Ulster and the Indian Ocean? Recent maritime archaeological research on the East African coast

Antiquity ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 75 (290) ◽  
pp. 797-798 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Breen ◽  
Wes Forsythe ◽  
Paul Lane ◽  
Tom McErlean ◽  
Rosemary McConkey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Maritime Archaeology ◽  
Eastern Africa ◽  
Historical Period ◽  
East African ◽  
East African Coast ◽  
Cultural Traditions ◽  
Swahili Coast ◽  
The North ◽  
African Coast ◽  
Kenyan Coast

In January 2001, a team of researchers from the University of Ulster (Northern Ireland) conducted an innovative maritime archaeology project on the East African coast in partnership with the British Institute in Eastern Africa and the National Museums of Kenya. Its focus was Mombasa Island on the southern Kenyan coast, a historical settlement and port for nearly 2000 years (Berg 1968; Sassoon 1980; 1982). The East African seaboard, stretching from Somalia in the north to Madagascar and Mozambique in the south, was culturally dynamic throughout the historical period. This area, traditionally known as the Swahili coast, is culturally defined as a maritime zone extending 2000 km from north to south, but reaching a mere 15 hi inland. The origins of ‘Swahili’ cultural identity originated during the middle of the 1st millennium AD, following consolidation of earlier farming and metalusing Bantu-speaking communities along the coast and emergence of a distinctive ‘maritime’ orientation and set of cultural traditions (eg Allen 1993; Chami 1998; Helm 2000; Horton & Middelton 2000). Previous research produced evidence of exploitation of marine resources for food and an early engagement in longdistance exchange networks, linking parts ofthis coast with the Classical world by at least the BC/AD transition.

Recovering and Remembering a Slave Route in Central Tanzania

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Wynne-Jones
Keyword(s):  
International Development ◽  
Slave Trade ◽  
Development Cooperation ◽  
Eastern Africa ◽  
East African ◽  
East African Coast ◽  
African Coast ◽  
Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries ◽  
Practical Nature ◽  
International Development Cooperation

Tanzania's central caravan route, joining Lake Tanganyika to the East African coast, was an important artery of trade, with traffic peaking in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and associated particularly with ivory, but also with the export of slaves. The central caravan route has recently been chosen as a focus for the memorialisation of the slave trade in eastern Africa, as part of a project headed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency in collaboration with the Antiquities Division of Tanzania, and in response to a wider UNESCO-sponsored agenda. Yet the attempt to memorialise slavery along this route brings substantial challenges, both of a practical nature and in the ways that we think about material remains. This chapter explores some of these challenges in the context of existing heritage infrastructure, archaeologies of slavery, and the development of the region for tourism. It highlights the need for a more nuanced archaeology of this route's slave heritage.

scholarly journals The Leven House Factor in the Birth of Digo Mission and Christian Empire in East Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julius M. Gathogo
Keyword(s):  
East Africa ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Critical Issue ◽  
Eastern Africa ◽  
East African ◽  
Christian Missions ◽  
East African Coast ◽  
Protestant Christianity ◽  
Kenyan Coast

Leven House, as it exists in the 21st century in Mombasa city of Kenya, remains one of the most historic buildings in eastern Africa. In our focus on both the birth of the Christian Empire in East Africa (that stretches from the Kenyan Coast to the Democratic Republic of Congo), and the Digo Mission that began in 1904, Leven House becomes a critical issue. As the Anglican Diocese of Mombasa commemorated 114 years of the Digo Mission (1904–2018) in December 2018, serious issues emerged regarding the birth of Protestant Christianity in the region. One of the issues is the nature of English missions during the 19th and 20th centuries in Africa, where the Christian symbol of the flag was preceded by the British flag. The second issue is the nature of Arabic civilisation on the East African coast, which went hand-in-hand with the spread of Islam. Third is the conflict among the three ruling Omani dynasties (Yorubi, Busaidi, and Mazrui) as one major factor that ironically favoured Christian missions in eastern Africa. Fourth is the role of Mazrui-Omani Arabs, a Muslim society, in midwifing Christianity in East Africa. Was Christianity in East Africa mid-wifed by Mazrui-Omani Arabs via their provision of Leven House to the British soldiers in 1824? Was the feuding of the three Arab Omani clans a blessing in disguise that aided the establishment of the British Empire and the Christian missions that went hand-in-hand? In its methodology, the article historicises the issues at hand in order to retrace the events that paved ways for the establishment of the Christian Empire and the Digo Mission in particular. In a nutshell, the problem statement is: What is the role of Leven House in the establishment of the Digo Mission in particular, and Christian Empire in general?

Contribution of Madrasah System to the Development of Human Resource in Uganda and its Neighbouring Countries

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-100
Author(s):  
Sulaiti Dawud Kabali
Keyword(s):  
Human Resource ◽  
Eastern Africa ◽  
East African ◽  
Professional Skills ◽  
East African Coast ◽  
Long Period ◽  
The People ◽  
African Coast ◽  
Voluntary Basis

Generally speaking, Muslims of Eastern Africa in general, and of Uganda in particular, lagged behind in education for a long period of time. This fact goes back to the time when Islam penetrated the East African coast. The interest of Arabs who introduced and taught Islam to the people of the coast was trade and many of them were neither trained nor did they possess any professional skills to propagate Islam. They did this job on a voluntary basis in anticipation of God’s reward. On the contrary, the Christian missionaries who came to the region were skilled, equipped and had been officially sent by various authorities to do the job of spreading Christianity. Therefore, when they arrived in the region, they embarked on building well equipped schools and all their activities were geared towards promoting Christianity among the whole population which scared Muslim parents from taking their children to these schools. Consequently, Muslim schools – mainly madrasah pl. madaris, were built to counter the force of missionary schools. These madaris, however, were not by any standards, comparable with the missionary schools. Unfortunately, this situation has continued to this day in some of the madaris due to numerous reasons, some of which are of the Muslims’ own making and which I believe could be avoided provided that the Muslims put their heads together. In spite of this fact, these schools have contributed highly to the development of human resource in Uganda and elsewhere, as highlighted in this paper. May Allah help me. Amiin.

The East African Ivory Trade in the Nineteenth Century

1967 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. W. Beachey
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
East Coast ◽  
East African ◽  
East African Coast ◽  
The North ◽  
African Coast ◽  
Trading Activities ◽  
Ivory Trade ◽  
Opening Up ◽  
Great Development

The East African ivory trade is an ancient one: East African ivory is soft ivory and is ideal for carving, and was always in great demand. It figures prominently in the earliest reference to trading activities on the East African Coast. But the great development came in the nineteenth century when an increased demand for ivory in America and Europe coincided with the opening up of East Africa by Arab traders and European explorers. The onslaught on the ivory resources of the interior took the form of a two-way thrust—from the north by the Egyptians who penetrated into the Sudan and Equatoria, and by the Arabs from the east coast of Africa. The establishment of European protectorates and a settled administration in the 1890s ended this exploitation.During the nineteenth century ivory over-topped all rivals in trade value— even slaves. The uses of ivory were wide and novel—it played the same part in the nineteenth century as do plastics in the mid-twentieth—but it was always a much more expensive article.

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