Page "History of Tanzania" Paragraph 15

Germans had occupied the area since 1897 and totally altered many aspects of everyday life.

They were actively supported by the missionaries who tried to destroy all signs of indigenous beliefs, notably by razing the ' mahoka ' huts where the local population worshiped their ancestors ' spirits and by ridiculing their rites, dances and other ceremonies.

This would not be forgotten or forgiven ; the first battle which broke out at Uwereka in September 1905 under the Governorship of Count Gustav Adolf von Götzen turned instantly into an all-out war with indiscriminate murders and massacres perpetrated by all sides against farmers, settlers, missionaries, planters, villages, indigenous people and peasants.

Known as the Maji-Maji war with the main brunt borne by the Ngoni people, this was a merciless rebellion and by far the bloodiest in Tanganyika.