---
title: German East Africa
author: Mark Cartwright
source: https://www.worldhistory.org/German_East_Africa/
format: machine-readable-alternate
license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)
updated: 2026-03-30
---

# German East Africa

_Authored by [Mark Cartwright](https://www.worldhistory.org/user/markzcartwright/)_

German East [Africa](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/africa/) (Deutsch-Ostafrika) was a colony of Imperial Germany from 1885 until 1918. The territory, much larger than Germany itself, covered what is today Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, and part of Mozambique. As in many other European colonies, the region was subjected to land confiscations, forced labour, a harsh system of punishments, and the overturning of traditional economic networks and cultural practices. There were local rebellions, but only Germany's defeat in the First World [War](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/War/) (1914-18) by the Allies saw a regime change when [Britain](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/Britain/) and Belgium took over the region as colonies of their own.

### East African Geography

The area that became German East Africa is a combination of savannah plateau, forests, and mountains, with its borders being defined by the Indian Ocean in the east and the three great lakes of Lake Nyasa (aka Lake Malawi) in the south, Lake Tanganyika in the west, and Lake Victoria in the north, the latter being the continent's largest lake. Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain, is located in the far north. Fossil remains indicate the region was inhabited by extinct hominids up to 2 million years ago. The region was settled by the Bantu-speaking people, a language which is a parent of Swahili, the lingua franca of East Africa in later centuries.

This area was once part of the [Swahili Coast](https://www.worldhistory.org/Swahili_Coast/), which experienced intense [trade](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/trade/) from the 10th to 16th century between Africa's interior and eastern coastal regions with Islamic Arab traders plying the Indian Ocean and connecting the continent to [Arabia](https://www.worldhistory.org/Arabia/) and [India](https://www.worldhistory.org/india/). Islamic settlements were founded along the coast of what would become German East Africa, notably at Zanzibar and [Kilwa](https://www.worldhistory.org/Kilwa/). Portuguese traders were active along the coast in the 16th and 17th centuries. The [Ottoman Empire](https://www.worldhistory.org/Ottoman_Empire/) then took over this trade, and then the Sultan of Muscat in Oman from around 1806, although the Sultanate's territorial control was limited to a thin coastal strip. Goods traded throughout the centuries included [gold](https://www.worldhistory.org/gold/), ivory, and cotton cloth. Slaves were also traded here. Trade involved not only outsiders but also powerful African groups such as the Nyamwezi people.

### Germany's Scramble for Africa

After the [Berlin Conference 1884-5](https://www.worldhistory.org/Berlin_Conference_1884-5/) set down the rules that European leaders agreed amongst themselves for claiming new colonies, the scramble for Africa accelerated. Kaiser Wilhelm II (reign 1888-1918) was keen to acquire an [empire](https://www.worldhistory.org/empire/), even if it were a small one, and so gain the prestige his fellow European monarchs seemed to be enjoying. At the same time, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck (in office 1871-1890) saw the potential of African colonies as pawns in a wider game that might achieve German domination in [Europe](https://www.worldhistory.org/europe/).

[ ![European Division of Africa Cartoon](https://www.worldhistory.org/img/r/p/500x600/20327.jpg?v=1772778735-1771926792) European Division of Africa Cartoon Unknown Artist (Public Domain) ](https://www.worldhistory.org/image/20327/european-division-of-africa-cartoon/ "European Division of Africa Cartoon")The first German colonial settlement had already been established in 1884 in what is today Namibia, and this area became the colony of German South West Africa. Other areas of interest to Germany included Togo (aka Togoland) and Cameroon (which the Germans called Kamerun). On the other side of the continent, from the mid-1880s, the explorer Carl Peters (1856-1918) travelled around what would become German East Africa, collecting agreements with tribal chiefs to present some sort of legal claim for Germany's colonial intervention in the region. This was the standard practice of European powers before and after the Berlin Conference. Missionary activity was another tool of diplomats to claim territorial rights against European rivals. In reality, treaties were signed by tribal chiefs entirely ignorant of what they were signing, and the German 'presence' was often nothing more than the national flag flying over a remote village.

Within a few weeks of Peters returning to Germany, in fact, just a few days after the Berlin Conference closed, the German government proclaimed that those territories Peters had signed treaties with would be immediately taken over as 'protectorates' (a vague term that stopped just short of full colony status) sending a clear signal to European rivals, particularly Britain, that Germany was highly interested in East Africa. The longstanding claims of the Sultan of Zanzibar over this area were to be ignored, and German warships were sent to the island as a warning.

