The Germans in order to administer the whole of Tanganyika effectively chose Akidas and Jumbes who were mainly Arabs as their agents on the coast and other areas in the interior of Tanzania which the Germans did because they lacked enough man-power of their own to administer the whole of Tanzania however given that the Akida’s and Jumbe’s were Arabs, they were hated by Africans due to their brutality during the slave trade period which largely annoyed the Africans who had no alternative other than to revolt.

The worst of which was that the Akidas in their attempt to enforce their authority on the Africans applied ruthless policies in their administration which worsened their relationships with the Africans and subsequently caused them to revolt.

Socially the German Christian missionaries didn’t understand the African ways of living and they influenced and convinced the administration that Africans were pagans and their ways of worshiping God were devilish which led to burning down of sacred huts.  Interference in African traditional religion greatly angered the masses in Tanzania who in 1905 were forced to revolt.

In addition, the Wangindo people hated the German administration because of the majority of the German mercenaries and houseboys who publicly raped their wives and children in addition to flogging the chiefs and elderly men in their society in presence of their subjects.  Thus they revolted in order to remove the immorality and disrespect of society values in what came to be the Maji Maji rebellion.

Meanwhile to the Ngoni people, they joined the revolt in order to revenge the Boma massacre of 1897 as incident when the Ngoni political leaders and generals were arrested and taken to the German company where they were shot dead.  This greatly annoyed the Ngoni masses who opted for no other alternative revolting against the system.

In addition the Ngoni wanted to re-establish their social, political and economic hegemony as they used to be in Tanzania before the arrival of the Germans.  It’s partly from this basis that the Ngoni joined the revolt.

Economically, the German administration in Tanzania didn’t have enough money to run their system effectively so the German administration decided to introduce cash crop growing especially cotton growing purposely to sustain their administration and to also feed the German textile industries at home with the necessary raw materials,  it was therefore under such circumstances that Governor Von Soden in the year 1902 decided that cotton be grown in South Tanganyika and ordered that every Akida must establish a cotton plantation on which all people would come and work.  Cotton from such plantations would be sold and the workers, Akidas and marketing organizations would get third of the profit.  Thus scheme was infertile and hence not favorable for cotton growth workers were ill treated, poorly rewarded and subsequently decided to abandon the project.

The attempt by the Akidas to force them only increased the momentum of the revolt and the Zaramo and Matumbi people took the lead against the war of exploitation which had been worsened by the attempt by German officials to impose hut-taxes.  It was therefore the attempt of the people to resist against this economic exploitation that the rebellion traces its genesis.

Given that he was a well respected priest whose prophecies were always believed to come true, he in the year 1904 promised to give the Tanzanian warriors Maji Maji or the magic water which would either be sprinkled or smeared after being mixed with millet flour on the foreheads of the warriors and whose impact would be that they would deflect German bullets which would be turned into water.

It all started with the Pogoro in July 1905 when they refused to pick cotton then a widespread uprising took place whereby plantations, missions, administrative centers and Swahili’s shops were attacked and destroyed.  The rebellion was joined by the Ngoni but the climax of it all was to come by the prophecies of Kinjikitile Ngwale who lived at Ngarambe where there was a pool in the tributary of R. Rufigi which is believed to have been possessed by the Hongo spirit making the water in the pool obviously magic.

In addition, Kinjikitile Ngwale convinced the masses that their dead ancestors weren’t exactly dead and that they were still alive and active and so those who wanted to see and talk to them only had to come to Ngarambe and would be served which led many people to make pilgrimages to Ngarambe purposely to take to their dead ancestors.  Therefore it’s from the magic water that the rebellion traces its tittle “The Maji Maji rebellion”.  The concern of many historians is to try and assess the role played by traditional religion in the organization of the Maji-Maji rebellion.

Traditional religion played a very significant role in the organization of the Maji-Maji rebellion in the sense that Kinjikitile Ngwale inspired others to rise up against the Germans against their aggressive and oppressive rulers.  In addition by convincing the people to come together. African Traditional Religion played the role of unity because the conflicts of the Tanzania masses were different and therefore needed someone to bring them together a role that was provided by the services of  the African traditional religious priests.

Closely related, through Kinjiktiles’ prophecies, many people were mobilized, brought together and it’s during this time that they were able to ponder upon their grievances whose only solution was revolt.

Likewise African Traditional Religion provided confidence and morale to the Maji Maji warriors because they were promised success in their defeat against the Germans.

In addition, Kinjikitile Ngwale gave birth to the forces of nationalism because of inspiring the masses to wage war against foreign domination.

In as much as ATR could have been very significant in the organization of the Maji Maji rebellion, it’s imperative to note that it partly accounts for having undermined the success of the rebellion.

Like any of the African resistances, the Maji Maji fighters were defeated after a two year guerrilla resistance for the Germans were determined to stay and indeed they used the services of the Zulu, Sudanese and Somali mercenaries all of whom helped to put down the revolt in addition to the maximum gun.

COURSE OF THE REBELLION.

