The first comprehensive and fully documented history of modern Tanganyika (mainland Tanzania).

The history of Tanganyika from the Maji Maji rebellion of 1905 (the greatest African rebellion against early European rule) to the last years of German administration. It examines a colonial situation in depth, ranging from the processes of change in African societies to the decisions of policy-makers in Berlin. In the aftermath of rebellion an imaginative Governor, Freiherr von rechenberg, initiated a programme of African cash-crop agriculture. This programme was reversed by a settler community which successfully manipulated the German political system. Meanwhile, after their defeat in armed rebellion, Africans sought power through educational and economic advancement. Tanganyika in 1912 was poised for that struggle for control between European settler and educated African which has been a fundamental theme of the modern history of East and Central Africa. Dr Illiffe's book is one of the few available studies of German colonial administration. He has drawn on a wide range of sources, both in East Africa and Germany. Written in the light of current reappraisal of African history, the book gives valuable insight into African initiatives during the early years of European rule.

How do governments in Africa make decisions about language? What does language have to do with state-building, and what impact might it have on democracy? This manuscript provides a longue durée explanation for policies toward language in Africa, taking the reader through colonial, independence, and contemporary periods. It explains the growing trend toward the use of multiple languages in education as a result of new opportunities and incentives. The opportunities incorporate ideational relationships with former colonizers as well as the work of language NGOs on the ground. The incentives relate to the current requirements of democratic institutions, and the strategies leaders devise to win elections within these constraints. By contrasting the environment faced by African leaders with that faced by European state-builders, it explains the weakness of education and limited spread of standard languages on the continent. The work combines constructivist understanding about changing preferences with realist insights about the strategies leaders employ to maintain power.

Important and broadening study of the way Africans engaged with missions, not as beneficiaries of humanitarian philanthropy, but as workers.