Society for German Colonization

Peters, Jühlke and von Pfeil, suspiciously eyed by the British envoy John Kirk, thereupon embarked to the East African Tanganyika mainland.

During their journey in November and December 1884, Peters concluded several "treaties of protection" (Schutzverträge) with tribal chiefs in the Useguha, Ussagara, Nguru, and Ukami regions as a "Representative of German Colonization".

Though the chancellor still expressed serious doubts regarding Peters' land acquisitions, he finally gave in with respect to the expansion of the Belgian colonial empire in Congo while the British were occupied with Mahdist War in Sudan.

He was aware that the imperial charter marked the beginning of a large-scale seizure of land to create reality, which soon resulted in an official note of protest by Sultan Barghash bin Said.

Bismarck found himself constrained to send a squadron of Imperial Navy gunboats under Admiral Eduard von Knorr to the port of Zanzibar, whereafter the sultan relented and on 20 December 1885 signed a "treaty of friendship" recognising the acquisitions of German East Africa.