Locating the local in the Coastal Rebellion of 1888–1890

Abstract

This article reopens debate and discussion about the so-called Abushiri Uprising of 1888. Previous scholars have examined the origins of the rebellion, or the motivations of its participants. This article focuses upon the way in which the rebellion unfolded along the central East African coastline. As a means of interpretation, it looks at the influence of local factors such as the significance of place, and the attachments of particular groups towards place, on the rebels’ behavior and the outcome of the uprising. This local framework permits scholars to situate events more accurately in larger narratives of anti-colonial resistance.

Keywords:

• Abushiri Uprising
• local
• rebellion
• place
• Swahili

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to express his gratitude to the Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Trust and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for funding which made this research possible. The author also wishes to thank Jim Brennan, Dave Eaton, Chris Lee, Justin Willis, Phil Zachernuk, his colleagues in the Department of History at SUNY Fredonia, as well as the anonymous readers for their support and constructive critiques on earlier drafts of this paper.

Notes

1. Branch, Defeating Mau Mau; Giblin and Monson, Maji Maji.

2. Iliffe, “Tanzania Under German and British Rule”; Gwassa, “German Intervention and African Resistance in Tanzania”; Jackson, “Resistance to the German Invasion of the Tanganyikan Coast”; Odhiambo, Ouso, & Williams, History of East Africa.

3. Mueller, Deutschland, Zanzibar, Ostafrika; Iliffe, Modern History of Tanganyika, 91–98.

4. Glassman, Feasts and Riot, 196.

5. For some notable examples, on the Bushiri Uprising see, Glassman, Feasts and Riot; on Mau Mau, see Kanogo, Squatters and the Roots of Mau Mau; and Anderson, Histories of the Hanged; for the Zulu Rebellion of 1906, see Carton, Blood From Your Children; for the 1947 Railway Strike in French West Africa, see Cooper, “Our Strike”; for Maji Maji, see Giblin and Monson, Maji Maji.

6. See the various essays that focus on local reactions based on ethnic identity in Giblin and Monson, Maji Maji, as well as the chapter entitled “Death at Lari: The Story of an African Massacre” in Anderson, Histories of the Hanged.

7. For Tanzania, see Kimambo, Political History of the Pare; Feierman, Shambaa Kingdom; and Moore and Puritt, Chagga and Meru of Tanzania.

8. Iliffe, Modern History of Tanganyika, 382–384.

9. Glassman, Feasts and Riot.

10. Fischer, To Dwell Among Friends; de Certeau, Practice of Everyday Life; Altman and Wandersman, Neighbourhood and Community Environments; Altman and Zube, Public Places and Spaces; Hummon, Commonplaces; Lefebvre, Production of Space; Altman and Low, Place Attachment; Keith and Pile, Place and the Politics of Identity; Harvey, Justice, Nature and the Geography of Difference.

11. Four significant battles occurred in and around Bagamoyo between the Germans and diverse groups of rebels: late September 1888, early December 1888, early May 1889, and late October 1889.

12. Father H. G. M. Tullemans, Transcribed Letters and Documents of the Bagamoyo Mission during the Arab Revolt, 1888–1889 (c.1982), n.p., Museum of the Catholic Mission at Bagamoyo (also available at the Archives Générales des P. P. du St. Esprit, Chevilly-Larue, France); the letters of Christian Lautherborn, now published as Parpart and Rostgaard, Practical Imperialist.

13. Bennett, Arab vs. European, 30.

14. For further discussion, see Brown, “Precolonial History of Bagamoyo,” chs III, IV, 90–91; Baker, “Notes on the Shirazi of East Africa”; Prins, Swahili-Speaking Peoples; Glassman, Feasts and Riot.

15. Brown, “Precolonial History of Bagamoyo,” 114. Rockel suggests that it may have begun around the 1780s based on oral traditions of the Baganda in Uganda; Rockel, Carriers of Culture, 19.

16. For a detailed breakdown of each group, see Brown, “Precolonial History of Bagamoyo,” ch. VI.

17. Numbers for each group vary over the 19th and 20th centuries, but generally speaking, after the Africans, the Indians formed the next largest group in Bagamoyo (around 1000), followed by the Arabs (around 600), Baluchis (around 300), and Europeans.

