This photograph shows (presumably German) guests on the veranda of the “Hotel zur Stadt” in the capital of the colony of German East Africa, Dar es Salaam. In addition to a governor’s palace, the capital city boasted a variety of other buildings: hotels for German and other visitors, a post office, two churches, banks, a brewery, commercial buildings, and private residences. Located on the Indian Ocean, Dar es Salaam had extensive port facilities and was also the starting point of the railroad that connected the coast with the interior of the country. This idyllic-looking scene is deceptive, however. The photograph dates from approximately 1905, the year that saw the outbreak of the Maji Maji rebellion, which was brutally put down two years later by German troops.