Saadani
Saadani (also: Sadani ) is a small fishing village in northeast Tanzania on the coast of the Indian Ocean north of Dar es Salaam and Bagamoyo . It is located in the Saadani National Park and has about 800 inhabitants. This now inconspicuous place has an important history behind it, which is reminiscent of a number of building ruins.
Swahili City
Saadani is one of the old Swahili settlements in which the connection of the local population with Arab, Persian and Indian traders gave rise to a new culture and language. It received a high degree of independence until the colonial era. After the Omani sultan's move to the island of Zanzibar , Saadani recognized the sultan's sovereignty, but remained one of the few coastal towns where no sultan's governor (liwali) was stationed. In 1882 an attempt by the armed forces of Zanzibar to take direct control was repulsed.
Center of the caravan trade
In the 19th century, the coastal town was an important starting point for the caravan trade , which ran between the East African coast and the inland to Lake Tanganyika and the Congo . It owed its importance to its favorable location across from Zanzibar . The growing international demand for ivory and for slaves, especially for the flourishing plantation economy of Zanzibar, allowed the East African coastal trade to flourish.
Bagamoyo , Saadani and Pangani were the places from which the carrier caravans started on the main route via Tabora to Ujiji .
Saadani was also known to European explorers and missionaries. Burton and Speke began their journey of discovery into the interior of the continent here in 1858. The future German governor Hermann von Wissmann was one of the travelers to Africa in 1881 who ended their trip in Saadani.
Under the government of his local sultan Bwana Heri (from around 1870) Saadani asserted his autonomy and grew into competition for Bagamoyo in the south .
Colonial times
As a nominal part of the Zanzibari coastal area, Saadani also faced the claims of the German-East African Society in 1888, which wanted to take control of this area.
When the uprising of the East African coastal population broke out in Pangani on August 18, 1888 after the German flag was hoisted , Sultan Bwana Heri von Saadani immediately joined the movement. This led to the bombardment of the place by German warships on June 6, 1889. After Bwana Heris surrendered to his old friend Wissmann, he returned to Saadani and rebuilt the place.
Loss of economic importance
Nevertheless, the colonial era meant the gradual end of the city's economic importance. Much of the maritime traffic is gradually shifting from dhows to modern steamships. The Saadania roadstead was too shallow for this; larger ships with a draft of 6 m had to lie 6 kilometers outside the port in the roadstead. Added to this was the loss of importance of the caravan route due to the construction of the Tanganyika Railway from Dar es Salaam via Tabora to Kigoma before the First World War .
The important trading place shrank to a fishing village. This is now within the Saadani Game Reserve.
Web links
- History of Saadani ( PDF file; 424 kB)
- Entry "Sadani" in the colonial dictionary
Coordinates: 6 ° 2 ′ 40 ″ S , 38 ° 46 ′ 38 ″ E