Багамойо: История и наследие танзанийского города

Capital of Bagamoyo District, Pwani Region

Bagamoyo (Mji wa Bagamoyo, in Swahili) is a historic coastal town and capital of Bagamoyo District in the Pwani Region of Tanzania. Much of the settlement was founded at the end of the 18th century, though it is an extension of a much older (8th century) Swahili settlement, Kaole. It was chosen as the capital of German East Africa by the German colonial administration and it became one of the most important trading ports for the Germans along the East African coast along the west of the Indian Ocean in the late 19th and early 20th century. Bagamoyo lies north of Dar es Salaam on the coast of the Zanzibar Channel, across from the island of Zanzibar. The town hosts Bagamoyo Historic Town, that is a National Historic Site of Tanzania. In 2011, the town had 82,578 inhabitants.

In Kiswahili, Bagamoyo's name translates to "take a load off your heart." Your load is supposed to be lifted by the words in order to help you feel at peace. This is a reference to Bagamoyo's renown as a town of porters in the nineteenth century. The mediaeval settlement served as the destination for thousands of porters who travelled with the caravan and carried, on average, 70 pound loads across their shoulders, principally ivory tusks. After a taxing journey and months of hiking over dangerous terrain, Bagamoyo appealed as a destination for recreation and rest.

The original settlement, Kaole, was founded c. 800 CE, and grew into an important trading town by the 13th century. The Kaole Ruins contain the remnants of two mosques and 30 tombs, dated back to the 13th century. Until the 18th century, Bagamoyo, the settlement north of Kaole, was a small trading center where most of the population were fishermen and farmers. Their main trading goods were fish, salt and gum, among others. Around the 17th century this area began growing in prosperity and by the 18th century it was an important stop in the caravan and slave trade, acquiring the name Bagamoyo. It became the most important trading entrepot of the east central coast of Africa in the late 19th century. In the late 18th century, Muslim families settled in Bagamoyo, all of which were relatives of Shamvi la Magimba in Oman. They made their living by enforcing taxes on the native population and by trading in salt, gathered from the Nunge coast north of Bagamoyo. In the first half of the 19th century, Bagamoyo became a trading port for ivory and slave, with traders coming from the African interior places as far as Morogoro, Lake Tanganyika and Usambara on their way to Zanzibar. This explains the meaning of the word Bagamoyo ("Bwaga Moyo") which means "Lay down your Heart" in Swahili. It is disputed whether this refers to the slave trade which passed through the town (i. e. "give up all hope") or to the porters who rested in Bagamoyo after carrying cargoes on their shoulders from the Great Lakes region (i. e. "take the load off and rest"). There is considerable debate regarding the extent of the slave trade as a major export in Bagamoyo, with archival analysis suggesting that ivory was the primary export over slaves, and that many of the caravan porters on the ivory route were free wage laborers as opposed to slaves. However, the history of the slave trade features prominently in the shared culture of its residents and organizations such as UNESCO emphasize its importance as a cultural heritage site memorializing the slave trade in East Africa. The slave trade in East Africa was officially prohibited in the year 1873, but continued surreptitiously to the end of the 19th century. and James Augustus Grant. Although often believed so, David Livingstone had never been to Bagamoyo in his lifetime. Only after his death he was laid out in the Old Church's tower (nowadays named Livingston Tower) to wait for the high tide to come in and ship his body to Zanzibar. Bagamoyo was the first capital of the colony while serving as the German headquarters of German East Africa (first under the auspices of the German East African Company and then the German Imperial Government) between 1886 1891. Dar es Salaam became the new capital of the colony in 1891. The town was apparently where SS Oberführer Julian Scherner was born in 1895. When the German Empire decided to build a railway from Dar es Salaam into the interior in 1905, Bagamoyo's importance began to decline.

In the East African campaign of World War I, British and Empire forces attacked Bagamoyo in August 1916. The Royal Navy bombarded the town with the protected cruiser on 1 August and battleship on 4 August. Before dawn on 15 August a flotilla anchored off Bagamoyo that included Vengeance, the protected cruiser , the monitors and , the armed merchant cruiser , and several auxiliary ships. A kite balloon flown by directed a naval bombardment of German positions ashore. A seaplane from Himalaya bombed German trenches in the town, and then assisted in directing naval gunnery. The Imperial German Army defended Bagamoyo with 60 German troops and 350 Askari Schutztruppe, commanded by German officers. However, many of the defenders were at Mtoni, about 4 mile (6 km) west of Bagamoyo, defending a crossing over the Kingani River. In 2006, the department applied for World Heritage Site status, in the cultural category. In 2018, the new port construction began that will transform the area.

In 2013, a large two berth intermodal container deepwater port terminal was proposed by Tanzanian government. Called Bagamoyo Port, it will be constructed at Mbegani, near Bagamoyo. China planned to invest US$10B to make Bagamoyo the most important port in Africa by 2017. The port is part of the Maritime Silk Road. In 2018, the project got the go ahead and work started in about June/July. It will be built in association with the state owned China Merchants Port, it will include a special economic zone. The US$ 10bn project is backed by an Omani sovereign wealth fund. In 2019 Tanzanian President John Magufuli announced the suspension of the project.

Bagamoyo is served by the Bagamoyo Daladala stand near Bagamoyo road south east of Bagamoyo.

Bagamoyo hosts the Bagamoyo Arts and Cultural Institute.