In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, almost the entire continent of Africa was taken over by various European states and business entrepreneurs. Among this area was the eastern state of Tanganyika, modern Tanzania. The two men featured here in chains are reflective of many who rose up against the German colonialist government in 1905 in the Maji Maji uprising.
The European colonizers had taken complete control over the region by 1891, forcing people from various tribes to pick cotton in brutal conditions. Obviously the indigenous people wanted to get the Germans out, but the land was made up of twenty different ethnic groups, and they had to deal with far inferior military technology.
However, the various groups managed to unite, partly under the leadership of a charismatic prophet named Kinjikitile Ngwale. Much has been written of how he claimed to have access to “maji maji” or “sacred water,” that could repel the colonizers’ bullets. The African warriors ultimately lost to the Germans in a brutal campaign that killed 75,000 Maji Maji fighters, along with thousands of African non-combatants.
Because of the use of magic and because the indigenous people lost, it is easy to compare the Maji Maji uprising to the American Indian massacre at Wounded Knee. At that battle (1890), so many people thought that by following the Ghost Dance religion of the American Indian Wovoka (and wearing shirts the prophet had promised would repel bullets), they would be able to defeat the United States’ military. Of course this was not the case and Wounded Knee is considered an egregious violent aggression in America’s history.
But the Maji Maji uprising and the prophet Kinjikitile who led it were different. Kinjikitile used his leadership in many other ways that involved sophisticated secret communication methods and to unify the disparate peoples. In fact, the “sacred waters” main function might well have been more about creating a sense of esprit de corps than about a farcical shield. And the various African tribes remained unified — even though the peoples of Tanganyika lost, the fight went on for two years, and became a lasting inspiration for later uprisings.
Source(s): @scholarblogs.emory.edu, _Violence in Twentieth Century Africa,” the Maji Maji Rebellion,” John Iliffe et al. _Black Past_, “Maji Maji Uprising (1905-1907), June 21, 2009, Alys Beverton.
