Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T00:44:06.815Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Organization of the Maji Maji Rebellion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

John Iliffe
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

This article examines the organization of the Maji Maji rebellion of 1905–7 in German East Africa, utilizing Professor T. O. Ranger's analyses of other rebellions in East and Central Africa. The rising began in the Rufiji Valley as a peasant protest against a scheme, imposed by the German authorities, for communal cotton growing. But like other African rebellions against early colonial rule, the movement acquired an ideological content from prophetic religious leaders. This ideology enabled the rising to spread far beyond the Rufiji Valley and gave a degree of unity to diverse peoples. Two religious systems were involved. In the Rufiji Valley, the first rebels received a water-medicine from the ministers of the spirit Kolelo. This maji became the symbol of unity and commitment. The expansion of the movement beyond the nuclear area probably followed a pattern of recurrent millenarian movements whose chief object was to eradicate sorcery. Such a movement implied a challenge to established tribal authorities, and was seen by them as such a threat. As the rising spread, it entered areas of stronger tribal organization and also lost something of its revolutionary character. In consequence, the later rebels utilized tribal organization. This development, it is argued, conflicted with the original purpose of overcoming past political and cultural divisions in order to achieve more effective resistance to European rule. Thus, it is suggested, the rebellion demonstrated a tension between ideology and political and cultural reality which is characteristic of mass movements, including later nationalist movements.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , November 1967 , pp. 495 - 512
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1967

References

1 This article draws widely on the work of Professor T. O. Ranger, to whose generosity I am much indebted. The conclusions are naturally my own responsibility.Google Scholar

2 Nigmann, Ernst, Geschichte der kaiserlichen Schutrtruppe für Deutsch-Ostafrika (Berlin, 1909), 20–61;Google ScholarMpangara, G. P., ‘Songea Mbano’, research seminar paper, University College, Dar es Salaam, 09. 1966.Google Scholar

3 ‘Gouvernementsrat beim Gouvernement von Deutsch-Ostafrika. Dritte Sitzung,’ Dar es Salaam, 15/16 May 1905, Deutsches Zentralarchiv, Potsdam, Reichskolonialamt [RKA] 832/43–58; Stuhlmann to Demburg, and encl., 3 Oct. 1907, RKA 775/73–74.Google Scholar

4 Haber and Vincenti, ‘Betr. Ursachen des Aufstandes im Bezirk Daressalam,’ 17 Jan. 1906, RKA 726/109–25.Google Scholar

5 Ibid.

6 Haber to Götzen, 9 Sept. 1905, RKA 726/81-90.Google Scholar

7 Ewerbeck to Government, 15 Sept. 1905, RKA 723/59–62.Google Scholar

8 Report by Albinus in Deutsches Kolonialblatt, 1 June 1905; Hohenlohe to Government, 17 Feb. 1906, RKA 726/68–76.Google Scholar

9 Bell, R. M., ‘The Maji-Maji rebellion in the Liwale district’, Tanganyika Notes and Records, xxviii (01. 1950), list by Lergen, 28 Dec. 1904, Tanzania National Archives, Dar es Salaam [TNA] IV/G/2/I;Google ScholarHaber and Vincenti, ‘Betr. Ursachen…], 17 Jan. 1906, RKA 726/109–25.Google Scholar

10 Fuchs, Paul, Wirtschaftliche Eisenbahn-Erkundungen im mittleren und nördlichen Deutsch-Ostafrikas (Berlin, 1907), 9;Google ScholarSpreiter, Thomas, ‘Bericht über die Zerstörung der Kath. Missionsstation Lukuledi’, 9 Sept. 1905, RKA 723/43–47;Google ScholarGwassa, G. C. K., ‘A report on a research project in Kilwa district’, typescript, Dar es Salaam, Sept. 1966.Google Scholar

11 Grass to Government, 18 Jan. 1909, RKA 8181/215–24.Google Scholar

12 Airoy, Gil Carl, The Involvement of Peasants in Internal Wars (Center of International Studies, Princeton University, Research Monograph no. 24, 1966), passim. I owe this reference to Mr J. S. Saul.Google Scholar