18. It is difficult to assess the numbers of slaves in Bagamoyo. The earliest year when the numbers were broken down was in 1893 during the period of German imperial administration. It was estimated that there were 2500 slaves in town at that time. The racial breakdown of the Wabagamoyo was estimated in 1900 by former District Officer August Leue who estimated there were 14,500 “Bantu” inhabitants in Bagamoyo; Shemhilu, Economic History, 33; Leue, “Bagamoyo,” 23.

19. Deutsch Ostafrikanisches Zeitung, I/26, August 26, 1899; Leue, “Bagamoyo,” 23.

20. Iliffe, Modern History of Tanganyika, 45, 129.

21. Bundesarchiv Berlin (BAB), R1001/397: Trade Statistics for the year 1885–1886. The next highest single grossing mainland port was Kilwa, which earned just under half of Bagamoyo's total.

22. Fabian, “Wabagamoyo,” 92.

23. These form roughly the northern and southern borders of present-day Tanzania, respectively. The ports included Bagamoyo, Dar es Salaam, Kilwa, Lindi, Mikindani, Pangani, and Kilwa.

24. Iliffe, Modern History of Tanganyika, 95.

25. Pesek examines the extreme use of violence that Germans used in East Africa, but also their failure to secure state control over the territory due to lack of resources; Pesek, “Colonial Conquest and the Struggle.”

26. Iliffe, Modern History of Tanganyika, 93.

27. School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)/MacKinnon Papers/Box 63/File 4: Mackenzie to Euan Smith, October 18, 1888.

28. School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)/MacKinnon Papers/Box 63/File 4: Mackenzie to Euan Smith, October 18, 1888.

29. School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)/MacKinnon Papers/Box 63/File 4: Mackenzie to Euan Smith, October 29, 1888.

30. School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)/MacKinnon Papers/Box 63/File 4: Mackenzie to The President and Court of Directors, IBEAC, December 1, 1888.

31. Only later did the southern Kenyan coastline erupt into rebellion in 1895–1896 when the IBEAC manipulated a succession of leadership in Takaungu to avoid having someone they deemed a “troublemaker” ascend to power. Local leaders also faced an erosion of local autonomy when the region passed from the IBEAC to the British crown in early 1895; Cashmore, “Sheikh Mbaruk bin Rashid bin Salim el Mazrui”; Brennan, “Lowering the Sultan's Flag,” 838–839.

32. German Consul-General (Zanzibar) Michahelles referred to Zelewski as “probably the most hated personality on the coast”; BAB/R1001/694: Michahelles to Bismarck, December 8, 1888.

33. This took place on August 19, 1888 and involved violating the seclusion of the liwali's “female dependents” at his home, desecration of a mosque, the arbitrary release of town prisoners, and the destruction of the flagstaff at the liwali's residence; Glassman, Feasts and Riot, 216–217.

34. BAB/R1001/406: Vohsen to Michahelles, August 17, 1888; BAB/R1001/406: Vohsen to DOAG Berlin, August 25, 1888; BAB/R1001/770: Michahelles to Bismarck, August 26, 1888.

35. BAB/R1001/406: Vohsen to Michahelles, August 22, 1888; MCMB/Tullemans: Baur to de Courmont, August 24, 1888; NA/FO/403/106: Michahelles to Euan Smith, August 22, 1888.

36. ZNA/AA2/47: Michahelles to Euan Smith, August 26, 1888; MCMB/Tullemans: Baur to de Courmont, September 2, 1888.

37. BAB/R1001/406: Gravenreuth's report over the flag acquisition from the former Wali residence, August 22, 1888; NA/FO/403/106: Euan Smith to Salisbury, August 25, 1888. Michahelles informed Euan Smith that the ban was lifted “in order to cause no injury to trade”; ZNA/AA2/47: Michahelles to Euan Smith, August 26, 1888.

