German rule in Tanganyika began with a dramatic display of violence and calculated terror. The imperialgovernment in Berlin felt compelled to take over the colony from the incompetent and under-funded GermanEast Africa Company in 1889 after a massive rebellion on the coast erupted which attempted to eject both thecompany and the region's nominal overlords, the functionaries of the Sultan of Zanzibar (Jackson, 1970;Glassman, 1995). The insurgents, disorganized and outgunned, were defeated after only a few months, and thecoast--that crucial nexus of Indian Ocean trade so desired by German colonial interests--was now "pacified"(beruhigh). German authorities hoped they would merely have to tap the caravan routes from the coast to theinterior, particularly the central route leading to Lake Tanganyika, in order to turn the "jewel" of their Africanempire into a profitable colony.