Peters returned to East Africa in 1887 and was determined to forge a new economic empire for Germany by applying modern agricultural and industrial methods to African soil and workers. As he once stated: "A combination of will and force constitutes the ideal mind of a successful coloniser", and he would "not be led by any sentimental feelings" (James, 89). It turned out in the longer term that German East Africa was a rather poor investment. This area had no gold, [silver](https://www.worldhistory.org/Silver/), or [copper](https://www.worldhistory.org/copper/), and the thin soil was not especially suited to large plantations of cash crops which could be exported for profit. Still, there was the matter of the prestige of at least colonising something on a continent soon to be dominated by the French and British.

[ ![Map of the Scramble for Africa after the Berlin Conference](https://www.worldhistory.org/img/r/p/750x750/19247.png?v=1760720285-1760682525) Map of the Scramble for Africa after the Berlin Conference Simeon Netchev (CC BY-NC-ND) ](https://www.worldhistory.org/image/19247/map-of-the-scramble-for-africa-after-the-berlin-co/ "Map of the Scramble for Africa after the Berlin Conference")In 1886 and again in 1890, Britain and Germany signed treaties which recognised and affirmed each other's claims to the region of East Africa: Britain in (what is today) Uganda and Kenya, Germany in Tanzania. The agreement was only reached after the two powers agreed to swap control of two islands: Britain giving up Heligoland in the North Sea and getting control of Zanzibar off the coast of East Africa in return. In 1890, the northwest border region of Ruanda-Urundi was added to German East Africa.

German East Africa bordered Portuguese Mozambique in the south, [Belgian Congo](https://www.worldhistory.org/Belgian_Congo/) in the west, and British East Africa in the north. Tanga and Dar es Salaam were important trading ports. [Railways](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/Railways/) were built, the ultimate dream being to link German Cameroon with German East Africa. In the end, railways, as elsewhere in Africa, proved hugely costly and unprofitable ventures, but a line was built, largely for political purposes, from Dar es Salaam to Lake Tanganyika, following the old slave and ivory trade route.

The colony was managed by the German East Africa Company (*Deutsche-Ostafrikanische Gesellschaft*) until 1891. This was standard practice amongst European colonial powers since it spread the financial risks and distanced the government from any embarrassing stories of brutalities against local peoples. Once some sort of control and hopefully financial profit was achieved, the private trading company was taken over and a protectorate or colony declared.

[ ![Carl Peters](https://www.worldhistory.org/img/r/p/500x600/21702.png?v=1774534085-1774534312) Carl Peters Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-R30019 (CC BY-SA) ](https://www.worldhistory.org/image/21702/carl-peters/ "Carl Peters")Total control was not yet achieved in German East Africa by 1891, and so, as in other European colonies, what was euphemistically called a process of "pacification" was carried out. This process involved armed forces, which included members of the Imperial German Army, asserting German authority over local populations and traders, and then establishing semifortified military posts. Despite the advantage of modern rifles and machine guns, there were defeats. Mkwana, a local chief and slave trader, managed to wipe out a 300-man German expedition, although it cost him 1,000 of his own men to do so. These were the exceptions. There were more than 300 punitive expeditions which stuck throughout German East Africa between 1889 and 1903.

The German occupying force, the *Schutztruppen*, consisted of German officers leading African troops, often mercenaries such as Sudanese refugees from the wars against the British further north. African troops were known as askari, and they were indoctrinated to believe they had become 'Germanised Blacks,' a status designed to shed them of their ethnicity and [religion](https://www.worldhistory.org/religion/), but one which made them feel superior to other Africans. Most *Schutztruppen* joined voluntarily.

### A Harsh Regime

East Africans, then, were mostly subjugated by force, but some did collaborate to achieve supremacy over long-standing rival groups. On the other hand, some Africans preferred suicide rather than live a continuous and losing [battle](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/battle/) of resistance against German rule. It was often a harsh rule and one based on the widely held belief that the colonists were superior to the Africans, both in racial terms and culturally. A group with intermediary status was the *akidas*, Swahili-speaking officials who had managed trade on the coast. The Germans used these *akidas* as middlemen to work directly with interior Africans to collect taxes and round up forced labourers. As in other European colonies, there was no hesitation in using forced labour, especially on plantations. Brutal floggings were commonplace, and [death](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/Death/) sentences were dished out for minor crimes. By the mid-1890s, Peters' brutal abuse of absolute power had earned him the name *Mkono-wa-damu* or 'man-with-blood-stained-hands'.

