The Abushiri Revolt was a so-called insurrection in 1888-1889 by the Arab and Swahili

Swahili people

The Swahili people are a Bantu ethnic group and culture found in East Africa, mainly in the coastal regions and the islands of Kenya, Tanzania and north Mozambique. According to JoshuaProject, the Swahili number in at around 1,328,000. The name Swahili is derived from the Arabic word Sawahil,...

 population of the areas of the East Africa

German East Africa

German East Africa was a German colony in East Africa, which included what are now :Burundi, :Rwanda and Tanganyika . Its area was , nearly three times the size of Germany today....

n coast which were granted (under protest) to Germany

German Empire

The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...

 by the Sultan of Zanzibar in 1888. It was eventually suppressed by an Anglo

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....

-German blockade of the coast.

Background

In late 1884 an expedition of the Society for German Colonization

Society for German Colonization

The Society for German Colonization was founded on March 28, 1884, by Dr. Karl Peters. The goal of the Gesellschaft für Deutsche Kolonisation was to acquire German colonial territories in overseas countries.In the autumn of 1884 Dr. Peters proceeded, together with Count Joachim von Pfeil und Klein...

 led by Karl Peters

Karl Peters

Karl Peters , was a German colonial ruler, explorer, politician and author, the prime mover behind the foundation of the German colony of East Africa...

 had reached Zanzibar

Zanzibar

Zanzibar ,Persian: زنگبار, from suffix bār: "coast" and Zangi: "bruin" ; is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja , and Pemba...

 and made the local chiefs on the opposite mainland sign "protection contracts" promising vast areas to his organisation. Once it had gained a foothold, Peters' newly established German East Africa Company

German East Africa Company

The German East Africa Company was an organization established at the start of the German colonization of East Africa. This company, in short, was responsible for the activities in the new colony such as setting up leadership, future explorations, and the development of the region.In 1888, the...

 acquired further lands in Tanganyika

Tanganyika

Tanganyika , later formally the Republic of Tanganyika, was a sovereign state in East Africa from 1961 to 1964. It was situated between the Indian Ocean and the African Great Lakes of Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika...

 up to the Uluguru

Uluguru Mountains

The Uluguru Mountains are a mountain range in eastern Tanzania, Africa, named after the Luguru tribe. The main Uluguru Mountains is a ridge running approximately north-south and rising to 2,630 m altitude at its highest point...

 and Usambara Mountains

Usambara Mountains

The Usambara Mountains are a mountain range in North-East Tanzania, approximately long and ranging from 20 to in width. Mountains in the range rise as high as 8,000 ft ....

. This met with opposition by Sultan Barghash bin Said of Zanzibar

Barghash bin Said of Zanzibar

Sayyid Barghash bin Said Al-Busaid, GCMG, GCTE , son of Said bin Sultan,was the second Sultan of Zanzibar. Barghash ruled Zanzibar from October 7, 1870 to March 26, 1888....

, who nevertheless had to give in, after Peters had reached the official support by the Foreign Office

Foreign Office (Germany)

The Foreign Office is the foreign ministry of Germany, a federal agency responsible for both the country's foreign politics and its relationship with the European Union. From 1871 to 1919, it was led by a Foreign Secretary, and since 1919, it has been led by the Foreign Minister of Germany...

 in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 and a fleet of the Kaiserliche Marine

Kaiserliche Marine

The Imperial German Navy was the German Navy created at the time of the formation of the German Empire. It existed between 1871 and 1919, growing out of the small Prussian Navy and Norddeutsche Bundesmarine, which primarily had the mission of coastal defense. Kaiser Wilhelm II greatly expanded...

 under Konteradmiral Eduard Knorr

Eduard von Knorr

Ernst Wilhelm Eduard von Knorr was a German admiral of the Kaiserliche Marine who helped establish the German colonial empire.-Life:...

 appeared off the Zanzibar coast. On 28 April 1888 Sultan Khalifah bin Said of Zanzibar

Khalifah bin Said of Zanzibar

Sayyid Khalifa I bin Said Al-Busaid, GCMG, was the third Sultan of Zanzibar. He ruled Zanzibar from March 26, 1888 to February 13, 1890 and was succeeded by his brother, Ali bin Said Al-Busaid....

 finally signed a treaty according to which he ceded the administration of the Tanganyika mainland to the German East Africa Company.