13 Alroy, op. cit. pp. 35–6. See, for example, Rudé, George, The Crowd in History, 1730–1848 (New York, 1964), chs. 1 and 2.Google Scholar

14 Trans. Whiteley, W. H., Kampala, , 1957.Google Scholar

15 Ranger, T. O., ‘The role of Ndebele and Shona religious authorities in the rebellions of 1896 and 1897’, in Stokes, Eric and Brown, Richard (eds.), The Zambesian Past (Manchester, 1966), esp. 96;Google Scholaridem, ‘Connections between “primary resistance” movements and modern mass nationalism in East and Central Africa’, University of East Africa Social Science Conference Paper, Dec. 1966; idem, ‘Revolt in Portuguese East Africa’, in St Anthony's Papers, no. 15 (ed. K. Kirkwood, London, 1963), 54–80.

16 Dr Bryan distinguishes between a Zaramo–Luguru–Vidunda group and the Ndengereko, Ngindo, and Mbunga languages. Kipogoro may either belong to a Hehe linguistic group or be considered separately. Kimatumbi, similarly, may belong to the Hehe or Ngindo groups. Bryan, M. A., The Bantu Languages of Africa (London, 1959), 123–36.Google Scholar

17 Wolf, Eric R., Peasants (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1966), 3.Google Scholar

18 Robert Redfield, Peasant Society and Culture (Chicago, 1956), ch. 2.Google Scholar

19 Klamroth, Martin, ‘Beiträge zum Verständnis der religiösen Vorstellungen der Saramo im Bezirk Daressalam (Deutsch-Ostafrika)’, Zeitschrjft für Kolonthisprachen, 1 (1910–1911), 148–51.Google Scholar

20 Ranger, works cited, and ‘African reaction and resistance to the imposition of colonial rule in East and Central Africa’, in Gann, L. H. and Duignan, P. (eds.), History and Politics of Modern Imperialism in Africa (Stanford, forthcoming).Google Scholar

21 Haber to Götzen, 9 Sept. 1905, RKA 726/81–90.Google Scholar

22 Merker, Moritz, ‘Über die Aufstandsbewegung in Deutsch-Ostafrika’, MilitärWochenblatt, xci (1906), 1023–30.Google Scholar

23 Bell, loc. cit., passim. Hongo is a title of unknown origin and meaning. The identity of the many hongo active during the rebellion is an important topic for future research.Google Scholar

24 Burton, Richard F., The Lake Regions of Central Africa, (2 vols, New York, 1961) I, 88–9.Google Scholar See also Crosse-Upcott, A. R. W., ‘The origin of the Majimaji revolt’, Man, lx (1960), art. 98.Google Scholar

25 Klamroth, loc. cit., 139–52; information from Miss J. Ritchie, Dar es Salaam, Apr. 1966.Google Scholar

26 Information from Chief G. P. Kunambi, Dar es Salaam, July 1966, and others.Google Scholar

27 Klamroth, loc. cit., 146.Google Scholar

28 Notes of an interview by Mr Gwassa, Kilwa Kivinje, July 1966.Google Scholar

29 Klamroth, loc. cit., passim; Morogoro District Book (Area Office, Morogoro); Prüsse, Albert, Zwanzig Jahre Ansiedler in Deutsch-Ostafrika (Stuttgart, 1929), 95.Google Scholar

30 Klamroth, loc. cit., 140–1.Google Scholar

31 Klamroth, loc. cit., 141–3.Google Scholar

32 Tuheri Abraham Beho, ‘Majimaji ao Kalava Dikono’, manuscript, Lutheran Mission, Maneromango, Nov. 1965.Google Scholar I owe this reference to Miss Ritchie. See also Mwaruka, Ramadhani, Masimulizi Juu ya Uzaramo (London, 1965), 108–9.Google Scholar

