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The town of Bagamoyo was one of the most
important trading ports on the East African
coast and the penultimate stop of slave and
ivory caravans travelling on foot from
Lake Tanganyika on their way to
Zanzibar. Missionaries active in
abolishing the slave trade made Bagamoyo, whose
name means ‘bury my heart’ in KiSwahili, a
centre of their activities.
These days, Bagamoyo is now a centre for dhow
sailboat building on the Tanzanian coast. A
quiet village with a few German colonial
buildings still standing, In the past, the town
of Bagamoyo was one of the most important
trading ports on the entire East African coast.
Its port was the penultimate stop of slave and
ivory caravans that travelled on foot all the
way from Lake Tanganyika. Once the caravans
reached Bagamoyo, the slaves and ivory were
shipped by dhow to Zanzibar, where they were
then dispatched all over the world. These days,
Bagamoyo is a centre of dhow building in the
region and along the Tanzanian coast. |
