Eastern Africa as
partitioned by the
imperial powers,
Encyclopædia
Britannica, Inc. c. 1914.
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The Maji Maji revolution, which is sometimes known as the Maji Maji war or rebellion, was an armed rebellion against the German colonial rule in German East Africa, now Tanzania. The war lasted from 1905 to 1907 and it was triggered by a German policy that required the indigenous people to grow cotton for export. More than half a million lives were lost as a result of the war. The revolution was led by a spiritual figure named Kinjikitile Ngwale. He claimed to be possessed by a spirit and he mobilized the people to eliminate the Germans. He gave his followers a liquid that was meant to protect them from the bullets of the Germans by turning them into water. This ‘protection water’ made his followers more confident in confronting the Germans but led to many more deaths. The end of the war was followed by a severe famine that claimed many more lives.
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