Lieutenant von Zelewski

They were however about to face more revolts in the interior.

Starting in 1891, Nyamwezi Chief Isike fought the Germans in Tabora region in the Western part of Tanganyika. Defeated in 1892, rather than surrendering, he blew himself up in the armoury of his fort in January 1893.

Trouble flared up north with the Chagga and in central Tanganyika with the Gogo, but two major prolonged wars challenged German rule for years: Mkwawa in southern Hehe land and the famous Maji Maji rebellion which inflamed a quarter of the country for more than a year.

The Germans had occupied Hehe country and following the massacre of a delegation sent by Mkwawa, he retaliated in 1891 by ambushing in Lugalo an armed column headed by Lieutenant von Zeiewski. He seized enough weapons and ammunition to keep up resistance for nearly 3 years during which the Germans prepared their assault: in October 1894 a well-organised expeditionary force under the command of Tom Prince, an English-born German officer, stormed Kalenga, the court town of the Hehe, defeated them and captured the town. Mkwawa escaped and in spite of an enormous reward of 5,000 rupees, he was not betrayed and continued harassing German troops with guerilla actions for 4 years until 1898. Trapped, he shot himself.

The Germans' exultation at this hard-won victory ran so high that they cut off Mkwawa's head which was sent for display to the Bremen Anthropological Museum in Germany, his body being returned to his people for ritual burial. In June 1954 his head was returned and handed over to Mkwawa's grandson. Chief Adam Sapi, who was to become the First Speaker of the independent Tanzania Parliament.