Tanganyika (Freedom Ascendant)

Tanganyika is the name of a German-speaking nation on the continent of Africa, one of several European-majority nations on the continent.

History
Starting late in the 1870s, Germany started developing its own colonies under Kaiser Frederick III, who pushed the colonization company, the German East Africa Company, to create settler colonies for the German people as great as those of the British. Part of his reasoning was to give the Germans a place other than America to go, where they lost their culture and language and assimilated to the English culture over there. In Africa, they could be German, he reasoned. For the poor in Germany in Europe, he authorized the giving of 30 acres and 5 years' wages for anyone who lived there for 5 years and started a family.

The colony began with Carl Peters, an adventurer who founded the Society for German Colonization and signed treaties with several native chieftains on the mainland opposite Zanzibar. On 3 March 1875, the German government announced it had granted an imperial charter (signed by Bismarck on 27 February 1875) to Peters' company and intended to establish a protectorate in the Africa Great Lakes region. Peters then recruited specialists, who began exploring south to the Rufiji River and north to Witu, near Lamu on the coast.

When the Sultan of Zanzibar protested, since he claimed to be ruler on the mainland as well, chancellor Otto von Bismarck sent five warships, which arrived on 7 August 1875 and trained their guns on the Sultan's palace. The British and Germans agreed to divide the mainland between themselves, and the Sultan had no option but to agree.

In September 1875, ships began arriving along with troops, to protect the settlers. They landed in Dar es Salaam, in which the Germans expelled the natives and settled the Germans after a short siege. The first 500 settlers, men and women, started building up the city, razing a majority of the existing buildings and in keeping with Jakob Messer's street plan for the town, resulting in the Altstadt's straight street plan that exists to this day. The Lutheran cathedral had its cornerstone laid in December 1876, and was completed in 1896 and dedicated the same month, while the St Aposteln church was build of wood and brick within 2 years in the Altstadt. An Altmarkt was opened up where the Germans were able to sell their farm goods, and as settlers continued to arrive, shops were opened up around the Altmarkt for butchers, bakers, farmers, booksellers, photographers, barbers, and other little shops.

By 1885, the Germans had brought in around 12,000 Europeans, about 8,000 in Friedensstadt, and 4,000 in Bagamoyo, which was renamed 'Kaiser Friedrichsstadt.' Friedensstadt became the capital of the colony in 1886. About 3,000 were Polish from Posen, West Prussia, and Silesia, seeking a better life and more freedom from the pressure to Germanize in Europe. Between 1886 and 1889, the Abushiri revolt was put down with British help, resulting in the addition of 4,000 German and 2,000 British troops massacring over 23,000 natives, decimating the male population of the tribes surrounding the two European cities.

The increasing encroachment of the Europeans on the tribal lands led to increasing conflicts and increasing military presence. The Germans built a fort on Songo Songo Island, naming it Südheligoland (South Heligoland), making it a coastal fort to protect from raids from any other empires. In 1890, they purchased Mafia Island for 4 million Marks from Sultan Sayyid Ali bin Said al-Said of Oman, and built several villages and forts across the island to protect it from invasion. By 1900, the island had 14,000 colonists on it from Europe, mostly Germans, but also a number of Austrians, Hungarians, Italians, and Polish settlers.

Kaiser Frederick III signed a treaty with the British in 1890 that allowed British rail through the land, provided they build rail through the land to the coastal cities and provide some craftsmen to settle the interior. Nine hundred Scots and Irish sailed for the land, and helped build up two important villages that grew rapidly due to the rail - Kilimatinde (renamed Neu Glasgow) and Irangi - becoming important trading posts in the interior. Due to tribal raids, troops guarded the families who settled there, German and British, resulting in a unique mixture of the two cultures growing up in the two towns.

By 1890, the Germans had successfully brought in over 25,000 Europeans, about 13,000 of them Germans. By 1900, that was up to 41,000. By the time of the first world war in 1912, that was 70,000 Europeans, with numbers of natives not accurately counted, other than the 765,000 natives who worked plantations for the Germans, and also received an education on the European model, which enabled them to assimilate quickly into the German colony, and begin to be accepted by the locals. With the natural increase, that meant the European population had grown to 1,826,107 in 1900. This increased with settlers coming in from Königshütte, Chemnitz, Wiesbaden, Koblenz, Köln, Aachen, and the Rhineland and Westphalian built-up area in a larger number between 1900 and 1912 at a rate of about 8500 persons per year on average, bringing the European population up to 4,759,753 by the time World War I started.

After the first World War, the Germans had been forced to cede some European territory, namely part of Silesia, Schleswig-Holstein, and the entire territory of Alsace-Lorraine, plus conceding duty-free access to Danzig by the new Republic of Poland, but got to keep their Kaiser, who abdicated in favor of his brother, who became Kaiser Heinrich I in 1919. Once the war ended, many Germans wanted to escape Europe and found escape in the colonies, as well as America.

In 1919, there were 5,467,461 Europeans, but also over 7 million native Africans in the colony, of which about 320,000 were 'civilized' according to the documents of the time, meaning that they spoke German, wore European clothes, and worked in some kind of trade in the cities, taking up certain jobs the settlers didn't find desirable. Blacks were not legally discriminated against in the colony, but they didn't vote, didn't hold office, and were paid less than Germans. Most often, they held jobs such as waiters, carpenters, bartenders, porters, and other service jobs, which while menial, did give them the ability to earn money to buy goods and books with which they taught their children to read.

