SOCIETY

THE WAHEHE RESIDE PRIMARILY IN UHEHE, AN AREA THAT

Lies between the Great Ruaha and Kilombero rivers, in the Usungwa mountains and the plateaux which lie in the northern part of the area known as the Southern Highlands. It includes areas of rain forest, high rolling grasslands, a central plateau of Brachystegia woodland and, below the escarpment in the north-east, north and west beside the Great Ruaha River and its tributaries, dry plains covered with thorn scrub.

With their armed opposition to German East Africa in mind, colonial descriptions would romanticise the Hehe as "these coarse, reserved mountain people a true warrior tribe who live only for war." Their power depended on the spear and on the disciplined force of their armed citizens. Even after firearms became more important the spear remained their chief weapon, for on the open plains the use of spears still had the advantage.

 The defense of a boma behind palisades or walls with rifles was not their strong point, tactics and a sudden mass spear attack was.Military organization remained the most important part of Wahehe life and every adult male was a warrior. The youngest lived in the capital, Iringa, where semi-professional warriors trained them. By the 1890s the Hehe had an immediate following of 2,000 to 3,000 men, with another 20,000 men of fighting age who could be mobilized from their scattered homesteads that by 1800 were normally surrounded by large maize fields. It was only later when their military reputation alone was no longer enough and warfare was actually a threat, did they begin to consolidate their villages and begin to build their homes closer together. Only after the wars ended did they once again build further apart with each homestead ideally surrounded by their own fields, larger houses for their many wives were built and could be surrounded by an open courtyard.

While Iliffe considers the Wahehe state to have been unsophisticated, Lt. Nigmann considered the legal system, traditions, and customs to have been quite sophisticated. It is true, however, that all authority came from the chief's will and that conquered chiefdoms were not assimilated but were held by for force, brutality, and fear. Whether one considers the state to be unsophisticated or not, the state was at the same time successful and durable. A visitor it was repeatedly said, could sense an arrogant confidence that was not found elsewhere, and Hehe identity has survived all colonial pressures.

A TEMBE (TRADITIONAL WAHEHE HOUSING) FROM TABORA (1906)

Women captured in war were given to important men, (some men having as many as ten to twenty) who then did almost all of the subsistence agriculture, carried water, and all building material, their housing being well insulated against the violent extremes of heat and cold. A child received his family name, (the praise name) and the types of forbidden food from the father. A Wahehe could not marry anyone with the same praise name and the same forbidden food, even if the relationship could not be traced, and could not marry anyone related through the female line. There was, however, a preference for marrying cross cousins. Most communities contained many households who were related to one another. Two cows and a bull were considered important parts of bride-wealth to be given for a wife.

Although judges (headmen) were subject to bribery (and at times quite willing to accept it), there was a recognized system of courts and law enforcement. Punishment remained fairly simple but had at least some variety. There were penalties of varied types, such as fines or penance, the death sentence, beatings, and the seldom used expulsion from the chiefdom. (Excepting the death penalty, crippling or anything attacking the health of the individual, or any type of failing was unknown to the Wahehe.) 

The village headman was authorized for lighter cases, such as theft or other crimes against property, adultery, personal injury, etc., with the more difficult cases being sent further up the line in the direction of the 'sultan', especially those needing a test administrated by poison. All cases were presented orally and open to all. (Only trials of high treason against the sultan were held in secret.) Two male witnesses were thought sufficient for most 'normal' cases while it was thought that three to five were necessary with female witnesses.

There could be verdicts for betraying or offending the state or its leader, giving false witness, adultery, (one female witness was sufficient, with a fine of one to three head of cattle) incest (very seldom if ever used, since females were quite often married between 10 and 13 years of age and needed three to five witnesses), rape (only the victim was needed as a witness), murder, manslaughter, vendetta, theft, agricultural theft, receiving stolen goods, and swindling were all parts of the judicial concept and had penalties associated with them.

If a divorce took place, the husband was entitled to take all weaned children away from their mother and the mother's family was expected to return the bride-wealth. In spite of this, wives frequently obtained divorces, usually after they had already made arrangements with another man.

The state's strength and power lay in its warriors and their spears, which made it not only disciplined and victorious, but also provided unity and identity, allowing everyone to join in its impressive successes.

HEHE REBELLION

Askari soldiers under German command (1906)

Emil von Zelewski

The Wahehe were expanding towards the north and east at the same time the Germans were building stations along the central caravan route between the coast and Tabora. Those groups recognizing and accepting German supremacy (showing the German flag) were then brutally attacked, looted, and otherwise destroyed. After futile German attempts to negotiate with them, an expedition was sent out under the leadership of Commander Zelewski.

