Moshi

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GERMAN RULE

Germany established a boma, a military/administrative camp in a location they called Neu-Moschi in August 1893.

To protect the caravan road which runs from Kilimanjaro down to Tanga or Pangani, a fort was established at Moshi, on Kilimanjaro, in the territory of chief Mandara, who was friendly to us.

The fort became the site of the new German military station at Moshi, which was thereafter the centre of the German administration at Kilimanjaro.

A HISTORY OF THE ARAB REBELLION IN EAST AFRICA (GESCHICHTE DES ARABERAUFSTANDES IN OST-AFRIKA) An Account of the "Abushiri Rebellion" in Tanzania and its Aftermath, 1888-1891 by Rochus Schmidt Translated (with an introduction) by John W. East


The boma was a fairly large place, consisting of a Government station in charge of three or four white officials with about a hundred Native soldiers. The principal civilian residents were two Greek traders, who owned some coffee plantations. They had been in the country for many years and in the early days did a good trade in ivory. Before the country was taken over, this part was thickly populated by the Wachagga, a rather fine race of people, who gave the Government a lot of trouble. They were well versed in woodcraft, did beautiful carving in wood, rhino horn and ivory, and they were very clever at copying anything.

Boyes, John: Company of Adventurers- pp 115 Extract Date: 1903


By 1906, Natha Hirji seems to have been settled in Moshi, accompanied by his brothers Merali and Habib, (Since Merali Hirji was recorded in the German Colonial Handbook as living in Lindi in 1901 onwards, it is possible that the three brothers may have arrived in East Africa around 1890's-Editor)

Other Khojas who settled in Moshi around the turn of the century were:

Sheriff Dewji

Gower (Moshi)

Kurbanali Suleman Esmail

Hasham Jessa

Mohamed Alibhai


The northern line railroad, built to assist German settlers, reached Moshi in 1912

Illiff, John page 136


This created a big impetus for the established Khoja traders from the coast to open their shops around the railway station buildings. In 1912, the business of Sheriff Dewji & Sons, was established in Moshi. Sherrif Dewji & Sons from Zanzibar, Mombasa and later at Arusha, Moshi, & Tanga. Once on the mainland, his son, Jaffer Dewji of Mombasa, later opened branches at Kampala, Jinja, Mbale, & Soroti.


Mulji Nazarali, who was married to Alladin's cousin Sherbanu, took Alladin to the office of the Distriktkommisar the next day, to a square building with three-foot thick walls and a wide verandah and a corrugated tin roof over and open attic where bats and bush babies hung out at night. The thick walls, the open attic, and the wide verandah kept the buildings cool. The German officer showed Alladin his piece of land on the map. Ten acres for a thousand hellers, or ten Indian rupees. The transaction took place in German with a few Kiswahili words. Alladin Giga would have found it difficult to communicate with someone from another part of India, let alone in German and Kiswahili. The cousin-in-law translated for him, mainly with intelligent guesswork and a few words of German and much more Kiswahili that he had learned. They left the Distriktkommisar with papers signed and stamped in purple ink.

Extract from Ties of Bandhana by Safder Giga Patney

BRITISH RULE

"1916 - van Deventer occupied Moshi, the German railway terminus, on the 13th, where he was subsequently joined by General Stewart's column from Longido. The main body of Germans retreating from Taveta took up strong positions at Kahe station and along the Ruwu River, another body entrenched on the Latema-Reata Nek and were only dislodged after the fiercest fighting (March 19th). The Kahe position was turned by van Deventer on the 21st and on the following day the enemy were in full retreat down the line, destroying the bridges behind them. With the capture of Arusha, the occupation of the Kilimanjaro district was completed."

Samler Brown, A, and Gordon Brown, G (Editors) South and East African Year Book and Guide for 1920, 26th issue;Page Number: 520-521E d Extract Date: 1916.


"Moshi was the obvious area on which to concentrate. It was densely populated with a million people living in banana groves (migombani) and coffee small-holdings (vihamba) on the fertile slopes of the mountain. This was where they cultivated the excellent Arabica coffee the Catholic missionaries introduced at the end of the last century."

"Thanks to the government, local authorities and Catholic and Lutheran missions, Moshi had universal primary education and the highest literacy rate in the territory. The Kilimanjaro Native Cooperative Union (KNCU) was probably the most efficient and progressive cooperative organization in Africa. A district commissioner called Sir Charles Dundas, a Scots baronet started it in the 1920s to enable Chagga coffee growers to compete on equal terms on world markets with the European growers."

Tanzania, Journey to Republic – by Randal Sadleir (Author), Dr. Julius Nyerere (Foreword)- 1 Jul 1999 (Pg 200a)


“The major influx of Asians into Moshi was around 1927-1928"

Allen Johnson Green - University of California, Los Angeles, 1986 - Social Science - "A political economy of Moshi Town, 1920-1960 pg 55"


Moolji Nazarali went on to become a very successful businessman, who following the centuries-old Khoja tradition of public service, donated extensively to a number of public projects in Moshi. He began with the construction of a new community center Jamatkhana in 1925, which he built with his own funds of 40,000/- shillings. Next, he donated 150,000/- shillings in building a Primary School in Moshi. Later, he had also contributed a handsome amount in the establishment of a Guest-House for traveling businesspersons and families, a public library, the Aga Khan Club and a Nursery School.

Some of the other Khojas who settled in Moshi after the 1st World War are:

Walji Kassam

Nazarali Walji Abram

Hassanali Charania

Hirji Jivraj Bharmal

Joharali Jamal

Najmudin Kassam Dewji

Sheriff Jiwa


A Gallery of Colonial Moshi


A Gallery of Khoja Moshi

This essay and others like it on Khojawiki are written to provide context for the life and migration stories of individual Khoja families. We would like to add more such family histories of those who lived here, so our collective history is more complete. Please Click Here To Add Your Family And More Information To Our History