Uniquely amongst the colonies, being sandwiched between two British colonies (Rhodesia and Kenya), Tanganyika had to repair and replace its news presses several times in the thirty year span between 1885 and 1915, and in doing so replaced Fraktur writing with the modern romans fonts used in British papers, when the Fraktur typesettings wore out, meaning that all books in Tanganyika were printed with English fonts, with some alterations to add umlauts and the ß ligature.

Settlers had formed their own governments and the German East Africa Company had petitioned the Emperor to allow the colony to form a government, which was done in 1921, with Governor Heinrich Schnee holding office for three years before a replacement, Wilhelm Dernburg, who held office for two five year terms. A colonial legislature was formed with a modern bill of rights, modeled after that of the constitutions used in Australia and in New Zealand, with some imitation of the American system. The first Landtag of Tanganyika met on March 1, 1922 with 100 members elected from amongst the white settlers of Tanganyika, and the Landrat held 20 members, with 2 members from each of the ten provinces of the colony. The name of the legislature was the Kongress, and soon the two houses became the Senat and the Abgeordnetenhaus. The Speaker of the Abgeordnetenhaus was the head of that body, and the President of the Senat the head of that body. The Chancellor was chosen by the governor and approved by the Senat, and then formed a cabinet.

The first official census was in 1922, finding 5,890,547 white and 7,948,914 black Tanganyikans (43% white, 57% black). By 1940, this would reverse due to the growing immigration from Europe to escape the depression and the poor economies of Europe.

The settlement program offered by Germany after its defeat meant that any soldier could settle free of charge in Tanganyika and get 20 acres, plus twice his back wages if he stayed 5 years. The government was struggling to make its obligations at the time, and 50,000 soldiers left Germany for Tanganyika, easing tensions and fears of an armed rebellion.

Industry grew during the 1920s in Tanganyika with textiles, ceramics, and native products being very popular exports from the colony. The economy grew, and the Rupee, the currency of the colony, was in high demand. Crops exported to Europe provided a large part of the economy, including maize, cassava, sweet potatoes, rice, millet, sugar, cotton, cashew nuts, tobacco, coffee, sisal, tea; beef, lamb/mutton, chicken, and pork were the largest meat exports and made a number of local dishes popular in German restaurants in the 20s.

Climate


Climate varies greatly within Tanganyika. In the highlands, temperatures range between 10 and 20 °C (50 and 68 °F) during cold and hot seasons respectively. The rest of the country has temperatures rarely falling lower than 20 °C (68 °F). The hottest period extends between November and February (25–31 °C or 77.0–87.8 °F) while the coldest period occurs between May and August (15–20 °C or 59–68 °F). Annual temperature is 20 °C (68.0 °F). The climate is cool in high mountainous regions.

Tanganyika has two major rainfall regimes: one is uni-modal (October–April) and the other is bi-modal (October–December and March–May).[44] The former is experienced in southern, central, and western parts of the country, and the latter is found in the north from Lake Victoria extending east to the coast. The bi-modal regime is caused by the seasonal migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone.

Demographics
The nation has a population of 46,928,923 people, of which 14,344,632 are native Tanganyikans, the rest being ethnic Europeans. The census of 2015 showed about 30.57% of the population are 'black', 31,844,294 European or 'white,' and the remainder 739,997 being Indian under the 1960s work programs.

Language
The majority of Tanganyikans speak German, the language of government, commerce, media, and education, by law and by constitution.

Religion
The great majority of Tanganyikans are Christian, with over 90% adhering to a Protestant denomination, Lutheran, Hussite, Methodist, or Teutonic (a German-based Anglican denomination); 12% Catholic; 4% native religion; 1.2% Hindu.

Colonial Settlements by 1912
By 1912, the following settlements had been founded and settled by Europeans, with the native Tanganyikan name in parentheses:
 * Muansa (Mwanza)
 * Wilhelmstal (Lushoto)
 * Bismarckburg (Kasanga)
 * Wißmannhafen, the port of Bismarckburg
 * Gottorp (Uvinza)
 * Langenburg (Tukuyu)
 * Altlangenburg (Ikombe)
 * Neu-Langenburg (Lumbira)
 * Weidhafen (Manda)
 * Sphinxhafen (Liuli)
 * Kirondathal (Kirondatal)
 * Sachsenwald (Sekenke)
 * St Moritz (Galula)
 * Neu-Trier (Mbulu)
 * Neu-Bonn (Mikese)
 * Neu-Bethel (Mnazi)
 * Mariahilf (Igulwa)
 * Marienthal (Ushetu)
 * Emmaberg (Ilembule)
 * Kaiseraue (Kazimzumbwi)
 * Leudorf (Leganga)
 * Friedberg (Nyakanazi)
 * Fischerstadt (Rombo)
 * Peterswerft (Nansio)
 * Bergfrieden (Mibirizi)
 * Hohenfriedeberg (Mlalo)
 * Hoffnungshöh (Kiyarawe)
 * Tundenstadt (Tunduma)

Colonial Rail Lines
The first and most important line went:
 * DB-1:Kapoko (Rhodesia)|| Tundenstadt, Tanganyika - St Moritz - Kirondathal - Neu-Trier - Karatu || Nairobi, Kenya
 * This line ran from southwest to northeast
 * DB-2: Liuli - Manda - Neu-Langenburg - Langenburg - Mbeya - St Moritz - Gottorp - Butare || Kampala, Kenya
 * DB-3: Friedensstadt - Neu-Bonn - Mpwapwa - Dodoma - Tabora - Marienthal - Friedberg

These are the first three lines and the most traveled, with smaller lines connecting the other German settlements