33 Ranger in Stokes and Brown, 96Google Scholar

34 Schaegelen, Theobald, ‘The ethnology of the Vidunda tribe’, manuscript, 1945, in Kilosa District Book (Area Office, Kilosa).Google Scholar See also Beidelman, T. O., ‘Notes on the Vidunda of eastern Tanganyika’, Tanganyika Notes and Records, LXV (03 1966), 63–80.Google Scholar

35 I use this term to include also witchcraft. The primary sources do not permit a distinction.Google Scholar

36 Douglas, Mary, The Lele of the Kasai (London, 1963), ch. 13;Google Scholaridem, ‘Techniques of sorcery control in Central Africa’, in J. Middleton and E. H. Winter (eds.), Witchcraft and Sorcery in East Africa (London, 1963), 123–41.

37 Douglas, Mary, Purity and Danger (London, 1966), 171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

38 Information from MrNdikwege, M. S., Salaam, Dar es, 07 1966.Google Scholar See also Mwenda, E. A., ‘Historia na Maendeleo ya Ubena’, Swahili, xxxiii, no. 2 (1963), 113–17.Google Scholar

39 This account is based on Ranger, T. O., ‘Witchcraft eradication movements in central and southern Tanzania and their connection with the Maji Maji rising’, research seminar paper, University College, Dar es Salaam, Nov. 1966.Google Scholar

40 The earliest Tanzanian example known to me occurred in Usambara in 1906. See the correspondence in TNA IX/A/16/I.Google Scholar

41 Kleist, ‘Bericht über die Tätigkeit der 8 Feld-Kompagnie’, 4 May 1906, RKA 700/232–41;Google Scholar report by Johannes in Deutsches Kolonialblatt, 15 Sept. 1906;Google ScholarAnlage A zum Jahresbericht über die Entwicklung der deutschen Schutzgebieten in Afrika und der Südsee im Jahre 1905/1906 (Berlin, 1907), 34;Google ScholarNigmann, Ernst, Die Wahehe (Berlin, 1908), 6, ii;Google ScholarRechenberg to RKA, 7 Jan. 1911, RKA 702/130–31;Google Scholarvon Götzen, G. A., Deutsch-Ostafrika im Aufstand 1905–6 (Berlin, 1909), 116–17, 212.Google Scholar

42 Berliner Missionsgesellschaft report in Deutsches Koloniablatt, 1 Mar. 1906;Google ScholarKiwanga, Mtema Towegale in A. T.and Cuiwick, G. M., Ubena of the Rivers (London, 1935), 55.Google Scholar

43 P. Aquilin Engelbergers Wapogoro-Tagebuch (ed. Henninger, J, Micro-Bibliotheca Anthropos no. 13, Freiburg, 1954), 387–427;Google ScholarCulwick, 90; Militärisches Orientierungsheft f¨r Deutsch-Ostafrika (Daressalam, 1911), section 4.Google Scholar

44 Undole, Blasius, ‘Habari zaWandamba’, typescript, 1965 (copy in the present writer's possession). This account may be distorted by its family origin.Google Scholar

45 Douglas, The Lele, 245.Google Scholar

46 This point is made in Swartz, M. J., ‘Continuities in the Bena political system’, South-Western Journal of Anthropology, XX (1964), 249.Google Scholar

47 Information from Stirnimann, Fr. J., Dar es Salaam, Nov. 1966.Google Scholar

48 This account is based on the following sources: Ebner, Elzear, History of the Wangoni (mimeographed, Peramiho, 1959), 165–84;Google ScholarGulliver, P. H., ‘An administrative survey of the Ngoni and Ndendeuli of Songea district’, typescript, 1954, Cory Papers, University College Library, Dar es Salaam; Mpangara, op. cit.;Google ScholarMapunda, O. B., ‘Nkosi Mputa Gama’, research seminar paper, University College, Dar es Salaam, Sept. 1966; entry by O. Guise Williams in Songea District Book (Area Office, Songea).Google Scholar

49 Mpangara, op. cit.Google Scholar