In 1902, the Germans organized cotton production in their East African colony. Following their decision to cultivate cotton in the colony, a system was set up for the East Africans so that they would share the work involved with the cotton growing. A cash only head tax was established by the Germans to force the Africans to take the low-paying cotton jobs. The Germans chose a person to have low-level administrative responsibilities called a Jumbe, as well as, an akida. An akida was typically a Muslim recruited from one of the coastal towns and had similar responsibilities as the Jumbe. These positions were in place to carry out the German's orders when they weren't around to do so themselves. If a task or an order was not carried out according to specifications, the person or persons that were responsible were whipped by the Germans. This punishment was the same for the Jumbe or akida as well. If a man were to refuse his turn in the field, the man who was there before would have to stay until another came, or his wife or child would have to take his place. The result of the forced cotton labor among the Africans was a rebellion against the Germans. The rebellion, which was encouraged by religious leaders, is referred to as the maji-maji revolt. Maji is said to be magic water that acts as protection for the soldiers against bullets. In 1907, when the rebellion ended, over seventy-five thousand African lives were lost due to injuries and hunger from the maxim guns, village burnings, as well as mass executions from the German counter-attack. .
The Germans had a reason for setting the cotton growing system up the way they did. It was easy for them to leave one of the Africans to do the order giving because it forced the workers to take orders from one of their own country men. This, to me, seems like a cowardly way for the Germans to handle the situation. They had someone else be the bad guy until someone need punished.
