The idea of a railway in this part of Africa comes about in the late 1880s when both Germany and Britain were actively interested in acquiring territory in the region. In July 1890, Germany and Britain signed the treaty of Berlin and divided the region then ruled by the Sultan of Zanzibar and now known as Kenya and Tazania, into British and German East Africa. Shortly afterwards booths colonies began surveying routes from the coast to  Lake Victoria the source of the River Nile