38. MCMB/Tullemans: Baur to de Courmont, October 2, 1888, Bagamoyo.

39. Glassman, Feasts and Riot, 223.

40. Mueller, Deutschland, Zanzibar, Ostafrika, 438.

41. BAB/R1001/692: Strauch to Kaiserliche Geschwaderkommando, Zanzibar, September 26, 1888.

42. MCMB/Tullemans: Hirzlin to de Courmont, September 22, 1888.

43. ZNA/AA2/47: Churchill to Euan Smith, September 25, 1888; NA/FO/403/107: Vice Consul Churchill to Colonel Euan Smith, Inclosure 1 in 102.

44. ZNA/AA2/47: Churchill to Euan Smith, September 25, 1888; NA/FO/403/107: Vice Consul Churchill to Colonel Euan Smith, Inclosure 1 in 102; MCMB/Tullemans: Baur to de Courmont, September 26, 1888.

45. MCMB, Tullemans, Hirzlin to de Courmont, September 22, 1888, Bagamoyo.

46. Parpart and Rostgaard, Practical Imperialist, 69.

47. Dar es Salaam, the only other town with a DOAG presence, did not rise up until after the 22nd.

48. Walter Brown, the historian of pre-colonial Bagamoyo, states “it remains impossible to define ‘Bagamoyo proper.’ The town simply expanded westwards from the harbor throughout the nineteenth century”; Brown, “Precolonial History of Bagamoyo,” 121.

49. Walter Brown, the historian of pre-colonial Bagamoyo, states “it remains impossible to define ‘Bagamoyo proper.’ The town simply expanded westwards from the harbor throughout the nineteenth century”; Brown, “Precolonial History of Bagamoyo,” 121.

50. Fabian, “Wabagamoyo.”

51. AStEsp, 2K1.6a3, Horner to Très Révérend Père Supérieur (TRP Sup), November 14, 1863, “Voyage à Bagamoyo.”

52. A jumbe was the leader of a mtaa, or town quarter. Multiple mitaa made up a coastal town and so there were also multiple majumbe. Bagamoyo, by 1888, had at least 19 majumbe.

53. Allen, Customs of the Swahili People, 153.

54. Allen, Customs of the Swahili People, 178–179; interview with Bagamoyo, Mz. Maalimu Liwasila Rajabu, March 5, 2005. Kiswahili interviews are translated by Patricia Luyangi.

55. Brown, “Precolonial History of Bagamoyo,” 274.

56. Brown, “Precolonial History of Bagamoyo,” 258–268.

57. Museum of the Catholic Mission at Bagamoyo (MCMB), Bulletin Generale (BG), Tome X, February–December 1875, 721–725; ZNA, AA2/20, Euan Smith to Senior Officer of HMS “London,” September 9, 1875; Brown, “Precolonial History of Bagamoyo,” 270; Leue, “Bagamoyo,” 14–15; AStEsp, 2K1.3b3, Baur to Tres Reverend Pere Superieur (TRP), July 27, 1876; AStEsp, 2K1.3b3, Horner to Laverriere, October 18, 1878; ZNA, AA1/24/145, Kirk to Marquis of Salisbury, November 13, 1878.

58. MCMB, BG, Tome X, February–December 1875, 721–725; AStEsp, 2K1.3b3, Baur to Horner, September 21, 1875; AStEsp, 2K1.3b3, Thorax to Horner, October 21, 1875.ZNA, AA1/47, Khoja inhabitants of Bhaga Moyo to Kirk, November 3, 1878; ZNA, AA1/47, Kirk to Bargash, November 4, 1878; Leue, “Bagamoyo,” 14–15.

59. BAB, R1001/407, Gravenreuth to ?, October 14, 1888.

60. Tanzania National Archives [hereafter TNA], Annual Report, Bagamoyo District, 1948; author's emphasis.

61. Mtoro bin Mwinyi Bakari notes in his reflections about pre-colonial society in Bagamoyo how “The hairdresser sits on a stool and the client on the ground in front of her, and she plaits and gossips. They gossip about everything that goes on in town”; Allen, Customs of the Swahili People, 115–116.

62. Thompson, Central African Lakes, 100. Swedish urban planning students noted the same phenomenon in town 130 years later; Areskough and Persson, In the Heart of Bagamoyo, 41.

