In 1869, German missionaries established the first German presence in the territory that would become German East Africa. In 1884, the Company for German Colonization was founded by German explorer Carl Peters, and immediately began establishing treaties with local chiefs in the coastal region.

Over the next decade, the newly-founded German East Africa Company would increase German influence in the area by opening customs houses and forming agreements with local chiefs and Sultans. In the last years of the 1880s, however, Arabs opposed to the increased European presence began raiding and killing German settlers. The German East Africa Company requested assistance from the Imperial government, which quickly came in the form of ships and men under the command of newly-appointed Imperial Commissioner Hauptmann Hermann von Wissmann. Within a year, the insurrection was crushed, and in 1891, Germany acquired sovereignty over the entire territory.

As part of the continuing efforts to alleviate the shortage of stamps due to the war situation, in January 1916, three post offices were authorized to frank pre-paid private envelopes.  Envelopes could be sent from any post office to Daressalam, Morogoro, or Tanga, where they would be franked with the official seal of the Post Director and a notation that the 7½ Heller postage had been pre-paid.  The pre-franked envelopes could then be used at any post office remaining open in the colony.

Several varieties are cataloged in Michel, Borek, and Strahlendorff/Mette.  The varities consist mainly of differences in ink color and the presence of pre-printed sender information, or lack thereof, on the covers.