Arusha: History
The current site of Arusha was first settled in the 1830s by the agro-pastoral Arusha Maasai from the Arusha Chini community, south of Mount Kilimanjaro. They traded grains, honey, beer, and tobacco with the pastoral Kisongo Maasai in exchange for livestock, milk, meat, and skins. Demand for Arusha's foodstuffs increased substantially during the 1860s when the Pangani Valley trade route was extended through Old Moshi, Arusha, and ultimately to western Kenya. Although not yet a town, it was a regional centre with a number of urban features.
Arusha was conquered by the Germans in 1896 after the murder of the first two missionaries who attempted to settle on nearby Mount Meru. The Germans established a permanent presence in 1900 when a military fort (a boma) was built and soldiers were garrisoned there. "The boma was a solid statement, meant to impress German moral and political order on the surrounding countryside. Set on a rise overlooking the plains, the fortress-like building dominated the surrounding landscape" complete with a machine gun.
Many Africans were forcibly displaced from their ancestral lands by the Germans and forced to dig lime or carry stones to construct the fort. The British took Arusha from the Germans in 1916 during World War I. German officials left the area, the British deported German missionaries and settlers, and only a skeletal military administration of the town remained.
During the 1920s, civilian administration was implemented, missionaries from the United States arrived, British and Greek settlers reoccupied the former German farms, and the town grew, especially after the British moved the regional administration from New Moshi to Arusha. The extension of the railroad from Moshi to Arusha in 1928-29 greatly increased commerce. The Great Depression soon squelched commerce and Arusha in 1940 had fewer than 2,000 residents. Growth resumed during World War II and by 1948, the population had increased to more than 5,000.
In 1952, a partial census was conducted in Tanganyika, covering cities and towns. Arusha's population at the time was 7,797, of whom 1,084 were Europeans, 3,153 were Asians, and 3,560 native Africans.
By the 1950s, Arusha was "a polyglot, westernized little town; it has a Greek community, several Germans predating World War I, and some German Jewish refugees post-dating World War II." A state of emergency was declared in the Arusha region in 1953 in response to the Mau Mau Uprising. Journalist John Gunther noted at the time that "a loyal tribe, the Waarusha, threatened to take violent countermeasures against the Kikuyus themselves, if the British did not. The authorities arrested the leading Mau Mau conspirators, screened thousands more, and deported other thousands back to Kenya."
In the 1960s, parts of the movie Hatari! with John Wayne were filmed at Momela Lakes and at Mount Meru.
Arusha has been a crucial city in the history of modern Tanzania. Official documents ceding independence to Tanganyika were signed by the United Kingdom at Arusha in 1961. The Arusha Declaration was signed in 1967 in Arusha. The Arusha Accords were signed at the city of Arusha on 4 August 1993, by representatives of competing factions in the Rwandan civil war. …