Meli or Mangi Meli Kiusa bin Rindi Makindara (1866 – 2 March 1900), also known as (Mangi Meli of Moshi), (Mangi Meli in Kichagga), (Mfalme Meli, in Swahili) was a king of the Chaga in Moshi, one of the sovereign Chagga states in the late 1890s. Mangi means king in Kichagga. He was hanged by the German colonial government together with 19 other Chagga, Meru, and Arusha leaders. Thomas Kitimbo Kirenga, Sindato Kiutesha Kiwelu, King Ngalami of Siha, Tanzania, King Lolbulu of Meru, King Rawaito of Arusha, King Marai of Arusha, and King Molelia of Kibosho were among the noblemen on 2 March 1900.
Rise to power Born in 1866, Mangi Meli was the first child of Mangi Rindi's second marriage to Sesembu, a Kilema noblewoman. Upon Rindi's passing in 1891, which was kept a secret until the succession dispute was settled. The first son of Rindi's first wife, Kirita, and the first son of his second wife, Meli, were competitors. The residents of the west bank of the Msangachi River helped assist Kirita while he lived there. Like his own father in his boyhood, Meli lived on the east side of it and received his best support from that side. Sesembu, Meli's mother, had Kisanvu of the royal dynasty as her right-hand man. They conspired together to poison Kirita and then strangle him to death. Although the dispatch of royal opponents was widespread throughout Kilimanjaro, this incident was one of many that were later utilized as a political tool to attack a branch of the ruling family. This was because it was claimed long after the fact that Kirita's murder had cursed the conspirators. In 1891, Meli then succeeded as mangi of Moshi.
Young, smart, exuberant, and impulsive, Mangi Meli resembled his father in many ways when he assumed the throne thirty years previously. But, the major change in 1891 was that the Europeans were now in charge of Kilimanjaro. Although the actuality of German power was made evident by the invasion of Kibosho, the Chagga were not yet aware that the German government's occupation was a long-term one. Yet, the presence of German officers and askaris served as a constant reminder of the new conditions.
War with Mangi Marealle Meli was subjected to Mangi Marealle of Marangu's deft provocations and subsequent attempts to discredit him from the start of his reign. Marealle, the less well-known younger man, had previously regarded Mangi Rindi as old, venerable, and famous; however, with Meli's arrival, the age relation was reversed. Marealle was older than Meli and was still, despite his interactions with the Europeans, the insignificant ruler of an insignificant kingdom. Marealle had been a pain in Rindi's side, but he had responded to his ruses with deft countermoves conceived with all his mature diplomatic skill. Meli found such chess playing to be tedious. He exuded enthusiasm and confidence. He detested Marealle and his feeble realm and seemed to adore danger.
Marealle, meanwhile Because of the animosity he had created, they were motivated to subdue him because he had seen in February 1891 how well Mangi Sina had been alienated from the Europeans. Marealle was eager to duplicate the same feat against his second big enemy, Moshi, after witnessing the success with which his great opponent, Kibosho, had been defeated. Those two kingdoms were the obstacles to his growth. Marealle feared Meli more than he had feared Rindi, and if the German government hadn't already been set up, Meli would have destroyed Maralle in no time. Extremely valiant, Meli would have been considered a warrior king if the German presence hadn't stopped raiding save when it was carried out under the German regime's auspices.
It was more important than ever for Marealle to acquire the favor of the German officials and turn them against Moshi because of his fear of Meli. He benefited from the German government's choice to build a military and administrative outpost in his tiny realm. After defeating Kibosho in February 1891, according to official German accounts, Hermann Wissmann stayed behind to oversee the construction of a new German headquarters in Moshi, which replaced the thatched wooden building that had served as the station's headquarters since the station's founding in 1887. The following year, a new station at Marangu was built when the new station was abandoned.
Carl Peters made this location shift happen. Peters spent some time in Marangu after arriving in German East Africa in 1891 as an interim Reich Commissar before joining the commission that established the border between German and British East Africa in 1892–1893. Marangu served as the German headquarters from 1891 to 1893, first under Peters, then under Lt. von Bulow, and last under Capt. Kurt Johannes. Peters gave the station there the name "Kilimanjaro Station."
This development was significant for Marealle because it put him in the best possible position to persuade the Germans to side with Moshi. After all, they were already residing in his kingdom. This was a huge victory. In the views of the neighboring Kingdoms, who view the Germans' presence as a sign of his prestige, he was still an ineffective and unpopular monarch. Moreover, the Moshi and Kilema people openly poked fun at him for pandering to his European acquaintances, suggesting that they thought the Germans had made an odd decision. Karl Peters decided on Marangu for the station because he had dispatched an emissary to the Masinde shore to speak with the Germans and persuade them to switch their support from the purportedly treacherous Moshi to the purported ally Marangu.
Marealle and Peters got along incredibly well in Marangu. After Peters left, von Bulow displayed a new perspective: he disliked Marealle and supported Mawalla, who served as Marealle's right-hand man and agent to the Arabs and Europeans. Marealle continued nevertheless, and in a little more than a year following the German invasion of Kibosho, he was successful in fostering strife between von Bulow and Mangi Meli.
