Tanga (Tanzania)

Jiji la thong thong
tanga
Coordinates	5 ° 4 ′  S , 39 ° 6 ′  E Coordinates: 5 ° 4 ′  S , 39 ° 6 ′  E
Basic data
Country	Tanzania
region	tanga
height	25 m
surface	536 km²
Residents	221,127 (2012)
density	412.6  Ew. / km²
Post Code	21101
Website	www.tanga.go.tz
politics
mayor	Omari Guledi

tanga
Climate diagram
J F. M. A. M. J J A. S. O N D.     35   32 24     28   33 24     108   33 24     243   31 23     291   30th 22nd     86   29 21st     59   29 20th     70   29 20th     73   29 20th     116   30th 21st     134   31 22nd     86   32 23 Temperature in ° C ,  precipitation in mm Source: Tanzania Meteorological Agency, data: 1971–2000

Postcard from Tanga (1914) with a portrait of Hermann von Wissmann

Kaiserstrasse in Tanga (1906)

Tanga is the northernmost port city of Tanzania with 221,127 inhabitants (as of 2012 census) and the name of the region that surrounds the city.

history

The place name ( Swahili for sail ) is derived from the shape of the Dead Island lying in front of Tanga , at whose western end the old city was. The exact origin of Tanga cannot be traced, as there are no archaeological or written sources for the period before the 15th century. First finds (porcelain), which suggest the existence of a trading place, could be on the 15th / 16th centuries. Century to be dated. Tanga was in any case part of the Swahili coastal culture, which emerged from the centuries-old exchange between Arab traders and African fishermen and farmers. The Sultan of Zanzibar was of great importance for the development of Tanga . When he took control of Tanga in 1837, more and more traders and merchants settled there. Tanga was - along with other cities on the East African coast, such as B. Mombasa , Bagamoyo or Kilwa - the end or starting point of a caravan route and was therefore a transshipment point especially for ivory and slaves . The development accelerated from around the middle of the 19th century after Said ibn Sultan had finally moved his capital from Muscat in Oman to Zanzibar . Tanga was ruled by a governor of the sultan. After the sultan took control of the entire coastal strip between Vanga and Pangani after 1862, Tanga lost its importance as a trading center in favor of Pangani further south .

In 1888 two officials of the German East African Society (DOAG) were sent to Tanga. A DOAG district chief followed in August 1888. On April 9, 1891 Tanga became the seat of the district office of the district of the same name. The old settlements of blacks, Indians and Arabs were largely destroyed by the urban development measures of the German colonial power. The streets were laid out following a checkerboard geometry and houses were built of stone.

The city was the starting point of the Usambara Railway in 1893 , which today runs to Arusha and branches off to the Tanganyika Railway. For a long time, the Hotel Kaiserhof was the only hotel in East Africa. In 1913 there were 4 inns in Tanga.

On April 1, 1914, Tanga was granted city rights. A city ​​coat of arms was therefore designed during the German colonial era , which shows a triangular sail of a dhow and a wall crown . It was one of the few communal symbols in the German colonies. Due to the outbreak of war in August 1914, it was no longer in use. However, the dhow emblem can still be found today.

From 3 to 5 November 1914 suggested here in the Battle of Tanga , the German colonial force for German East Africa under Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck to attempt to land a vastly superior British-Indian force under the command of Arthur Aitken's back.

Eckernförde has been the sponsor city of Tangas since 1963 . One street in Tanga is called Eckernförde Avenue , and a private university is called Eckernforde Tanga University Institute of Health Sciences .

The local URITHI museum for the city history of Tanga was supported with funds from the German government in the restoration of the building and the collection of exhibits.

Population development

The following overview shows the number of inhabitants by area since the 1978 census.

year	population
1978 (census)	103,399
1988 (census)	137.364
2002 (census)	172,557
2012 (census)	221.127

Islam in thong

There are around 40 mosques in Tanga and the surrounding area, most of which are Sunni -oriented. Friday prayer is held in ten of these mosques . The largest mosque is the Haidar Mosque, which was built in 1949 on a piece of land donated by the Yemeni Sherif Haidar. The cost of the construction, which was completed in 1950, was 150,000 shillings. Half of this amount was donated by the Agha Khan , 10,000 shillings came from the landowner Karimjee, a member of the Bohras community .

Tanga also has three madrasa schools: TAMTA (Tanganyika African Muslim Teachers' Association), Zahrau and Maawa. The largest of these is TAMTA, which was founded in 1957 and was headed by Sheikh Muhammad Ayoub for decades. It forms the center of a whole network of schools and mosques in Tanga and the surrounding area, has 25 teachers and around 700 students. The Zahrau Madrasa, which was opened in 1966 by Sheikh Sulaiman Mbwana in the Msambweni district, has 500 students and 20 branches in and around Tanga, each with a teacher who is appointed by the central madrasa. The Maawa, founded in the mid-1970s, is the smallest madrasa with 300 students. There is strong rivalry between the three madrasas, which is exacerbated by different clan and tribal affiliations.

Twin cities

• Eckernförde , Germany (since 1963)
• Kemi , Finland (since 2007)
• Tifariti , Western Sahara
• Toledo , Ohio , USA (since 2001)
• Weihai , China

See also

• Flags in the colonies of the German Empire
• Bishopric thong

literature

• Jürgen Becher: Dar es Salaam , Tanga and Tabora - urban development in Tanzania under German colonial rule (1885-1914) . Franz Steiner. Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-515-06735-3

Web links

Commons : Tanga  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Tourism guide for the city and region of Tanga (English; PDF; approx. 2.5 MB)

• Image documentation historical thong, 2018

• Tanga in the German Colonial Lexicon from 1920

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Tanzania Meteorological Agency: Climatic information Tanga. World Meteorological Organization, accessed October 27, 2012 . 
2. ^ Tanga, in: Heinrich Schnee (Ed.): Deutsches Kolonial-Lexikon. Volume 3, Quelle & Meyer, Leipzig 1920, pp. 454f.
3. ^ Rudolf Fitzner: German Colonial Handbook. Volume 1, 2nd ext. Ed., Hermann Paetel, Berlin 1901, p. 279.
4. ↑ Jürgen Becher: Dar es Salaam , Tanga and Tabora - Urban Development in Tanzania under German Colonial Rule (1885-1914) . Franz Steiner. Stuttgart 1997. pp. 59-62.
5. ↑ Jürgen Becher: Dar es Salaam , Tanga and Tabora - Urban Development in Tanzania under German Colonial Rule (1885-1914) . Franz Steiner. Stuttgart 1997. p. 65.
6. ^ City partnership Eckernförde-Tanga
7. ^ National Council of Technical Education
8. ↑ Foreign Office: URITHI Museum Tanga, Tanzania
9. ^ Tanzania: Regions and Cities - Population Statistics in Maps and Tables. Retrieved January 7, 2019 . 
10. ↑ See Abdin N. Chande: Islam, Ulamaa and Community Development in Tanzania. A Case Study of Religious Currents in East Africa. San Francisco (et al.): Austin & Winfield 1998. p. 110.
11. ↑ See Chande 106-129.