TZ history 102: The coast and colonization, part 1

Compared to much of sub-Saharan Africa, Tanzania had very early and extensive contact with non-African cultures, and this is evident in the ethnic, religious, and cultural differences between the upper mainland and Zanzibar and the coast.

The Tanzanian coast, and Zanzibar in particular, were an important part of sea trading routes that touched all parts of the Indian Ocean, and connected (coastal)East Africa to most of the ancient world (who were quite fond of African gold, ivory, and other goods). Ancient Sumerians are known to have visited as long as 4000 years ago, followed around 1000BC by the Phoenicians and Assyrians. Archaeologists have found artifacts like coins, daggers, and jewelry from the Romans, Egyptians, and some Middle Eastern civilizations as well. I read that even later, Tanzania's coast was part of trading networks that went as far as China and Indonesia, which probably introduced coconuts, bananas, and outrigger canoes.

Because of way the monsoon systems travel up and down the coast, traders were forced to stay a while here (or Mozambique, or Kenya, etc) before the the winds changed direction and brought them home. Of course, this means they built towns all up and down the coast, importing their cultures and languages.

The Persians in particular established many permanent settlements along the coast from Somalia to Mozambique. This was the beginning of Swahili civilization, which was a combination of African, Persian, and Arab cultures. (The Kiswahili language is an amalgamation of Bantu, Persian, and Arabic, with thousands more loan words from Portuguese, Hindi, English, and German. It spread inland from the coast along trade routes).

The next powerhouse in the region were the Portuguese, notified of its strategic and economic value by Vasco da Gama, who stopped by on his way to discovering an ocean route to India. They took over the Swahili coast quite quickly in the 1500s, but this disrupted the traditional trading networks and the entire coast apparently began to decline. Portuguese interest waned, and they kept up settlements mainly as staging posts until they were ousted in the region by the Omanis—whose reign is a much more exciting period to learn about, frankly.

The Omanis pretty much controlled the western Indian Ocean (including this part of East Africa) from the 1600s to the 1800s. The now-Tanzanian coast and Zanzibar played a huge role in their dominance. The sultan even moved the Omani capital to Zanzibar in 1841.

The disgusting source of Zanzibar's immense wealth was the slave trade: slaves were transported from all over East Africa to be traded on the island. The markets at Stone Town sold thousands of slaves per year. Money also rolled in from ivory, gold, timber, and spices. Zanzibar once produced four-fifths of all the world's cloves, and it's said that you could smell them from far out to sea. (Though I read a hilarious story of uber-colonialist David Livingstone, whose house was near a swamp, calling the island "Stink-ibar," which really makes me giggle for some reason).

I hope to visit Zanzibar near the end of my trip. I want to take a spice tour and visit Omani and European colonial buildings. The pens under one of the old slave markets have been preserved, and I'd very much like to see that too. From what I've read, the entire island seems so full of history and colour, and very different from the Tanzania where I live.

...More colonial history to come, followed by communism and capitalism. And maybe even some posts about fun things!