Decolonial Travel Guide Tanzania

German Colonialism and How it Influences the Present in Mainland Tanzania

Reginald Elias Kirey

The present-day Tanzania Mainland formed part of the former German East Africa colony Deutsch-Ostafrika which – extended to the present countries of Rwanda and Burundi – made a territory of about one million square kilometres. Germany’s race for colonial acquisition in East Africa started in 1882 when German Colonial Association was formed by the Reich to spearhead the struggle for overseas colonies.

European colonization was largely motivated by their economic demand for African raw materials, cheap labour, land as well as markets.

In 1884, Karl Peters formed his Society for German Colonisation which concluded fake treaties – known as “imperial letters of protection” – with several African chiefs in places like Uzigua, Uluguru and Usagara. By signing the treaties, local chiefs were made to believe that imperial powers would protect their communities or territories. This procedure enabled Peters to establish the German colony, much to the dismay of the locals who had never wished to be colonized by the Germans.

Germany’s struggle for territorial possession was not only achieved through treaty making, but also through collaboration, coercion and the use of gunboat diplomacy. Such diversified German strategies of colonizing East Africa accelerated following Chancellor Otto von Bismarck’s official approval of the colonial policy in February 22nd, 1885. Military stations were immediately established in different parts of the territory to ensure effective colonial control and to strengthen German imperial influence over rival imperial powers like the British.

The establishment of German control was answered by African resistances that were put up to oppose colonial penetration.

These – so called small-scale – resistances took place along the coast and in the interior of Tanganyika. They, together with other large-scale resistances which broke out much later to oppose German colonial exploitation, e.g. the Maji Maji War, were violently and systematically suppressed by German colonial forces (Schutztruppe). Some resistance fighters were taken as captives and finally executed. The acts of execution paralleled similar violent acts of looting and shipping human remains like skulls. Until today, these people are honoured by Tanzanians as war heroes and heroines, because they gathered courage to oppose German colonial domination. For example, monuments have been erected in different parts of the country. Moreover, streets and government institutions like schools and universities have been named after them.

German colonial enterprise did not only transform the traditional authorities of pre-colonial societies, but also introduced new socio-economic and cultural elements that were alien to the local people. The flourishing pre-colonial economies, their economic relations and the already established African-Asian trade network were integrated into the world capitalist systems of production and exploitation. German colonial exploitation appeared in forms of forced cultivation of cash crops that were needed for export; forced supply of cheap labour in mining industries, settler farms and plantations; forced taxation as well as appropriation of Africans’ land that was formerly owned under customary land tenure. In addition, new cultural values like western education, Christianity, dressing and eating styles were introduced to the colonized societies of East Africa in general and Tanganyika in particular.

Usambara Bahn (c) ub-bildarchiv-dkg-uni-frankfurt / Wikimedia

Although German colonial enterprise in East Africa was relatively short as its administrative role was transferred to the British and Belgians soon after the First World War, it had long-lasting social, political and economic influence on the people of Tanganyika.

For example, most of what exists today as territorial or political boundaries owe their origin in German times, talk less of the city of Dar es Salaam which continued to serve as a political seat of the government until recently.

The current agricultural sector provides evidence of the legacy of German colonial economic enterprise, to think of the fact that farmers in different parts of the country are still cultivating sisal or coffee which were introduced by various German missionaries, settlers and plantation owners as cash crops for overseas’ markets.

German colonial physical infrastructure is yet another evidence of how colonialism has continued to influence the present in Tanzania. For example, the pattern of the main regional highways and railways have rarely deviated from the inherited German colonial patterns of transportation. The same applies to the street patterns of the inherited German colonial city centers like Dar es Salaam. Colonial street names were renamed soon after independence, but their patterns remained unaltered. Likewise, architectural legacies of the inherited German colonial towns and mission stations influence the current Tanzanian architecture. As a result, recent constructions of administrative as well as church buildings somewhat embrace German architectural elements. No wonder that a new state house building erected in Dodoma recently looks almost similar to the former German state house in Dar es Salaam.  Several German colonial buildings located in different parts of the country have been declared national monuments, thanks to their historic, economic, architectural, cultural and aesthetic values. Such buildings are currently protected by the Antiquity Act. No, 22 of 1979.

The transgenerational collective memories of German colonial experiences in Tanganyika have largely shaped postcolonial culture of remembrances and heroism.

German colonialism has also shaped the content of history syllabi that are used in primary and secondary schools. Lessons on German colonial history constitute a substantial content of colonial history of Tanganyika. Topics on German colonial history cover issues relating to colonial wars, resistances, exploitation, education, health services as well as evangelization.

Furthermore collective memories of German colonial acts of violence have given rise to different forms of commemoration and veneration of war heroes and heroines. Such situation is reflected in recent developments involving national commemoration of the Maji Maji War as well as the construction of war museums and monuments. These events have reinforced the politics of restitution of human remains, climaxing in the visit to the Maji Maji Memorial Museum in Songea in November 2023 by the German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier who gave an official apology for the atrocities committed in German-East Africa. In spring 2025, the high-ranking diplomatic delegation of the Tanzania National Committee for Discussions on Antiquities, Artefacts and Human Remains visited Germany on a fact-finding mission and met with representatives of civil society, the Foreign Office and various museums.

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