New Moschi
Neu Moschi (also Neu-Moschi, Neumoschi) originated in the German colonial times as Moschi train station .
history
When the continuation of the Usambara Railway from Tanga on the Indian Ocean into the interior of German East Africa, the seat of the German administration on Kilimanjaro , Moschi, was to be connected to the railway, difficulties arose in building the station in Moschi. In order to save costs, avoid structural problems and because of the better continuation of the railway to Aruscha, it was decided not to lead into Moschi, but to a lower area near Moschi. Six kilometers as the crow flies below Moschi, which is up to 1150 m above sea level, the station was built at 810 m. Since the train station as the future traffic junction of the area would also be a new district of Moschi, it was given the name Neu Moschi. On October 4, 1911, the railway line to Neu Moschi was put into operation.
With the opening of the railway line, Neu Moschi immediately began to grow rapidly. Because of the good transport connections, economic enterprises settled here.
The extension of the Usambara Railway from New Moshi to Aruscha was planned, preliminary work was done and the further construction approved. Preparations for the construction of the line from Neu Moschi towards the German settlement area of Aruscha were in progress when the First World War broke out in August 1914 and further construction was temporarily terminated.
With the beginning of the First World War, Neu Moschi was immediately also important militarily. Due to the many plantations on its slopes, Kilimanjaro was an important economic area of the colony and had to be protected militarily, at the same time the Kilimanjaro area also served as a deployment area for attacks against British East Africa .
When British troops landed in Tanga at the beginning of November 1914, large German troops from the Kilimanjaro area could immediately be transported from Neu Moschi via the Usambara Railway to Tanga, where they could inflict heavy losses on the British in the battle of Tanga and push them back into the sea.
After the war, the railway line to Aruscha was completed in 1929 under British mandate administration .
Today New Moshi is the actual Moshi and the original Moshi is located on the northern edge of the city and is called Old Moshi.
Web links
literature
- Franz Baltzer : The colonial railways with special consideration of Africa , GJ Göschen'sche Verlagshandlung G. mb H., Berlin and Leipzig 1916, pp. 40–45
Individual evidence
- ↑ German Colonial Lexicon , Volume II, Leipzig 1920, p. 593