> \[Peters\] was becoming increasingly deranged. He saw himself as the [Napoleon](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/Napoleon/) of Africa, fulfilling a personal and national destiny that would transform East Africa into Germany's India and raise his fame as a national hero. At the same time, Peters behaved as if he were an African despot, a chief with powers of life and death over his subjects and beyond any moral or legal constraint. A gallows erected outside his compound symbolised his power.
> (James, 126).

Reports of Peters' harsh regime eventually reached Berlin thanks to missionaries and travellers. Debates in parliament followed. Peters was recalled in 1895 and disappeared from any public role until [Adolf Hitler](https://www.worldhistory.org/Adolf_Hitler/)'s Nazi regime resurrected him as a national hero – it is difficult to imagine a more damning indictment of Peters' contribution to the welfare of Africans.

[ ![Dar es-Salaam, German East Africa](https://www.worldhistory.org/img/r/p/750x750/21705.png?v=1774540461-1774540528) Dar es-Salaam, German East Africa Bundesarchiv, Bild 105-DOA0162 / Walther Dobbertin (CC BY-SA) ](https://www.worldhistory.org/image/21705/dar-es-salaam-german-east-africa/ "Dar es-Salaam, German East Africa")### Consolidating Control

Establishing full control was no easy task for the Europeans; indeed, it proved to be one of "the fiercest and most prolonged wars of occupation" (Boahen, 18) in Africa and lasted from 1888 to 1907. Even when such peoples as the Mbunga, Makonde, and Hehe were conquered, there were still regular rebellions against German authority. The most widespread uprising was the Maji-Maji revolt, which was not finally quashed until 1907. The revolt was led by followers of a mystical prophet, Kinjikitili, who promised his specially prepared medicinal water could protect a person against bullets. The rebellion was ended largely because crops were deliberately destroyed to create a devastating famine that claimed as many as 250,000 African lives. The Maji-Maji uprising and others were typically motivated by the extortionate taxes imposed by the colonial administration, the use of forced labour, low wages, the coercion used to make farmers grow new cash crops like cotton and coffee for export (although some did so willingly), the introduction of collective farms, and the suppression of many traditional cultural practices ranging from witchdoctors to circumcision.

Revolts were very expensive to control. The Maji-Maji rebellion, which had spread over an area of 10,000 square miles (26,000 sq km), had at least reminded the colonial administrators that they could not act with total impunity, and some minor reforms did follow as a consequence, if only to prevent future uprisings. Another, longer-term method to achieve a more peaceful colony was to promote the building of schools, which would create a class of locals educated enough to become part of the colonial system and work in its civil service, branches of local government, and police force.

Not all local peoples resisted the German colonialists. Some peoples, like the Chagga and Kibanga, preferred diplomacy and collaboration to negotiate a better deal for themselves at the expense of local rivals. For example, Chief Mareale of Marangu used European rifles acquired through his collaboration to defeat and eliminate his competitors. One way or another, in the decade before WWI (1914-18), German control was completed. The last territories to fall under German rule were Ruanda-Urundi. Here, the situation was slightly different since the local rulers had established a high degree of control over a particularly dense population. In Ruanda:

> Class relations between the Tutsi overlords and the Hutu peasantry were congenial to the social attitudes of the administrators from Europe. Hence the decision in favor of the least expensive alternative, that is, to let the Tutsi keep the forms and much of the reality of power, though the Germans mean to shift slowly toward European norms over the coming decades. In Burundi, they found a much weaker state, but they ended by backing the ruling Tutsi there, following their own example in Rwanda.
> (Curtin, 414)

As it happened, the Germans would have no more decades as rulers since catastrophic events in Europe were about to dramatically shake up colonial control across Africa.

[ ![Askari Troops, German East Africa](https://www.worldhistory.org/img/r/p/750x750/21704.png?v=1774534996-1774535133) Askari Troops, German East Africa Bundesarchiv, Bild 105-DOA3056 / Walther Dobbertin (CC BY-SA) ](https://www.worldhistory.org/image/21704/askari-troops-german-east-africa/ "Askari Troops, German East Africa")### First World War

The First World War broke out in 1914, and although most of the heaviest fighting took place in Europe, some of the European colonies in Africa also became battlegrounds. Above all, the Allies did not want Germany to be able to use its African ports as havens for warships. While French and British troops occupied German Togoland and Cameroon as early as the first months of 1916, and South Africa took over German South West Africa, German East Africa was a different matter. An Allied naval bombardment was carried out against the ports of Dar es Salaam and Tanga in August 1914, but the war on the ground proved more difficult here.

