Colonialism

The modern colonisation of East Africa could be said to have been started by a man called Karl Peters who concluded a number of treaties with local inhabitants between the Pangani and Rufiji rivers allowing the German leader Bismarck to lay claim to them. This led to much consternation in Britain as part of the land claimed fell under the Sultanate of Zanzibar who enjoyed protection from Britain. Britain however was unwilling to go to war and so despite Kirk's promises to Barghash a partion plan was agreed upon between Germany and Britain resulting in the modern day Kenya / Tanzania border.

Peters was granted control of the coastal strip of Tanzania under a forced lease agreement between the Sultanate and Germany. Peters' German East Africa Company (GEAC) took control of the area and his agents, with encouragement, began treating the locals in a heavy handed manner showing little respect for and to anyone else. This inevitably brought about 2 years of civil unrest which resulted in a German army invasion in order to restore control to the area. As a result, the GEAC's mandate was withdrawn and Peters himself banned from entering the area at all. In 1890 Salisbury and the new German leader Von Kaprivi negotiated what was to become the modern day Tanzanian borders (with the exception of the borders with modern day Rwanda and Burundi) at the same time confirming Britain's right of protectorship over Zanzibar.

1891 brought the return of the ever resilient Peters as governer of the German colony. Under his questionable leadership the foundations of an economy were laid. Besides sugar and rubber which were already present along the coast, Peters introduced coffee to the Kilimanjaro region, cotton around Lake Victoria and sisal which became the country's leading export. In addition colonialism brought western education and health care as well as rail networks in the northern and central parts of the country. The adminstration was widely unpopular particularly because of its harsh labour policies and the imposition of a 'hut' tax. Peters then introduced cotton in to the south east region of the country - which was entirely unsuitable for the region - and forced the locals to participate. This resulted in the Maji-Maji (water-water) Rebellion which was an uprising under the encouragement of a local prophet who sprinkled water from a 'magic spring' upon the people who were then supposed to become bulletproof. Despite the water's ineffectiveness word spread and the Germans had a major rebellion to deal with. Tribes put aside their disputes and united against the German colonialists. Fearing the scale of the uprising the Germans burnt crops indiscriminately in an effort to flush out the ringleaders. It did not take long, but the ensuing famine  caused the death of more than 250,000 people and resulted in the firing of Peters from the colonial service in 1906.

The new governor instituted laws against the mistreatment of locals and began to offer some measure of protection for the local's land claims. He also created an incentive based scheme for local farmers which worked well until the start of World War I and gave education a new emphasis although this was conducted more by missionaries than by the goverment itself. Swahili became the language of education and western religion spread more rapidly.

World War I saw invasions and re-invasions on both sides of the borders. Jan Smuts dealt the definitive blow for the Allies by engaging the Germans in 1916. By 1918 the Allies had captured most of German East Africa finding themselves in possession of a region suffering from famine and starvation. The League of Nations assumed control and the borders of modern day Rwanda and Burundi settled, with those countries being mandated to Belgium. The rest of the country was re-named Tanganyika and mandated to Britain.