We start in 1889 in "Dar-Es-Salaam" (Arabic: House of Peace):
A map of the situation* takes us to the heart of the colony of "German East Africa": the fort, the mission, the military station and the anchorage for ships are neatly marked. The map was created two years before the German colonial administration moved its headquarters from Bagamoyo to Dar es Salaam. Parts of the Kaiserliche Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Ostafrika were also stationed there at that time.
On Nyassa expedition with Colonel Freiherr von Schele, 1894:
Another map of the Nyassa area** leads us into the dark colonial history: Baron Friedrich von Schele was governor of German East Africa from 1893-1895. The military punitive action, which is marked on the map, was directed against the Hehe people and their chief Mkwawa, who were considered the most important opponents of German colonial rule. The brutal action against the Hehe lasted until the end of German colonial rule in 1919.
Time jump to the 1960s:
A text document in our archives*** sheds light on how former mission congregations transformed themselves into independent, local church congregations: "Young Church in African Garb: From Mission Congregation to Church in Tanzania," written by Pastor Joseph Busse, who, after his training at the Herrnhut Mission Seminary, was head of the teachers' seminary in Rungwe from 1933 to 1939. The booklet, published in 1966 by Evangelischer Missionsverlag Stuttgart, went through three editions in only two years.
End of the line early 1970s:
The socialist president Julius Nyerere led the country to independence in 1961. He is still very popular with the population and was also the talk of Europe. His signature adorns the preface of another document in our archives. It is the paper "Tanzania or the other development "****, published in 1971 by the Working Group Third World Zurich. With this we have clearly arrived in the last third of the 20th century - Solidarity sends its regards! - and our archive safari is unfortunately already over. I hope it was able to inspire the urgently needed discussion of the topic of colonialism. And of course the history of the mission in Tanzania is still being written - with our current projects and partnerships!*****
The individual "archive stations" to the read online:
*General layout of Dar Es Salaam [and] Bagamoyo [and] surroundings of Pangani [and] plan of Tanga Bay" (reference number: 97394)
**"Map of the Nyassa expedition by Governor Oberst Freiherr von Schele" (reference number: 97436)
*** "Young church in African garb : from missionary congregation to church in Tanzania" (reference number: F. 190).
**** "Tanzania and the Other Development," not digitized, is in the Mission 21 archives for viewing.
***** Overview of Mission 21's current projects in Tanzania: www.mission-21.org/tansania
Text: Claudia Wirthlin, Head of the Mission 21 Library
