The
Zanzibar Island, locally known
as Unguja, is a scented paradise full of aroma of
locally grown spices such as, cloves, vanilla, peppers,
cardamoms and many more. The spices were brought
to the island by the Sultan of Oman in 1698 after he
banished the Portuguese traders who used the island as a
transit port for repairing and refueling their ships, on
t
Owing to the growth of slave trade in 18th
and early 19th century, Zanzibar became an essential
location along the Eastern African slave-trading routes.
Slaves were taken from as far as Congo, traveled to Bagamoyo, then shipped to Unguja to either work in
the cloves and coconut plantation in Unguja and
Pemba, or to be
shipped to the Middle East and former French colonies of
Reunion, Mauritius, Seychelles and Madagascar, or North
America.
Unguja Stone
Town: The World Heritage Site
2000
The history of the Stone Town (Unguja) goes
beyond 19th Century when the island was the most vital
trading center in the Indian Ocean. Today the town is an
outstanding material manifestation cultural fusion and
harmonization. Above all the only remain of early
Swahili coastal trading towns of East Africa, which
maintains its urban fabric and townscape. The evidence
can be seen from historical buildings to heart of town;
among them House of Wonders (Bait-el-Ajab), The Palace
Museum, Dr. Livingstone’s House, Arab Fort,
Maruhubi Ruins, Lutheran
Church, slave trade market and Malindi Minaret Mosque.
[see more about
stone town
Tour]
Remember: this was
also the place where suppression
campaigns of slave trade in East
