German East Africa

German East Africa, former German colony, c.370,000 sq mi (958,300 sq km), E Africa. Dar es Salaam was the capital. German influence emerged in the area in 1884 when Carl Peters, the German explorer, obtained treaties over parts of the territory. The German government declared a protectorate over the area in 1885 and the German East Africa Company was organized to administer it. In 1888, the sultan of Zanzibar relinquished the coastal areas, but German control was hindered by the Abushiri revolt (1888–90). In Jan., 1891, the German government took over the administration of the colony and by 1898 had conquered all of the territory. Plantations were established and railroad and harbor systems were begun. Discontentment with the administration and with the plantation system, however, led to the widespread Maji Maji rebellion (1905–7). After the rebellion, the colony entered a period of reform and economic expansion. During World War I the Allies captured German East Africa; after the war it was divided into League of Nations mandates. Great Britain was given most of the area, renamed Tanganyika (now Tanzania), while Belgium received Ruanda-Urundi (now Rwanda and Burundi), and Kionga, a village, was ceded to Portugal.

Bibliography

See V. T. Harlow and E. M. Chilver, ed., History of East Africa, Vol. II (1965); J. Bridgman and D. E. Clarke, German Africa: A Selected Annotated Bibliography (1965).

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German East Africa

Former dependency of imperial Germany, corresponding to present-day Rwanda and Burundi, the continental portion of Tanzania, and a small section of Mozambique. German commercial agents arrived in 1884, and in 1891 the German imperial government took over administration of the area. During World War I, it was occupied by the British, who received a mandate to administer the greater part of it (Tanganyika Territory) by the Treaty of Versailles (1919). A smaller portion (Ruanda-Urundi) was entrusted to Belgium.

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German East Africa

a former German territory in E Africa, consisting of Tanganyika and Ruanda-Urundi: divided in 1919 between Great Britain and Belgium; now in Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi

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German East Africa 

a former German colony in East Africa (this name came into being in 1891). It included the territories of what are now Burundi, Rwanda, and most of Tanzania (Tanganyika). The native population of German East Africa was subjected to harsh exploitation. The despotic rule of the colonizers provoked numerous revolts, for example, the uprising headed by Abushiri in 1888-89, the revolt of the Haya and Chagga peoples, which began in 1891 and lasted about six years, and the Maji Maji revolt of 1905-07.

During World War I there was fighting on the territory of German East Africa. Under the Versailles Treaty of 1919 the major part of German East Africa—Tanganyika—was placed under the mandate of Great Britain, the territories of Burundi and Rwanda came under Belgian mandate, acquiring the name Ruanda-Urundi, and a small territory, the so-called Kionga Triangle, was made part of the Portuguese colony of Mozambique.