- published: 16 Nov 2009
- views: 8605
The town of Bagamoyo, Tanzania, was founded at the end of the 18th century. It was (also spelled Bagamojo) the original capital of German East Africa and was one of the most important trading ports along the East African coast. Today the town has about 30,000 inhabitants and is the capital of the District of Bagamoyo, recently being considered as a world heritage site.
Bagamoyo is located at 6°26′S 38°54′E / 6.433°S 38.9°E / -6.433; 38.9. It lies 75 km north of Dar-es-Salaam on the coast of the Indian Ocean, close to the island of Zanzibar.
Bagamoyo was the most important trading entrepot of the east central coast of Africa in the late 19th century. Bagamoyo's history has been influenced by Indian and Arab traders, by the German colonial government and by Christian missionaries.
About 5 km south of Bagamoyo, the Kaole Ruins with remnants of two mosques and a couple of tombs can be dated back to the 13th century, showing the importance of Islam in those early Bagamoyo times.
Until the middle of the 18th century, Bagamoyo was a small and insignificant trading center where most of the population were fishermen and farmers. The main trading goods were fish, salt, and gum, among other things.