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Home , History of Tanzania, Maji Maji Rebellion

INTRODUCTION

James Giblin and Jamie Monson

Th e Maji Maji war of 1905–7 is one of the most familiar stories in Afri- can history. Students of African history learn that societies scattered across a large portion of southern took up arms against Ger- man colonizers; that they did so despite many diff erences of language and culture; that a prophet named Kinjikitile Ngwale inspired the fi ght- ers; that aggrieved villagers uprooted cotton plants to mark the begin- ning of their struggle against a regime of forced labor; that their belief in the ability of the maji medicine to turn bullets into water proved tragically wrong; and that the result was famine and cruel repression at German hands. Tanzanian citizens as well as historians have regarded Maji Maji as an event of long-term consequence. John Iliff e described it as mainland Tanzania’s “fi rst collective political experience.”1 For Iliff e and other historians, its end marked a turning away from vio- lent resistance against colonialism to resistance through education and politics. For nationalists of later generations it served as demonstra- tion of the need for African unity. Many students of Maji Maji would agree with the author of the most recent book-length account of the war that Maji Maji “stands—in contrast to all other rebellions—as the fi rst organized—quasi national—rising of multiple African societies against white rule in Africa.”2 Not only have historians regarded Maji Maji as a story of pan-continental importance for all of Africa,3 but they have found it a fruitful source of comparison with other episodes of resistance against imperialism.4

1 John Iliff e, A Modern History of (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979), p. 191. 2 Walter Nuhn, Flammen über Deutschost: Der Maji-Maji-Aufstand in Deutsch- Ostafrika, 1905–1906: die erste gemeinsame Erhebung schwarzafrikanischer Völker gegen weisse Kolonialherrschaft : ein Beitrag zur deutschen Kolonialgeschichte (Bonn: Bernard & Graefe, 1998), p. 9. 3 Marcia Wright, “Maji Maji Prophecy and Historiography,” in David M. Anderson and Douglas H. Johnson (eds.), Revealing Prophets: Prophecy in East African History, pp. 124–42 (London and Athens, OH: James Currey and Ohio University Press, 1995), p. 127. 4 Michael Adas, Prophets of Rebellion: Millenarian Protest Movements against the European Colonial Order (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1979); 2 introduction

Considering the prominence of Maji Maji, surprisingly little atten- tion has been devoted to it since several gift ed historians wrote compel- ling narratives of the confl ict in the fi rst dozen years aft er Tanganyika’s independence in 1961.5 One reason for this neglect is that southern Tanzania attracted very little historical research from the early 1970s until recently, particularly because wars in Mozambique made access to the region diffi cult.6 In more recent years, younger historians of Tanzania have shift ed their attention away from rural regions such as the south to the cities. Yet, it is the sheer power of the narratives writ- ten in the late 1960s and early 1970s which, probably more than any other factor, has diverted historians from Maji Maji. Th ese accounts proved so persuasive and satisfying, particularly for Tanzanian readers, that scholars oft en saw little point in revisiting Maji Maji. Historians who knew the German period in well were never entirely comfortable, however, with the state of Maji Maji studies. One of them, Marcia Wright, expressed her disquiet by saying that the study

Dominic J. Capeci, Jr. and Jack C. Knight, “Reactions to Colonialism: the North American Ghost Dance and East African Maji-Maji Rebellions,” Th e Historian 52,4 (1990): 584–601. 5 Th ese foundational accounts include John Iliff e, “Th e Organization of the ,” Journal of African History 8 (1967):495–512; John Iliff e, “Th e Eff ects of the Maji Maji Rebellion of 1905–1906 on German Occupation Policy in East Africa,” in Prosser Giff ord and William Roger Louis (eds.), Britain and in Africa (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1967), pp. 557–75; John Iliff e, Tangan- yika under German Rule, 1905–1912 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969), pp. 9–29; John Iliff e, A Modern History, pp. 168–202; G.C.K. Gwassa and John Iliff e, Records of the Maji Maji Rising, Part One (: East African Publishing House, 1967); G.C.K. Gwassa, “Th e German Intervention and African Resistance in Tanzania,” in I.N. Kimambo and A.J. Temu (eds.), A (: East African Publishing House, 1969), pp. 85–122; G.C.K. Gwassa, “Kinjikitile and the Ideology of Maji Maji,” in T.O. Ranger and I.N. Kimambo (eds.), Th e Historical Study of African Religion (London: XXX, 1972), pp. 202–217; G.C.K. Gwassa, “African Methods of Warfare During the Maji Maji War, 1905–1907,” in Bethwell A. Ogot (ed.), War and Society in Africa: Ten Studies (London: Frank Cass, 1972), pp. 123–48, G.C.K. Gwassa, “Th e Outbreak and Development of the Majimaji War: 1905–1907” (Ph.D. Th esis, University of Dar es Salaam, 1973). An additional infl uential text was the opening pages of A.J. Temu, “Th e Rise and Triumph of Nationalism,” in I.N. Kimambo and A.J. Temu (eds.), A History of Tanzania (Nairobi: East African Publish- ing House, 1969), pp. 189–213. Th e forerunner of all these studies was a remarkable essay by Margaret Bates, “Historical Introduction,” East African Swahili Committee Journal, Supplement no. 27 (June, 1957), pp. 7–18. A useful bibliographic resource is the Maji Maji Bibliography Project, organized by Jan-Georg Deutsch and others, at http://www.mhudi.de/maji/. 6 On the region’s isolation, see Pekka Seppälä and Bertha Koda (eds.) Th e Making of a Periphery: Economic Development and Cultural Encounters in Southern Tanzania (Dar es Salaam: Mkuki na Nyota, 1998).