Maji'Maji uprising began in 1905 when the Pogoro ofKitope refused to pick cotton. The Germans were caught by surprise. Plantations, missions, administrative bomas and Swahili Shops were all attacked and destroyed.

Several German planners, missionaries plus many government officials were killed. The coastal town of Samanga near Kilwa was looted and burnt down. In September 1905, the Ngoni joined the rebellion. But by then, re-enforcement from Germany and Somalia had already arrived. In many fierce battles the Ngoni staged a strong resistance to the Germans. Finally, at the battle ofUwereka half of the Ngoni soldiers were killed, while the Germans lost more.

After Uwereka, the Maji-Maji fighters settled down to a two-year guerilla resistance using ambushes, night attacks and using highly mobile forces which attacked the Germans in a surprise dawn attacks. The struggle was kept on by the Ngoni and the Matumbi who used fhill tops to protect themselves against German garrisons.

The rebellion begun to slacken in 1906 when Chabruma-the Ngoni king was assassinated by a Ngoni rival. By 1907 the rebellion had been beaten into submission by ruthless German suppression. Many died because of the false Protection given by magic water.

The rebellion came to an end when Kinjikitile Ngwale and Mputa Gama the paramount chief of the Ngoni were captured and hanged.

EFFECTS

The Maji Maji rebellion had far-reaching consequences in the history of Tanzania both negative and positive.   In the first instances, just like any other African rebellion, the Maji Maji rebellion was mercilessly suppressed by the use of superior German weapons and the assistance of the hired Zulu, Sudanese and Somali mercenaries who helped put down the revolt not forgetting the famous maxim gun.

Needless to mention this revolt brought many deaths in Tanganyika and serious depopulation especially in South and Eastern parts for it’s estimated that a tune of 75,000 people died in this revolt.

This revolt was followed by famine as many African gardens were destroyed and many able-bodied young men joined the struggle thus leaving only young children and old people in the country side who couldn’t effectively grow food.

Some Africans collaborated with the Germans due to the enmity that existed among them which explains the defeat of the Africans by the Germans.

It’s also worth noting that following the conclusion of the rebellion, the German administration realized that if it was to administer Tanganyika effectively and successfully, it had to use the Africans as CO-partners in the administration and not to disregard them as the case before. New reforms were therefore introduced by Governor Rechenberg among which included the abolition of the system of Africans working on common plantations, those German settlers who mistreated Africans were to be punished and Africans were left with the freedom of choosing to work or not work for the German settlers i.e forced labour was abolished.

The governor made sure that the African interests were not subordinate to the whites, so he worked hard to improve the conditions of the Africans under which he replaced many traditional chiefs by Western educated young men from missionary schools, promoted African health and education by encouraging missionaries to construct schools and hospitals.

He also encouraged scientific advance in tropical agriculture for the purpose of benefiting the Africans.  Meanwhile the planters in general were assisted by the world-famous Amani Biological and Agricultural institute in Usambara on which the government spent worth 10,000 pounds.

In order to encourage cash crop cultivation and exportation of crops, the government built and owned one of the two railways in the country in addition to rebuilding the port of Dar-es-Salaam which was also the seat of their administration.

A critical analysis of the above factors suggests that the Maji Maji rebellion was of benefit to the Tanzania masses for in addition it marked the beginning of nationalism in Tanzania for the educated Africans turned to self improvement and constitutional protests which gave birth to Tanzania African National Union (TANU) under the leadership of Julius Nyerere which was later to win the independence of Tanzania which after the first world war 1919 had fallen in the hands of great Britain as a mandatory  territory on behalf of the league nations.

REASONS FOR THE FAILURE OF THE MAJI-MAJI REBELLION.

·      The Germans used collaboration of some African chiefs against the rebellion. For example, some of the Hehe fought on the German side because their traditional enemies the Ngoni, Pogoro and Sangara joined the rebellion.

·      The Germans were better armed than the Maji-Maji warriors. They were armed with weapons like machines and howitzers. The Africans were armed with out-dated arms which could not match with the automatic weapons of the Germans for example the Matumbi had 8,000 guns but nearly all of them were out-dated. Maji-Maji warriors were armed with bows, arrows .and spears which could not have any impact on the Germans.

·      The Germans defeated the rising by destroying the means to resist. This was through scorched earth policy that destroyed homes and farms hence causing starvation to the fighters.

·      The Maji-Maji was founded on false protection provided by Kinjikitile Ngwale with his spiritual powers and magic waters. Actually there was no magic in the waters and the protection he claimed was not forthcoming. The soldiers of the ^aji-Maji were mainly armed with courage other than weapons. Some went to the battlefield without arms only with wet water sprinkled on their skins. This is why they died in large numbers.

·      The Maji-Maji soldiers had a unity of faith but lacked military strategy and were poorly coordinated. Only the Ngoni had a common strategy but they could not merge easily with other tribes.

·      There was poor or no coordination between the different tribes that fought in the rebellion. Their leaders had different grievances and aspirations.

The Maji-Maji failed to spread to a wider area than the Rufiji river basin. Large powerful communities like the Hehe and the Nyamwezi did not join it.