In 1928, the irrigation engineer Alexander Telford set out to survey Tanganyika’s Rufiji and Kilombero valleys, a region many believed held the territory’s most promising sites for agricultural development. Traveling via boat, motorized lorry, and most often by foot, Telford recorded the oils, waterways, and people he encountered. The region’s “well-cultivated [and] carefully laid out and tended” farms, he argued, were evidence of residents’ environmental knowledge and agricultural skills. The Rufiji River was more of a challenge, being “very irregular in places, of constantly varying width and depth [and] unstable.” He concluded that more geographical surveys were needed prior to spending large sums on irrigation or riverimprovement projects. Following World War II, the colonial government turned to international development agencies for assistance in gathering this data.
Heather J. Hoag and May-Britt Öhman. “Turning Water into Power: Debates over the Development of Tanzania’s Rufiji River Basin,
1945–1985.” Technology and Culture 49.3 (2008): 624-651
