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Stone Town
or Mji Mkongwe, in
Swahili, is the old part of
Zanzibar City, the capital of the
island of
Zanzibar, a part of
Tanzania.
The old town is built on a triangular
peninsula of land on the western coast
of the island. It consists of a warren
of narrow alleys to
houses,
shops
bazaars and
mosques. Transport around town is by
foot,
bicycle or
motorbike: cars are too wide to
drive down many of the inner streets.
Its
Swahili architecture incorporates
elements of
Arab,
Persian,
Indian,
European and
African styles. The Arab houses are
particularly noticeable because they
have large and ornately carved wooden
doors and other unusual features such as
enclosed wooden verandas.
The site has probably been occupied for
around three centuries with buildings
only being constructed with stone since
the
1830s.
Two large buildings dominate the main
front of Stone Town. One is
Beit-El-Ajaib or the House of Wonders,
which was built by Sultan Seyyid
Barghash as a grand palace for
ceremonial purposes. The other is the
Arab Fort which stands on the site of a
former Portuguese settlement and was
converted to a fort during the 18th
Century.
The town was the centre of
trade on the
East African coast between
Asia and
Africa before the
colonization of the mainland in the
late
1800s after which the focus moved to
Mombasa and
Dar es Salaam. The main export was
spices and particularly
cloves. For many years Stone Town
was a major centre for the
slave trade,
Slaves were obtained from mainland
Africa and traded with the
Middle East. The
Anglican
Cathedral is built on the site of a
former slave market. Some of the holding
cells still exist at the site.
The town also became a base for many
European explorers, particularly the
Portuguese, and colonisers from the
late 1800s.
David Livingstone used Stone Town as
his base for preparing for his final
expedition in 1866, a house, now bearing
his name, was lent by Sultan Seyyid
Said. Immigrant communities from
Oman,
Persia and
India lived here. These were often
engaged in trade or in the case of the
Omanis were rulers of the island and its
dependent territories.
Stone Town has been designated by
UNESCO
as a
World Heritage Site.
It is also famous as the birthplace of
Freddie Mercury, who used to be the
lead singer of the band
Queen. |