Maji-Maji Uprising (Tanganyika). The Maji-Maji uprising of 1905 took place in south-eastern Tanganyika and was the most serious challenge to early colonial rule in East Africa. The uprising was led by a religious prophet, Kinjikitile Ngwale, who called upon the people to resist the oppressive forced labor and tax policies imposed by the German colonists. He promised his followers that if they applied holy water (maji in the local language) that he provided to their bodies, they would be able to resist bullets from German guns. The uprising gained considerable local support before it was brutally put down by German soldiers.