In the early 1830s, coastal traders increasingly settled in the region to take advantage of the ivory and slave caravan trade.
Swahili and
Omani traders established Kazeh, near present-day Tabora, in the 1850s. By 1870, Tabora was home to a population of 5,000-10,000 people living in roughly fifty large square houses. These homes accommodated up to several hundred people each and had inner courtyards, adjacent garden plots, store rooms, servant quarters, and outbuildings for slaves. The town was surrounded by
Nyamwezi villages, whose people provided produce and caravan labor. In this period the Sultan of Zanzibar appointed a representative there. It was part of the Kingdom of
Unyanyembe. Tabora was a center of trade for traders from as far North as the
Buganda Kingdom. By August 1871, one-quarter of the town was burned when the forces of the Nyamwezi ruler
Mirambo sacked it. Although the
German East Africa protectorate was proclaimed over the region in 1885, as late as 1891 travellers reported it to be a lawless town. The German colonial administration did not gain control of it until later that year. As a major station on the
Central Line, it became the most important administrative centre of central German East Africa. In 1916 the colonial garrison had an emergency mint at Tabora, making some gold pieces as well as large numbers of crude copper and brass
German East African rupie minor coins,
Mint marked with a "T". During the
Tabora Offensive in the
East African Campaign of
World War I, colonial armed forces of the Belgian Congo (
Force Publique) under the command of General
Charles Tombeur captured the town on 19 September 1916 after 10 days and nights of heavy fighting. == Socio-economic situation ==