From August 1888 the organisation tried to take over the coastal towns of Tanganyika against the fierce resistance by the Arab elite fearing for the slave

Arab slave trade

The Arab slave trade was the practice of slavery in the Arab World, mainly Western Asia, North Africa, East Africa and certain parts of Europe during their period of domination by Arab leaders. The trade was focused on the slave markets of the Middle East and North Africa...

 and ivory

Ivory

Ivory is a term for dentine, which constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals, when used as a material for art or manufacturing. Ivory has been important since ancient times for making a range of items, from ivory carvings to false teeth, fans, dominoes, joint tubes, piano keys and...

 trade, but also by the indigenous population. The attempts by haughty Emil von Zelewski, German administrator in Pangani

Pangani

Pangani is one of the eight districts of Tanga Region in Tanzania. It is bordered to the North by the Muheza District, to the East by the Indian Ocean, to the South by the Pwani Region and to the West by the Handeni District.The center is Pangani....

, to raise the company's flag over the city, sparked the uprising.

Revolt

It was led by the planter Abushiri ibn Salim al-Harthi

Abushiri ibn Salim al-Harthi

Abushiri ibn Salim al-Harthi was a wealthy merchant and plantation owner of Arab-Oromo parentage who is known for the Abushiri Revolt against the German East Africa Company in present-day Tanzania...

, who gained the support by both the Arabs of the area and local Swahili tribes. Abushiri's father was an ethnic Arab and his mother a Galla

Oromo people

The Oromo are an ethnic group found in Ethiopia, northern Kenya, .and parts of Somalia. With 30 million members, they constitute the single largest ethnic group in Ethiopia and approximately 34.49% of the population according to the 2007 census...

. The rebellion soon spread all along the coast from the town of Tanga

Tanga, Tanzania

Tanga is both the name of the most northerly seaport city of Tanzania, and the surrounding Tanga Region. It is the Regional Headquarters of the region.With a population of 243,580 in 2002, Tanga is one of the largest cities in the country...

 in the north to Lindi

Lindi

Lindi is a coastal town located at the far end of the Lindi Bay, on the Indian Ocean in southeastern Tanzania. The town is 450 kilometers south of Dar es Salaam and 105 kilometers north of Mtwara, the southernmost coastal town in Tanzania, and gives its name to the surrounding Lindi Region, one...

 and Mikindani

Mikindani

Mikindani [translation: young palm trees], is a coastal African, Swahili town in south-eastern Tanzania.-History:In the far south of Tanzania, Mikindani is an old Swahili port that was once the centre of trade in southern Tanzania. The original inhabitants were joined around the 9th Century AD by...

 in the south. The representatives of the German East Africa Company were expelled or killed except for the establishments in Bagamoyo

Bagamoyo

The town of Bagamoyo, Tanzania, was founded at the end of the 18th century. It was the original capital of German East Africa and was one of the most important trading ports along the East African coast...

 and Dar es Salaam

Dar es Salaam

Dar es Salaam , formerly Mzizima, is the largest city in Tanzania. It is also the country's richest city and a regionally important economic centre. Dar es Salaam is actually an administrative province within Tanzania, and consists of three local government areas or administrative districts: ...

.

In February 1889 the German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck

Otto von Bismarck

Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...

 intervened and appointed Lieutenant Hermann Wissmann

Hermann Wissmann

Hermann von Wissmann was a German explorer and administrator in Africa.-Early life:Born in Frankfurt an der Oder, Wissmann was enlisted in the Army in 1870 and was commissioned a Lieutenant four years later. Wissmann served Mecklenburg in Füsilierregiment No. 90 posted at Rostock...

 a Reichskommissar

Reichskommissar

Reichskommissar , in German history, was an official gubernatorial title used for various public offices during the period of the German Empire and the Nazi Third Reich....

of German East Africa. Wissmann concentrated a Schutztruppe

Schutztruppe

Schutztruppe was the African colonial armed force of Imperial Germany from the late 19th century to 1918, when Germany lost its colonies. Similar to other colonial forces, the Schutztruppe consisted of volunteer European commissioned and non-commissioned officers, medical and veterinary officers. ...

of German officers and native Askari

Askari

Askari is an Arabic, Bosnian, Urdu, Turkish, Somali, Persian, Amharic and Swahili word meaning "soldier" . It was normally used to describe local troops in East Africa, Northeast Africa, and Central Africa serving in the armies of European colonial powers...

 soldiers, who, with support by the Marine and the British, subsequently suppressed the revolt.

After Abushiri on the flight to Mombasa

Mombasa

Mombasa is the second-largest city in Kenya. Lying next to the Indian Ocean, it has a major port and an international airport. The city also serves as the centre of the coastal tourism industry....

had been finally betrayed to the Germans in December 1889 he was sentenced to death by a court-martial and publicly hanged in Pangani. By an agreement of 20 November 1890 the East Africa Company had to hand over Tanganyika's administration to the German government. It was however not until early 1891 that Wissmann could report back to Berlin that the rebellion had been fully suppressed.