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THE ATMOSPHERE OF BAGAMOYO
The sleepy atmosphere of Bagamoyo hides a history of
prosperity, wealth and wonderful tales, but also sufferings
and tragedy.
In a way, all this is expressed in the name Bagamoyo,
which means something like "lay down the burden of your
heart" or "be quiet my heart". This can both be interpreted
as the forlorn cry of the slaves leaving their home country
and the exclamation of the relived caravan porters reaching
their destination.
Bagamoyo gained its name in the caravan days when the
streets where dense with people and merchandise. Then
it was only possible to move in the streets with difficulty
and now and then caravan porters tripled the town population.
Ships from distant ports where a common sight in the harbour
and the shops were filled with exotic goods.
A
MIX OF CULTURES AND PEOPLE
Bagamoyo has always been a town of mixed cultures and people.
Although the cultures did not blend, they did exercise a
strong influence on each other. This is noticeable in the
eclecticism of the stone town buildings.
Arabs and Indians were businessmen while the African population
worked at the plantations and salt mines or as fishermen.
Many different African tribes came to Bagamoyo because of
the caravans. First as porters and later, at the abolishment
of the slave trade, the freed slaves choose not to return
inland.
For the immigrants, Bagamoyo was a town of possibilities.
The resourceful could create wealth and consequence for
themselves. The buildings of the stone town with their elaborately
carved wooden doors give evidence to this.
The person who made the greatest impact on the town was
Sewa Haji. He was a shrewd Indian businessman with enterprises
in both Zanzibar and Bagamoyo. He owned many estates along
India Street, and in Bagamoyo as a whole. These were donated
to the German government in 1896. His greatest contribution
to the township was his donation of the first multi-racial
school in Tanganyika. He also donated a number of public
wells to the town.
THE SLAVE TRADE JUNCTION
Bagamoyo was the ending point of a major
slave trade route that began in the Lake Tanganyika area.
It was mainly Arabs who participated in the eastern slave
trade, which continued long after the official abolition
in 1873.
Livingstone wrote about the slave trade
that "to overdraw its evils is simply not possible". Slaves
were obtained by kidnapping, incitement of tribal conflicts
and by purchasing prisoners of war or tribal members from
the chiefs.
Villages were regularly destroyed and
crops burnt. Bagamoyo gained twice from the slave trade;
the town expanded not only because of its commercial magnetism
but also from the African tribes that fled famine and conflicts
along the slave trade route.
The sight of slaves was shocking. In Bagamoyo,
lines of several hundreds of people chained together from
neck to neck were probably not uncommon. Sometimes they
were also gagged by a piece of wood. When reaching the coastal
towns they were herded into pens. Many were a poor sight
after three months of ill treatment and abuse along the
slave trade routes. Livingstone calculated that for every
slave who reached the coast, ten did not.
