Encounter with an “Injured Buffalo:” Slavery and Colonial Emancipation in Tanzania

Abstract

ABSTRACT Tanganyika, today Tanzania Mainland, was one of four countries, including Namibia, Cameroon, and Togo, that suffered under German colonial rule in Africa. Formally lasting from 1885 to 1918, German rule over Tanganyika commenced at the peak of slave trading in the region. As such, the politico-economic modes of slavery and colonialism influenced each other variably during German rule. Some of these influences have been better studied and documented than others. Issues regarding hostility between slave traders and Germans as economic competitors exemplify cases that have received better coverage in the region. At the same time, very little is known about responses of enslaved individuals or escapees against the establishment of German rule in East Africa. Using southern Tanganyika as a case study, this article examines the place of slave runaways in the colonial process and diaspora dynamics of the region. This study reveals why and how this group exerted a noticeable force against imposition of German rule in southern Tanganyika through a famous war of resistance, popularly referred to as the Maji Maji War.