History
The colony began with Carl Peters, an adventurer who founded the "Society for German Colonization" and signed treaties with several native chieftains on the mainland opposite Zanzibar. On 3 March 1885, the German government announced it had granted an imperial charter (signed by Bismarck on 27 February) to Peters' company and intended to establish a protectorate in East Africa. Peters then recruited specialists who began exploring south to the Rufiji River and north to Witu, near Lamu on the coast.
When the Sultan of Zanzibar protested, since he claimed to be ruler on the mainland as well, German chancellor Otto von Bismarck sent five warships, which arrived on 7 August and trained their guns on the Sultan's palace. The British and Germans agreed to divide the mainland between themselves, and the Sultan had no option but to agree.
German rule was quickly established over Bagamoyo, Dar es Salaam, and Kilwa, even sending the caravans of Prince, Langheld, Emin Pasha, Charles Stokes to dominate "the Street of Caravans". The Abushiri Revolt of 1888 and was put down (with British help) the following year. In 1890, London and Berlin concluded the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty, returning Heligoland (seized during the Napoleonic wars) to Germany and deciding on the borders of German East Africa (the exact boundaries remained unsurveyed until 1910).
Between 1891 and 1894, the Hehe tribe, led by Chief Mkwawa, resisted German expansion. They were defeated as rival tribes supported the Germans. After years of guerrilla warfare, Mkwawa himself was cornered and committed suicide in 1898.
The Maji Maji Rebellion occurred in 1905 and was put down by the governor, Count Gustav Adolf von Götzen. But scandal soon followed, with stories of corruption and brutality, and in 1907 Chancellor Bülow appointed Bernhard Dernburg to reform the colonial administration. It became a model of colonial efficiency and commanded extraordinary loyalty among the natives during the First World War.
German colonial administrators relied heavily on native chiefs to keep order and collect taxes. By 1 January 1914, aside from local police, military garrisons of Schutztruppen ("protective troops") at Dar es Salaam, Moshi, Iringa, and Mahenge comprised 110 German officers (including 42 medical officers), 126 non-commissioned officers, and 2,472 native enlisted men (Askaris).
Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck (served in German South West Africa as well as German Kamerun), was an important General in German East Africa during World War I.
Read more about this topic: German East Africa
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