Colonial Warfare: Hehe and World War I, the Wars Besides Maji Maji in South-Western Tanzania

In the early 1920s the British colonial mandate authorities argued that the Iringa Highlands of south-western Tanzania were being underutilised, and thus recommended that the area be settled by Europeans. This article indicates that there are specific historical reasons why the highlands were underp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:African historical review 2008-12, Vol.40 (2), p.1-27
Main Author: Gewald, Jan-Bart
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
German colonialism
Hehe
Maji Maji
Tanganyika
warfare
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Summary:In the early 1920s the British colonial mandate authorities argued that the Iringa Highlands of south-western Tanzania were being underutilised, and thus recommended that the area be settled by Europeans. This article indicates that there are specific historical reasons why the highlands were underpopulated and appeared to be underutilised when British mandate authorities first surveyed the area. In particular the article draws attention to the impact of a consecutive series of wars that ravaged the area between 1890 and 1918. In so doing, an implicit argument is made for a re-evaluation of the centrality of the Maji Maji war of 1905-07 in Tanzanian historiography, and seeks to draw attention to the importance of a number of regional wars that characterised the years of German colonial rule prior to Maji Maji. Furthermore the article highlights the significance of the First World War in coming to an understanding of events in southwestern Tanzania.
ISSN:1753-2523
1753-2531
DOI:10.1080/17532520902793254