So i got curious of how badly hit Tanganyika was during the Spanish flu pandemic. Very few records exist obviously. But i found some sources that shed a light on the numbers

1918, the year that the Spanish Flu became a pandemic was mainly thanks to WW1. Germany was just losing their grip on Tanganyika (they surrendered Tanganyika on November 1918), the British were just about to take guardianship of Tanganyika

According to David Killingray's article named "A New 'Imperial Disease': The Influenza Pandemic of 1918-9 and its Impact on the British Empire", the Spanish Flu landed in East Africa around September 1918 coming from shipping originating from Bombay, India.

it is important to note that Asia was the most hard hit by the virus, with an estimated 32 million deaths from the Spanish flu. So it wasnt a surprise the virus made its way to east Africa via Indian ships

According to the article, once the virus hit Tanganyika, it spread really fast. But here is the interesting bit, it spread mostly along the railway line (the one the Germans has built).

It is estimated that Tukuyu which had a population of around 180,000 lost just about 10% of its population (around 18,000) to the spanish flu. According to Killingray, the whole of Tanganyika lost well over 100,000 lives to the Spanish flu during the 1918-19 pandemic

The part i found the most interesting is Zanzibar and how they reacted to the Spanish flu. Apparently Zanzibar was one of the first to react to the Spanish flu. they implemented the most "Stringent" Quarantine measures. Zanzibar was able to keep the virus under control!

You can read the Article here: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40654422?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

Or an even better book (you might need access) “A Fierce Hunger”: Tracing the Impacts of the 1918-1919 Influenza Pandemic in Southwest Tanzania: https://scholar.dickinson.edu/faculty_publications/30/

The best quotes by Jan-Bart Gewald:
"It can be and has been argued that the domination of Maji Maji in Tanzanian historiography has effectively veiled and obscured events that had an equally great, if not greater, impact and influence on Tanzanian societies than Maji Maji."

I 100% agree with this. i have an A in O level history and not once were we told about the Spanish Flu, or the famine that followed in Tanganyika 1918-1920. But every kid, even those with an F in History, knows about Maji Maji war.

"Those who don't learn history are bound to repeat it" - George Santayana

Here we are today.

Also for those asking when will we go back to "normal" after corona, it is important to note that there will be a new Normal.

James Ellison conducted an anthropological study (study of human societies and cultures and their development) in Southern-Western Tanganyika

He found out that the Social Structures and cultures we see today in Southern Tanzania were not the norm but
had to a large extent been determined by the Spanish Influenza epidemic of 1918-19.

If you want to read more, especially if you like history and are from iringa. https://www.peacepalacelibrary.nl/ebooks/files/371672317.pdf