Since von Soden saw no harm, Zelewski was given the go ahead to attack the Wahehe. As Iliffe relates in A Modern History of Tanganyika and Holger Doebold in Emil Zelewski, with Lt. Tettenborn's official report; (The German Schutztruppe, needing to secure the inland area with its main trade and communications, Zelewski, its new commander, broke camp at 6:30, August 17, 1891, riding a donkey at the head of the column. "We burned 25 large village houses and killed 3 tribal warriors. A large group of Wahehe warriors were sighted with only spears and shields but few rifles. Shots from our side were enough to frighten them away." As its center reached the waiting Hehe, an officer shot at a bird. The Hehe grasped their spears and charged. The Askari fired only one or two rounds before they were overwhelmed. "The confusion increaseed when the pack dondeys of the artillery train panicked and stampeded into the 5th company. Soon the Askari also panicked. Lt. Von Heydebreck managed to reach a nearby tembe with black officers Morgan Effendi and Gaber Effendi and twenty Askari." A sixteen year old had speared Zelewski on his donkey. In ten minutes most of the column was dead. "I also decided to retreat through the chaos of fleeing porters, pillaging Wahehe, dying warriors, and retreating wounded Askaris.

Warriors from Kondoa (1906)

The rearguard escaped, occupied a hill, raised its flag, and sounded bugle calls to rally survivors. I sent a patrol to guide Lt. Heydebreck wounded twice by a spear behind his right ear and covered with blood, to our position. NCO Thiemann succumbed to his woulds on the night of 17 to 18 August and we buried him at our tembe position outside the sight of the Wahehe warriors." The Hehe set fire to the grass, burning some of the wounded and hoping to encircle the rearguard. Some 300-400 Hehe followed but did not attack, having already lost 60 dead. Another 200 later died of wounds. The Germans then retreated in the direction of Kondoa. "Still with us are Lt. Von Heydebreck, almost recovered from his wounds, Sergeant Kay, NCO Wutzer, Morgan Effendi, Gaber Effendi, 62 Askari (11 of them wounded), 74 porters (seven wounded), four donkeys, and the main part of our baggage.

Lt. Tettenborn believed that if it had not been for the death of a large number of Wahehe chiefs, Mkwawa incorrectly included, no one would have survived. Saving the main 'part of the baggage' is also incorrect, as it was not saved. Zelewski had started with 13 Europeans, some 320 Askaris, 170 porters, machine guns, and field artillery. Of these, ten Europeans, 256 Askaris, and 96 porters had been lost. The German defeat made a truly enormous impression and the Hehe had now gained reputation as the most powerful soldiers in German East Africa and the Schutztruppe was no longer in a position to continue attacking the Wahehe. 

Julius von Soden, the governor now in charge of German East Africa, vetoed revenge. 'We should have digested the coast before we devoured the interior'. For eighteen months all expeditions were banned, even though the German military was unhappy. Particularly von Prince could not bring himself to leave the Hehe alone and used his forts in the north to invade south into Hehe territory.

Soden left in 1893, his concept ruined. With Colonel Freiherr von Schele, the new governor who brought a policy of aggression, there began the expedition of von Prince, Wynecken, and Zugführer Bauer in support of Merere. Negotiations had failed and caravans continued to be raided until the Germans attacked and took possession of Mkwawa's capital, Iringa, in 1894. (This time, however, the Germans were prepared with 609 Askari and three machine-guns.) Mkwawa, though, was still not captured, and the Hehe continued to attack their neighbors and kill Germans. There was still no peace. Only with Mkwawa's suicide did 'peace' finally come to Uhehe.

While von Schele, given credit for Mkwawa's final defeat and presented with Germany's highest decoration, was then continually attacked by the political moderates, and finally placed under civilian control from Berlin. Schele then resigned and was followed by more peaceful administrators for the next two years, who nevertheless continued to pressure the Wahehe.

(Tom von Prince, after Mkwawa's defeat, indicated great offence with the Wahehe refusal to point out the youth responsible for Zelewski's death. Prince claimed that the German military would never have punished a warrior for following his orders.)

By 1896, the Hehe were divided, with some of them beginning to submit to the Germans, and Mkwawa found himself isolated as an outlaw, but always protected by the general Wahehe population. He raided, ambushed patrols, and attacked German outposts, aided by 'loyal Wahehe' and even Sangu warriors of Merere III (son of Merere II). The Germans increased their campaign, searched again and again, even subjecting those who aided Mkwawa to the death penalty. They tried setting up one of Mkwawa's brothers as chief, but had him executed after two months, holding him responsible for the continuing attacks on German patrols.

