tanzania history – What is the colonial history of Tanzania?

The colonial Tanzania history period began in 1505 when the island of Zanzibar became controlled by the Portuguese. Zanzibar remained under Portuguese control for about three hundred years before the Arabs took control of the area. The Arabs established a slave trade from Zanzibar until the British convinced them to stop and sign a treaty in 1876. The Arab Omani Sultans ruled from Zanzibar from the early 1800s until 1890 when Zanzibar along with Pemba (another spice island under the sultan control) became British protectorates. Though the island was under British rule, the Sultan rule did not change much until independence.

The mainland area of what is now Tanzania was known as Tanganyika for at least the later part of its colonial history. Tanganyika began to be colonized by the Germans in the 1880s, but it was not until 1891 that the German government took actual colonial control of the region. During the period of German colonization of Tanganyika, the Germans set up Dar es Salaam as their territorial capital.

The Germans faced opposition from the locals in the Tanganyika region as soon as they officially set up their colonial control in 1891. The opposition was led by Chief Mkwawa from 1891 to 1894. They were defeated, but Mkwawa continued to lead guerilla warfare efforts until 1898 when he committed suicide. Resistance remerged in 1902 and continued until the 2 year Maji Maji Resistance ended in 1907. The Maji Maji War included a lot of bloodshed including murders and massacres carried out by the Germans.

During World War I some of the tension between the British and Germans took place in the Tanganyika territory including the Battle of Tanga. The German forces in the colony was left mostly to its own devices during World War I, but they were able to continue a guerilla style war throughout the whole World War.

After Germany was defeated in World War I, the colony of Tanganyika was turned over to the British by the League of Nations in 1919 and in 1920 it officially was given the name as Tanganyika Territory. Under the British colonization the rule of the colony began to be given back to the local Africans to some extent.

After the second World War the Tanganyika region became a UN colony still with British control. This is when the country moved towards independence and entirely governing itself. Tanganyika became its own republic in 1962 and Zanzibar became independent from British rule in 1963. In 1964, Tanganyika and Zanzibar united to become Tanzania.

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