These events can be divided into three stages: first, Marealle separated the plot that separated the two; second, on June 10, 1892, von Bulow marched to Moshi to teach Meli a lesson but was ambushed, killed, and fled; third, Col. von Schele, the deputy governor of German East Africa, mounted a significant military expedition to avenge Bulow's subsequent action and shows it to have been less motivated than the German accounts, dismissing Bulow's subsequent action.
Traditional stories claim that he devised the Marealle strategy around a communication von Bulow in Marangu wanted to transmit to Moshi, which would eventually lead to the German military capture of Meli. He sent Mawalla and one of his troops to deliver the message. The soldier requested a woman carrying sweet potatoes for them as they crossed Kirua. Despite speaking Kichagga and Swahili simultaneously, they were unable to understand one another, and Mawalla did not try to explain the situation, even though he could do so Finally, the soldier took control of the potatoes and fled. He entered Moshi Kingdom while being pursued by a throng and was shot dead by Mawalla there. Mawalla, most likely, took the word of the shooting back to Marangu.
Von Bulow ascribed Moshi and Kirua responsibility for the demise of his messenger based on Mawalla's account of the events. The incident was essentially a pre-planned prank planned by Marealle and executed by Mawalla in the hopes that the Germans would send Moshi to hell by enforcing discipline and demonstrating their strength. Without telling Marealle what he was planning, Von Bulow called for a guide and porters to take him to Moshi via the plain to avoid the walk his messenger had to make via Kirua. One early morning, Askaris and another German officer, Lt. Wolfrum, departed from Marangu Station. Marealle was alerted to the fact that von Bulow was missing and frightened that he might be in Meli's hands. He kept visiting the station to find out where von Bulow had gone.
Von Bulow's party safely arrives in Moshi at this point. After setting up camp west of the Nanga, they ascend through Moshi between the Mola and Msangachi rivers with the aid of the guide. They were previously identified at the Nanga by Meli's scouts. The Germans intended to cross the river to Meli's boma after taking control of Rindi's old palace at Ufurunyi, which was located just to the east of the river. The Moshi warriors fire on the German party before they reach the Msangachi. Several askaris, Lt. Wolfrum, and Von Bulow perished. The remaining Askaris went back to Marangu in a panic, packing everything they owned and retreating to the coast while abandoning the Marangu station completely.
Von Bulow undermined Marealle and was hasty to try and play off Marealle's right-hand man Mawalla against him because Marealle was far more intelligent than he was. Mawalla's benefit was minimized because he told Marealle that von Bulow had threatened to hang him and make Mawalla, himself, king in his place, a lie that allowed him to gain more favors from Marealle. Von Bulow made the terrible error of not telling Marealle that he intended to reprimand Moshi. He very well could have saved his life if he had done it. First, Fir Marealle gave him a mysterious guide and told the guide to take him by the most exposed path, as Fir Marealle subsequently recalled.
Von Bulow's death and the escape of his remaining askaris had the effect of ending German rule on Kilimanjaro for 51 days in 1892, from June 10 to July 31. The kingdoms briefly reclaimed their former sovereignty at this time. Meli was ecstatic with his victory over marealle rather than the Germans. His actions were motivated by a desire to disgrace Marealle with the Europeans, not by a wish to harm German soldiers. After the conflict, the Moshi people cut off the Marangu guide's ears, lips, and nose before releasing him and telling him to go tell Melyari (Marealle) that he, his people, and his children would suffer the same fate as they had done to them. The day after the Germans left, other people traveled to Kirema and, while seated at the bank of the river that separates Kilema from Marangu, mockingly yelled across: "Melyari (marealle), go see your father, the white man. Several herds of cattle have been transported by him from Moshi to the lowlands since yesterday”.Silayo, Valence Valerian. "Pre-colonial ethnic wars and the colonization of Northern Tanzania from 1800 to 1950 CE: The case of Chagga of Kilimanjaro." Archaeologies 12 (2016): 163-181.
Marealle, meantime, was afraid. While he had previously been terrified, he was now in awe at the idea that Meli had defeated the all-powerful white guy despite his well-trained warriors and better military equipment. Due to his actions, not just Moshi but also the two intervening kingdoms of Kirua and Kilema, who had similar reasons to despise him, deserted the Marangu Station, leaving him at the mercy of his foes. He lived in constant fear of a Moshi attack that would destroy his country despite being completely aware of the provocation he had given to Meli.
He yet maintained his composure. Blanchard, an Alsatian Catholic missionary who had lately moved to Kilema to assist with admittance there and had briefly moved in with him in Marangu during the era of German rule's collapse, kept him going. Marealle was fortunate that Father August Gommenginger, Blachard's superior at the Kilema Mission, was away in Taveta because Marealle did not get along with Gommenginger. As a result, Blanchard's presence on Marealle's side was crucial during the interim period of 51 days.