During the German rule of Tanzania nearly half a million people entered colonial wage labour circuits. Framed within the context of industrialization in Germany, this study examines the social and environmental consequences of labour migration in early colonial Tanzania. Case studies are used to explore the transformations in slavery and porterage, social and work life on plantations and railways, and gendered conflict at the household and village level. It also looks at how rural social change intersected with the Maji Maji rebellion of 1905.