East African Protectorate, or British East Africa, a large area controlled by the British Empire on the east coast of Africa. The coast extends from the Umba to the Juba river, inland as far as Uganda. The total are comprises about 200,000 square miles. The population exceeds 4,000,000, 2,000 being Europeans. The Arabs predominate on the coast. The inland tribes belong to the groups of Africans known as the Bantus, the Somalis, and the Gallas. The largest town is Mombasa, having a population of about 30,000. The Uganda Railway starts here. The protectorate is governed by a civil governor and a commander-in-chief, the latter in charge of a military force. The headquarters of the government are Nairobi, a central station on the Uganda Railway. There are several hundred European farmers in the neighborhood. Missions have been established at various railway stations. Slavery has been abolished. The British government expends about $3,450,000 a year on the protectorate, and receives a direct return of about two-thirds of that amount. The lowlands produce rice, Indian corn, cotton, and tobacco. On the higher plateaus, coffee, wheat, and barley are cultivated on a small scale. The chief European industry of the protectorate is the raising of cattle. The chief forest products are rubber, gum-copal, ebony, timber, and various fibers. The chief exports of Mombasa are ivory, $300,000; copra, grain, rubber, cotton, hides, and wax. The principal imports are cotton goods, rice, flour, tools, wines, spirits, groceries, and tobacco. The station postoffices handle over 2,000,000 letters a year. There are some 2,500 miles of telegraph wires. Regular lines of ocean steamers ply between Mombasa and Bombay. See UGANDA; AFRICA.