The Two Phases Of Colonization In Tanzania

Tanzania went through two phases of colonization; therefore its people went through “double the trouble”. Its first phase was from 1880-1919, which was formerly known as German East Africa, and was seized by Germany in the frenzied “Scramble for Africa” (1 and 7). The second phase began shortly after Germany’s defeat in WWI and it lost its colony to Britain that lasted from 1925-1945 (2). In terms of the cause for colonization, various factors in Europe led its countries to acquire colonies in Africa. In general, Germany, Britain, and other European countries demonstrated their power through acquiring territories around the world and became one of the major reasons why African countries were divided amongst them (1). The second major factor …show more content…
From 1925 to 1945, the manner in which Britain governed its colony caused a vast amount of famines and food shortages; about one famine and/or food shortage occurred every three and a half years (7). This resulted from unexplained climate changes and malnutrition due to strained indigenous subsistence production systems of villages (7). A depiction of the effects could be seen particularly with the Sukuma people in northwestern Tanzania (7). Rather than working on food production, colonial authorities shifted to create a surplus of cotton, a nonfood cash crop Germany also held important, since it was one of the principle sources of revenue for the colony; therefore, the government solely concerned itself with this aspect of agriculture (7). By doing so, the colonial government reduced The Sukuma people’s production of high protein dietary staples in order to produce higher amounts of cotton (7). As a replacement, maize and cassava was implemented; yet, they were ecologically ill-suited crops that could not be stored for long periods (7). This lessened the overall production quantity and quality of the food and contributed to malnutrition and famine, ultimately ruining families and communities. Similar circumstances occurred throughout many villages in colonial Tanzania (7). In addition, British colonialism restructured the established hierarchy and roles of the indigenous societies. Indigenous Africans had little to no input in any decision the British had to make due to their status as a conquered group of people (7). Although Britain attempted to create “transitional” indigenous governments that were supposed to preserve African traditions and facilitate their acceptance of British political system, African headmen/chiefs became