63. Allen, Customs of the Swahili People, 145, 149.

64. AStEsp, BG, TOME XIV, April 1886–July 1888, 615–623.

65. MCMB, Tullemans, Baur to de Courmont, September 24, 1888, Bagamoyo; BAB, R1001/406, Vohsen to Gravenreuth, October 6, 1888; BAB, R1001/407, Gravenreuth Report, October 12, 1888; BAB, R1001/407, Gravenreuth to Vohsen, October 24, 1888.

66. BAB, R1001/691, Deinhard to Chef der Admiralitat, September 24, 1888; ZNA, AA2/47, September 25, 1888, Churchill to Euan Smith; NA, FO 403/107, Vice Consul Churchill to Colonel Euan Smith, Inclosure 1 in 102; NA, FO 403/107, Commander Arbuthnot to Rear-Admiral Fremantle, September 25, 1888.

67. BAB, R1001/406, Bericht über die Unruhen in Bagamoyo am 22. September, 1888, Heins, Belke, Ruehle, Mariani; MCMB, Tullemans, Hirzlin to de Courmont, September 25, 1888, Bagamoyo; Makanda bin Mwinyi Mkuu, “Vita vya Bagamoyo,” 13–20; ZNA, AA2/47, September 25, 1888, Churchill to Euan Smith.

68. BAB/R1001/406: Bericht über die Unruhen in Bagamoyo am 22. September, 1888, Heins, Belke, Ruehle, Mariani.

69. BAB, R1001/693, Admiral Deinhard to Chief Admiral, November 3, 1888; Tanzania National Archives (TNA), G32/15, Leue to Unknown, February 16, 1894.

70. MCMB, Tullemans, Hirzlin to de Courmont, September 22, 1888.

71. Glassman, Feasts and Riot, 32.

72. MCMB/Tullemans: Baur to de Courmont, September 24, 1888; Baur to de Courmont, October 2, 1888; BAB/R1001/407: Vohsen to DOAG Berlin, November 16, 1888.

73. MCMB/Tullemans: Baur to de Courmont, October 2, 1888.

74. BAB/R1001/407: Gravenreuth to Vohsen, November 20, 1888.

75. BAB/R1001/407: Gravenreuth to Vohsen, October 24, 1888; BAB/R1001/407: Gravenreuth to Vohsen, October 29, 1888.

76. MCMB/Tullemans: Baur to de Courmont, October 28, 1888; author's emphasis.

77. Fabian, “Wabagamoyo.”

78. NA/FO/403/117: Fremantle to Admiralty, December 2, 1888; NA/FO/403/117: Euan Smith to Salisbury, January 14, 1889; BAB/R1001/694: Michahelles to Bismarck, December 8, 1888; MCMB/Tullemans: Baur to de Courmont, December 27, 1888.

79. BAB/R1001/407: Zelewski to Vohsen, December 6, 1888; BAB/R1001/407: Zelewski to Vohsen, December 8, 1888; MCMB/Tullemans: Baur to de Courmont, December 8, 1888; NA/FO/403/117: Admiral Deinhard to Colonel Euan Smith, December 9, 1888.

80. NA/FO/403/117: Admiral Deinhard to Colonel Euan Smith, December 9, 1888.

81. AStEsp/2K1.5a2: de Courmont to Très Révérend Père Supérieur, December 18, 1888.

82. MCMB/Tullemans: Baur to de Courmont, December 8, 1888.

83. ZNA/AA1/63: Euan Smith to Foreign Office, February 2, 1889.

84. MCMB/Tullemans: Baur to de Courmont, July 2, 1889; Baur to de Courmont, July 29, 1889; AStEsp/Bagamoyo Journal: August 26, 1889; NA/FO/403/119: Acting Consul General Portal to Salisbury, September 2, 1889; MCMB/Tullemans: Delpuech to de Courmont, September 20, 1889.

85. MCMB/Tullemans: Baur to de Courmont, October 10, 1889; Baur to de Courmont, October 14, 1889; AStEsp/2K1.5a2: de Courmont to Très Révérend Père Supérieur, October 23, 1889.

86. MCMB/Tullemans: Baur to de Courmont, October 24, 1889.

87. He was executed by hanging in Pangani on December 18, 1889.