In November 1914, a British-Indian force composed of 8,000 men was defeated at Tanga by a German colonial army led by Lieutenant Colonel [Paul](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/Paul/) von Lettow-Vorbeck (1870-1946). In what became known as the East African Campaign, the German-led army grew but still numbered fewer than 15,000 men at its maximum (a number which included at least 11,000 Africans). This was compared to the much larger Allied force of 100,000 men. Lettow-Vorbeck's emphasis on guerrilla tactics proved to be remarkably successful. The Allied army was a mix of British, South African, Indian, and other nations' soldiers, such as 15,000 Congolese troops of Belgian Congo's Force Publique, the national army. In addition to fighting men, 250,000 men from neighbouring Congo were pressed into service as porters and labourers during the campaign. As many as one million Africans were involved in the East African Campaign in one role or another, and it is estimated that 100,000 of them died from military action, disease, or famine.

Lettow-Vorbeck continued to frustrate the Allies right through the war, and he even managed to attack the British protectorate of Northern Rhodesia (modern Zambia). Near the end of the conflict, as things got increasingly desperate for Lettow-Vorbeck's ever-diminishing force, the German Army launched an audacious plan. The Zeppelin airship L 59 was ordered to fly long-range from Bulgaria to the eastern coast of Africa to support the besieged German colonial troops. Not just loaded with supplies and ammunition, the intention was to allow Lettow-Vorbeck's troops to reuse the airship's engines for generators, fabricate tents from the outer skin, and make clothing from the linen gas cells. L 59 made it as far as Sudan before turning for home on what turned out to be false news that the tiny German army to the south had already been defeated. The uninterrupted round trip lasted an impressive 95 [hours](https://www.worldhistory.org/Horae/), and, with the airship covering some 4,225 miles (6,800 km), it was a signal of things to come for intercontinental air travel.

[ ![Map of Africa after the Treaty of Versailles, c.1920](https://www.worldhistory.org/img/r/p/750x750/18797.png?v=1774570277-1766470284) Map of Africa after the Treaty of Versailles, c.1920 Simeon Netchev (CC BY-NC-ND) ](https://www.worldhistory.org/image/18797/map-of-africa-after-the-treaty-of-versailles-c1920/ "Map of Africa after the Treaty of Versailles, c.1920")Meanwhile, Lettow-Vorbeck surrendered only when Germany itself had done so with the armistice of November 1918, by which time his force had been reduced to just 1,300 men. 80,000 Allied troops died in the campaign. Lettow-Vorbeck had achieved his aim of tying down a huge number of enemy soldiers who might otherwise have been used in Europe on the Western Front.

Under the 1919 [Treaty of Versailles](https://www.worldhistory.org/Treaty_of_Versailles/), German East Africa was administered by Britain under a mandate. The region was renamed the Tanganyika Territory. Finally, the British had achieved their colonial dream of a continuous line of territories stretching from Cairo to Cape Town. At the same time, Belgian Congo received the western slice of German East Africa: Ruanda-Urundi. The mandate to govern the former German colonies was awarded by the [League of Nations](https://www.worldhistory.org/League_of_Nations/) with the requirement that the new rulers "govern humanely and promote the welfare of their subjects" (James, 195). German nationals, meanwhile, were expelled and their property seized. Britain established a common currency, postal system, and trade area between Kenya, Uganda, and Tanganyika.

Tanganyika gained independence in 1961 and, after merging with Zanzibar in 1964, was renamed Tanzania. Belgian Ruanda-Urundi gained independence in 1962 and became two separate countries: Rwanda and Burundi. Although not free of wars or controversial ethnic polices, Tanzania has been one of Africa's more stable countries and is notable today for its wildlife tourism, particularly in the Serengeti National Park.

#### Editorial Review

This human-authored definition has been reviewed by our editorial team before publication to ensure accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards in accordance with our [editorial policy](https://www.worldhistory.org/static/editorial-policy/).