It was only in July 1898, after being trapped, that Mkwawa shot himself. The Germans removed Mkwawa's head and sent it to Germany. Mkwawa and the Hehe had become so well known that a clause was inserted in the Treaty of Versailles ordering the skull be returned to Uhehe. It was found, not in Berlin, but in Bremen, and was finally returned, not to Iringa, but to nearby Kalenga, and then not until 1956. The identity of the skull is questionable. Mkwawa still today has the status of a national hero in Tanzania, even after over one hundred years.

The Wahehe never again revolted, not during or after Maji Maji, but bureaucrats from Tanzania are still very wary of them. Energy, power, suspicion, intelligence, and a need for a strong hand are still viewed as their characteristics today.

Chief Mkwavinyika Munyigumba Mwamuyinga (1855–19 July 1898), more commonly known as Chief Mkwawa, was a Hehe tribal leader in German East Africa (now mostly the mainland part of Tanzania) who opposed the German colonization. The name "Mkwawa" is derived from Mukwava, itself a shortened form of Mukwavinyika, meaning "conqueror of many lands".

LIFE

SIR EDWARD RETURNING THE SKULL

Mkwawa was born in Luhota and was the son of Chief Munyigumba, who died in 1879.

In July 1891, the German commissioner, Emil von Zelewski, led a battalion of soldiers (320 askaris with officers and porters) to suppress the Hehe. On 17 August, they were attacked by Mkwawa's 3,000-strong army at Lugalo, who, despite only being equipped with spears and a few guns, quickly overpowered the German force and killed Zelewski.

On 28 October 1894, the Germans, under the new commissioner Colonel Freiherr Friedrich von Schele, attacked Mkwawa's fortress at Kalenga. Although they took the fort, Mkwawa managed to escape. Subsequently, Mkwawa conducted a campaign of guerrilla warfare, harassing the Germans until 1898 when, on 19 July, he was surrounded and shot himself to avoid capture.

Disposition of his skull

SKULL ON DISPLAY AT THE MKWAWA MEMORIAL MUSEUM

After his death, German soldiers removed Mkwawa's head. The skull was sent to Berlin and probably ended up in the Übersee-Museum Bremen. In 1918 the then British Administrator of German East Africa H.A. Byatt proposed to his government that it should demand a return of the skull to Tanganyika in order to reward the Wahehe for their cooperation with the British during the war and in order to have a symbol assuring the locals of the definitive end of German power. The skull's return was stipulated in the 1919 Treaty of Versailles:

"ARTICLE 246. Within six months from the coming into force of the present Treaty, ... Germany will hand over to His Britannic Majesty's Government the skull of the Sultan Mkwawa which was removed from the Protectorate of German East Africa and taken to Germany."

The Germans disputed the removal of the said skull from East Africa and the British government took the position that the whereabouts could not be traced.

However, after World War II the Governor of Tanganyika, Sir Edward Twining, took up the issue again. After enquiries he was directed to the Bremen Museum which he visited himself in 1953. The Museum had a collection of 2000 skulls, 84 of which originated from the former German East Africa. He short-listed the ones which showed measurements similar to surviving relatives of Chief Mkwawa; from this selection he picked the only skull with a bullet-hole as the skull of chief Mkwawa.

The skull was finally returned on 9 July 1954, and now resides at the Mkwawa Memorial Museum in Kalenga, near the town of Iringa.

Notes

1. According to the Report of the German soldier, who found the corpse of Mkwawa, the date of Mkwawa's death was definitely 19 July 1898 (Bericht des Feldwebels Merkl, barch R1001, 289))

• Maji Maji Rebellion

References

1.      Iliffe, p. 115

• Martin Baer, Olaf Schröter: Eine Kopfjagd. Deutsche in Ostafrika. Berlin 2001.
• Doebold, Holger: Schutztruppe Deutsch-Ostafrika.
• Iliffe, John: A modern history of Tanganyika. Cambridge 1979.
• Nigmann, Ernst: Die Wahehe: Ihre Geschichte, Kult-, Rechts-, Kriegs- u. Jagd-Gebräuche. Berlin: Mittler 1908.
• Nigmann, Ernst: Geschichte der Kaiserlichen Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Ostafrika. Berlin: Mittler 1911.
• Patera, Herbert: Der weiße Herr Ohnefurcht: das Leben des Schutztruppenhaupmanns Tom von Prince. Berlin 1939.
• Prince, Tom von: Gegen Araber und Wahehe: Erinnerungen aus meiner ostafrikanischen Leutnantszeit 1890-1895. Berlin 1914.
• Redmayne, Alison Hope: The Wahehe people of Tanganyika. Oxford 1965.
• Redmayne, Alison: The Hehe. Tanzania Before 1900.
• Small wars & insurgencies. London: Taylor & Francis, ISSN 1743-9558, Online-Resource.