921.
103 This step was limited to a maximum amount of 500 rupees and was granted in order to avoid that migrant workers in the plantations “will all leave at once work and return home to redeem their own buried savings”; TNA/CO/533/256, Tel. from Northey to Churchill, 27 February 1921.
104 KNA/DC/MKS/25/1/1, “Redemption of Rupee Coins,” 11 April 1921.
105 TNA/CO/533/256, Tel. from Northey to Churchill, 20 February 1921.
106 Helleiner, The Making, 184.
107 KNA/PC/COAST/1/6/65, Asst. DC Rabai to Senior Commissioner Coast (hereafter ‘SCC’), Rabai, 6 August 1921.
108 TNA/CO/533/263, Hamilton to Major, Nairobi, 29 July 1921.
109 Ibid.
110 TNA/CO 136/124, Archer to Duke, Entebbe, 17 February 1922.
111 KNA/PC/COAST/1/6/65, DC Malindi to SCC, Malindi, 20 January 1922.
112 KNA/DC/MKS/1/1/10, “Annual Report (hereafter ‘AR’) Ulu District,” 1921.
113 KNA/PC/COAST/1/6/65, Ag. DC Kipini to SCC, 20 January 1922.
114 KNA/PC/COAST/1/14/100, DC Kipini to Treasurer, Kipini, 3 March 1922.
115 KNA/PC/SPI/2/2, “Masai AR,” 1921–22.
116 KNA/PC/COAST/1/6/65, DC Malindi to SCC, Malindi, 20 January 1922; see also TNA/CO/533/263, Notley to Churchill, Nairobi, 19 September 1921.
117 KNA/PC/COAST/1/6/65, Thomson to SCC, Shimoni, 9 January 1922.
118 KNA PC/COAST/1/14/100, DC Kipini to Treasurer Nairobi, Kipini, 3 March 1922.
119 WL/MSS.Afr.s.633/5, Coryndon Papers, Nyanza Trading Company to Governor, Nakuru, 5 January 1924.
120 TNA/CO/533/262, Notley to Churchill, 17 August 1921; WL/MSS.Brit.Emp.s.390/1, Buxton Papers, 16 November 1921. Florin coins, and not notes, had been introduced in Uganda to redeem rupees because the governor of Uganda expected a great deal of difficulty in making people accept notes in exchange for their rupees; see TNA/CO/533/257, “East Africa Currency,” 14 March 1921. Thus, Ugandan authorities were better informed about how Africans would react to currency changes, as shown in the protests against the shilling swindle.
121 KNA/PC/COAST/1/6/65, Thompson to SCC, Shimoni, 9 January 1922.
122 KNA/DC/KWL/1/7, “AR Kwale District,” 1921.
123 KNA/PC/SPI/2/2, “Masai AR,” 1920–21.
124 KNA/AG/1/437, EAP, “Report on Slavery and Free Labour in the EAP,” 1903
125 East Africa Protectorate, Native Labour Commission, 1912–13. Evidence and Report.
126 KNA/PC/COAST/1/6/65, Thomson to SCC, Shimoni, 9 January 1922.
127 Guyer, “Introduction,” 22.
128 LBEA, 24 December 1921.
129 LBEA, 14 January 1922.
130 KNA/PC/COAST/1/6/65, Thompson to SCC, Shimoni, 9 January 1922.
131 KNA/DC/KBU/1/3, “Reply to circular n. 47 of the 29th April 1911 Minute Paper No. 737/11”. For the reason why these coins were minted with a hole, see Pallaver, “The African.”
132 TNA/CO/533/287, Hooper to ‘Friends’, Fort Hall, 24 January 1922.
133 TNA/CO/533/257, “Report”; KNA/PC/COAST/1/6/65, Maxwell to Senior and Resident Commissioners, Nairobi, 31 May 1922.
134 “Our Coin Chaos,” LBEA, 24 June 1922; KNA/DC/MKS/1/3/12, “AR Kitui District,” 1922.
135 RMM, Annual Report, 1921.
136 WL/MSS.Afr.s.594/11, Papers of the Convention of Associations, Minutes, February 1920–October 1922.
137 WL/MSS.Afr.s.633/5 Coryndon Papers, Nyanza Trading Company to Governor, Nakuru, 5 January 1924.
138 Habari, August 1922.
139 UH, 25 August 1922.
140 UH, 28 July 1922.
141 KNA/DC/NRK/1/1, “AR Narok District,” 1922.
142 KNA/PC/RVP/2/4/1, “AR Elgeyo-Marakwet District,” 1927.
143 KNA/DC/BAR/3/1, “AR Baringo District,” 1921.
144 Mwangi, “The Lion,” 49.
145 Shipton, Bitter Money, 52.
146 UNA/N/170, CS to PCs, 24 February 1928.
147 Gwere to the Editor, “Shilling ina senti nyngapi?” Habari, May 1927.
148 TNA/CO/323/1074/2, Hasteriss (?) to Grindle, 4 September 1930; Colonial Reports, Annual Report.
149 Cooper, “Conflict,” 1530–1.