## Bibliography

- [Boahen, A. Adu. *UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. VII, Abridged Edition.* University of California Press, 1990.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/0520067029/)
- [Bruce, Anthony. *An Illustrated Companion to the First World War.* Michael Joseph, 1989.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/0718127811/)
- [Chamberlain, M. E. *The Scramble for Africa.* Routledge, 2010.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/1408220148/)
- [Corey, Melinda & Ochoa, George. *The Encyclopedia of the Victorian World.* Henry Holt & Co, 1996.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/0805026223/)
- [Curtin, P.D. *African History .* Longman, Inc., 1995.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/B004HOS26E/)
- [Dalziel, Nigel & Mackenzie, John. *The Penguin Historical Atlas of the British Empire.* Penguin Books, 2006.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/0141018445/)
- [Fage, J. D. *The Cambridge History of Africa.* Cambridge University Press, 2015.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/0521228034/)
- [James, Lawrence. *Empires in the Sun.* Pegasus Books, 2017.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/1681774631/)
- [James, Lawrence. *The Rise and Fall of the British Empire.* St. Martin's Griffin, 1997.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/031216985X/)
- [McEvedy, Colin. *The Penguin Atlas of African History.* Penguin Books, 1996.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/0140513213/)
- [Oliver, R. A. *Cambridge Encyclopedia of Africa.* Cambridge University Press, 1981.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/0521230969/)
- [Pakenham, Thomas. *Scramble for Africa 1876-1912.* Econ Verlag, 1970.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/3430174163/)
- [Reid, Richard J. *A History of Modern Africa.* Wiley-Blackwell, 2020.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/1119381924/)
- [Winter, Jay. *The Cambridge History of the First World War.* Cambridge University Press, 2016.](https://www.worldhistory.org/books/1316601439/)

## About the Author

Mark is WHE’s Publishing Director and has an MA in Political Philosophy (University of York). He is a full-time researcher, writer, historian and editor. Special interests include art, architecture and discovering the ideas that all civilizations share.

## Timeline

- **1884 CE**: Explorer Carl Peters establishes [trade](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/trade/) agreements with local rulers in what would become [German East Africa](https://www.worldhistory.org/German_East_Africa/).
- **1885 CE - 1918 CE**: [German East Africa](https://www.worldhistory.org/German_East_Africa/) is a colonial possession of Imperial Germany.
- **1887 CE**: Explorer and colonialist Carl Peters begins to establish control over [German East Africa](https://www.worldhistory.org/German_East_Africa/).
- **1890 CE**: [Britain](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/Britain/) and Germany sign a formal agreement which recognises each nation's claim to separate parts of East [Africa](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/africa/).
- **1891 CE**: The German government takes over from the [German East Africa](https://www.worldhistory.org/German_East_Africa/) Company as controller of German East [Africa](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/africa/).
- **1895 CE**: Carl Peters is recalled and dismissed as governor of [German East Africa](https://www.worldhistory.org/German_East_Africa/).
- **1905 CE - 1907 CE**: The Maji-Maji revolt against colonial rule in [German East Africa](https://www.worldhistory.org/German_East_Africa/).
- **1914 CE - 1918 CE**: [Paul](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/Paul/) von Lettow-Vorbeck leads a successful guerrilla campaign against the Allies in and around [German East Africa](https://www.worldhistory.org/German_East_Africa/).
- **1919 CE**: The [League of Nations](https://www.worldhistory.org/League_of_Nations/) awards control of former [German East Africa](https://www.worldhistory.org/German_East_Africa/) to [Britain](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/Britain/) and Belgium.

## External Links

- [[PDF] Settler and Administration Antagonism in Colonial German East ...](https://api.repository.cam.ac.uk/server/api/core/bitstreams/7367e0e1-bd18-46a8-a5e1-dfba3c666902/content)
- [[PDF] EAST AFRICAN CAMPAIGN, 1917 3 August 1914](https://www.nam.ac.uk/sites/default/files/learning-resource-files/2018-01/east-africa-teachers-notes.pdf)

## Cite This Work

### APA
Cartwright, M. (2026, March 30). German East Africa. *World History Encyclopedia*. [https://www.worldhistory.org/German\_East\_Africa/](https://www.worldhistory.org/German_East_Africa/)
### Chicago
Cartwright, Mark. "German East Africa." *World History Encyclopedia*, March 30, 2026. [https://www.worldhistory.org/German\_East\_Africa/](https://www.worldhistory.org/German_East_Africa/).
### MLA
Cartwright, Mark. "German East Africa." *World History Encyclopedia*, 30 Mar 2026, [https://www.worldhistory.org/German\_East\_Africa/](https://www.worldhistory.org/German_East_Africa/).

## License & Copyright

Submitted by [Mark Cartwright](https://www.worldhistory.org/user/markzcartwright/ "User Page: Mark Cartwright"), published on 30 March 2026. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en). This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.