Mafia (island)
| mafia | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Waters | Indian Ocean | |
| Archipelago | Zanzibar Archipelago | |
| Geographical location | 7 ° 51 ′ S , 39 ° 47 ′ E | |
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| length | 49 km | |
| width | 17 km | |
| surface | 435 km² | |
| Highest elevation | 53 m | |
| Residents | 40,801 (2002) 94 inhabitants / km² |
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| main place | Kilindoni | |
Mafia (Latin Menuthras , Roman name of the island in antiquity) is a Tanzanian island to the east of the Rufiji - river deltas before the East African coast in the Indian Ocean is.
geography
Mafia with its minor islands is the southernmost archipelago of the Zanzibar archipelago , but administratively forms one of the six districts of the administrative region Pwani on the mainland. Mafia has an area of 518 km². The main island alone measures 435 km². The island is a paradise for divers and snorkelers due to its protected location, the many small islands and the coral reef .
At the time of the 2002 census, the population was 40,801, 11,751 of them in the capital Kilindoni in the southwest of the island. The three largest minor islands are Juani (17.12 km²), Jibondo (3 km²) and Chole (3 km², 800 inhabitants) with a total of 3,405 inhabitants. The upscale coral island is relatively flat with a maximum height of 53 meters.
In the south and east of the island is the Mafia Marine Park , which also includes the offshore islands and reefs. 45 kilometers south of Mafia is the archipelago around the island of Songo Songo , which also includes the small island of Okuza Island , which is only 20 kilometers south and therefore closer to Mafia .
Wildlife
The 17-km-wide mafia channel that separates the island from the mainland, is part of the circulation area of the dugongs (dugong) on the east coast put sea turtles their eggs. King fish , spearfish , horse mackerel , sailfish and the big rock cod can be found in the coral reefs around the island .
tourism
The island can be reached by plane. Flights can be booked at the airport in Dar es Salaam . There is also a daily motorized ferry from Nyamisati. It is possible to travel with the irregular dhows , but it is not recommended for tourists due to the unsafe weather conditions and the questionable safety equipment on board these wooden sailors. Good accommodation can be found in the south-eastern part of the island. These are located within the territory of the Mafia Island Marine Park . Due to the poor transport connections to the mainland, the island is still relatively untouched. There are excellent snorkeling and diving opportunities. Diving tours can be booked on site through hotels and private providers. In addition to the "normal" reef inhabitants, there are also whale sharks , sea turtles and humpback whales in the sea . On the small offshore island of Chole , one can observe flying foxes in colonies with hundreds of animals.
history
The oldest archaeological finds document trade relations between the Mafia and the surrounding areas ( Madagascar , Mozambique , Arabian Peninsula ) as early as the 8th century .
During the 16th and 17th centuries, Portugal was the dominant colonial power in East Africa, but only maintained fortified facilities at a few strategically important points to control trade and secure the sea routes to India and the Moluccas .
In 1698, the Portuguese were subject to Omani Arabs, who from then on controlled the area between Lamu and Kilwa , including the Mafias. When the Sultanate of Oman was divided in the 19th century, the Mafia came to Zanzibar. In the German-English agreement of October 29, 1886, Berlin recognized the Zanzibari sovereignty over the Mafia as well as over a 10 mile wide coastal strip on the mainland.
In the German-British Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty of 1890, Great Britain promised to influence the Sultan with regard to the cession of the mainland strip and the island to Germany. Accordingly, an agreement was reached in 1892, according to which, after paying 4 million Reichsmarks to the Sultan of Zanzibar , the empire took over the island and the strip on the mainland coast, which together with the acquisitions of the German-East African Society and other conquests, the colony of German-East Africa formed.
A few months after the outbreak of the First World War , British units occupied the island of Mafia on January 10, 1915, in order to take down the German warship " Königsberg ", which was hidden in the delta of the Rufiji River . The landing took place at Ras Kisimani on the southwestern tip of the island. The defenders, three German and twenty Askaris under the command of a local planter, gave up the fight against six companies on the British after five hours. The protection troops were captured by the British. Only one trooper managed to escape with a dhow to Kilwa Kivinje .
After the First World War, the Mafia became part of the English trustee area Tanganyika and gained independence with this on December 9, 1961 (since 1964: Tanzania ).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Lionel Casson: The Periplus Maris Erythraei: text, translation, and commentary Princeton University Press, Princeton 1989. p. 36.
- ↑ Ilha de Moçambique , Fort Jesus in Mombasa
- ↑ between the estuaries of Rovuma and Umbo, d. H. between Mozambique and Kenya
- ↑ Reinhard K. Lochner: Battle in the Rufiji Delta - The end of the small cruiser "Königsberg" . Munich: Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, 1987, p. 201, ISBN 3-453-02420-6 .
- ↑ Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Zeitung of January 23, 1915 (PDF file; 15.20 MB)