Sacred Water Helps? Not

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think about Africa? The wildlife? Or the different kinds of culture? Or maybe something different? Tanzania was all of these things and many more. Then people that only cared about power rose to the power they so desperately believed they needed. The people in power slowly became caught in a dilemma. Running out of places to take control of would be difficult, especially if the power was all they wanted. The people craved more but were at a loss on where they could take more power without starting a war with neighboring areas. So, they traveled to a world where nothing but chiefs and clans resided, spread throughout the entire continent. Many countries found this and traveled to what they believed to be uncivilized. 

 

The countries slowly made it known that they had taken over parts on the coast, causing other countries to go into a panic because they didn’t realize what was going on. The scramble for more power occurred in Germany. Tanzania was taken over by Germany in the late 1800s. Forcing rules, traditions, even education on the very confused people of Tanzania. Imagine that you have lived by the same rules for years, then suddenly, the person giving the rules has a very large change of heart, forcing you to accommodate the new rules in an instant whether you like it or not. When a country abuses its power it is evitable that the people will resist those abuses, like the Maji Maji in Tanzania.

 

Germany forced the people of Tanzania through 25 years of abuse and physical labor before the idea of rebellion was passed through the people. Germany is now facing consequences for the countries actions; “...tens of thousands of people who allegedly were starved, tortured and killed by German soldiers as they sought to put down rebellious tribes between 1905 and 1907.” (Tanzania to press Germany for damages for colonial era 'atrocities') Germany’s politicians were only thinking of themselves and how they can benefit from taking over portions of another country. They weren’t thinking of people dying because of rebelling against the forces used to keep them ‘in check.’ 

 

In Germany during the years of the country’s rule over Tanzania, then Tanganyika, there were many things enforced onto the people. This quote, published in the article titled, ‘Germany: Confronting the colonial roots of racism’ states only a couple of the issues that the people of Tanzania were forced to succumb to; “The stories of Germany’s imperial violence are intertwined with these Berlin streets. Peters Allee, named in 1939 by the Nazis, celebrates a man who subjected locals to forced labour, high taxes and exploitation.” The man stated in this quote was one of the many who allowed these things to happen, later ending up with a rebellion that was to be expected. 

 

The Maji Maji Rebellion was caused because the German people; they destroyed fields filled with crops, in an attempt to ‘slow the fire’. The German politicians thought that if they fought back that the people in Tanzania would start backing off and start cowering in a corner. The politicians went so far as to burn crops needed for survival to try and make the forces of the Maji Maji rebellion to back off. These acts caused the warriors that were wreaking havoc to fight even harder. 

In 1905, the Maji Maji rebellion began slowly climbing towards the hope for freedom. During the next two years, the Maji Maji rebellion forced the politicians to start attempting to backfire the actions of the Maji Maji. During the ordeal, the people of Tanzania created mayhem for the politicians in power. The people in power did their best to counter the attacks that were being held, but only fueled the rebellious acts further. The rebellious acts were forcing the politicians to fight back with similar tactics, such as destroying crops and raiding camps, in an attempt to take control of the situation. Such as the two long years of causing trouble for those in power, there were approximately 300,000 dead. They weren’t all victims of the battles, although some could argue since many died of famine due to the fields getting destroyed. 

 

When the Maji Maji rebellion began it was like a wildfire in a place filled with grass and plants that hadn’t been watered in over a year. They wreaked havoc on the camps where the colonials stayed. The meaning of Maji Maji in Tanzania is Sacred Water. Weird right? The rebellion was named after the belief that a special type of water was able to repel bullets. When the Maji Maji people left to cause havoc, they were doused with ‘sacred water’. The ‘sacred water’ was believed to repel the bullets of the German army, the “sacred liquid that could repel German bullets called ‘Maji Maji,’ which means ‘sacred water.’”(Beverton) It didn’t work as many lives were lost in the rebellion.

 

Many people would probably argue that the people that died of famine were the fault of the battles. In two years, there were approximately 300,000 people accounted for that were dead “...estimated that between 180,000 and 300,000 people died during the Maji Maji war as a result of the fighting and hunger”. Most were confirmed dead, the after effect from famine. The issues with accounting for every person that died, some could have died of other reasons, like age, or other complications with health that were unknown at that time. In two years 300,000 people died because they wanted the lifestyle they once had.  300,000 people died because some middle-aged men decided that it would be a good idea to force them to do the things that they weren’t used to. This rebellion was unsuccessful in the long run after two years of rebellious actions.

 

Even though the years of torture, starvation, and abuse the people of Tanzania had the minds of an optimist. The years of being controlled by Germany allowed for the people of Tanzania to make a mess of the German people. As the years passed and came to a slow end, the people of Tanzania were defeated. In the long run, this rebellion was a major step in the path to freedom for Tanzania. This rebellion actually, in a sense, inspired the future rebellions that led to the freedom of Tanganyika. Years after the Maji Maji rebellion had been completed, and even though it failed, seemed to be a major inspiration. This rebellion became the basis for freedom in the future.