Abstract
Zanzibar is an island that lies off the east coast of Africa. It forms, together with a number of other islands and the mainland, that consisted the former British protectorate of Tanganyika, the Tanzanian Union.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Zanzibar was called Unguja in Swahili.
- 2.
The name Tanzania is combined from the two names Tan(ganyika) and Zan(zibar).
- 3.
In Swahili, ‘-swahili’ is the root form; a word gets its meaning from the prefix, such as Ki-swahili: the language, U-swahili: the culture, and Wa-swahili: the ethnic population.
- 4.
See the account of the excavations in Unguju Ukuu by the archaeologist Juma Abdulrahman (2004).
- 5.
Al-Maamiry (1988).
- 6.
Another important example is the Shela Mosque on Lamu . Ghaidan (1975, pp. 17–20).
- 7.
Roche (1970).
- 8.
Lanchester (1923, p. 67).
- 9.
Longair (2015, pp. 69–109).
- 10.
“Die Reinlichkeit der Straszen, die reizenden Gruppen von Palmen und Mangobäumen, die zwischen den Hütten verstreut sind, und die Munterkeit der aus allen Stämmen Centralafrikas zusammengewürfelten Bevölkerung machen das Ngambo zu dem anziehendsten Teil der Stadt.” Baumann (1896, p. 31).
- 11.
Burton (1872).
- 12.
Single m-taa, plural mi-taa (Swahili).
- 13.
‘It is my final contention that we must look to local customs and religious practices internal to Ng’ambo’s communities—while recognizing that these were embedded in the uneven matrix or power relations—to understand how the disorderly order of the “Other Side” in the nineteenth century was shaped.’ Garth Andrew Myers , ‘Early history of the Other Side or Zanzibar Stone Town.’ In Sheriff (1995, p. 43).
- 14.
‘If visitors found Zanzibar town dirty, they characterized Ng’ambo as an utter slum [and] a filthy labyrinth which reflected the attitude and life-style of the inhabitants. They completely missed the point. The condition of Ng’ambo had nothing whatsoever to do with the attitude of the people, nor was the lifestyle of their making.’ And: ‘It has been suggested that a class alliance was made with the Arabs to facilitate British imperialism and the creation of a colonial state. One thing is clear: Zanzibar was considered an Arab state and this dictum was reflected in administrative reforms, including the development of infrastructure. Existing class dichotomies were preserved by the colonial government. Until the 1920s and 30s, little was done to improve urban conditions in Ng’ambo.’ Menon (1978, pp. 49 and 83).
- 15.
Recommended are the exciting stories about the guerrilla war by the German Colonel Von Lettow-Vorbeck against the allies and the escapades of the German cruiser Königsberg that sank the English destroyer Pegasus with a single shot off the cost of Zanzibar.
- 16.
Lanchester (1923, p. 2).
- 17.
‘In the matter of house accommodation Swahili shows his superiority over his animist cousin the negro.’ Ibid., p. 70.
- 18.
Andrew Balfour, 1873–1931.
- 19.
Town Planning Decree No. 15/1925.
- 20.
Daraja means bridge in Swahili, and the suffix ‘-ni’ means ‘by the -.’
- 21.
Ng’ambo Folder, co 1054/146 maps, National Archives, London.
- 22.
A civic center called Raha Leo.
- 23.
Myers (1993, pp. 226–228).
- 24.
Myers (1995) , p. 1348.
- 25.
Town Planning Decree 1947.
- 26.
Town planning scheme 1956, Zanzibar Archives, aw/2/12.
- 27.
Zanzibar Town Planning Scheme, Zoning Plan 1958, Geoffrey Mill, British Library, Maps y431, London.
- 28.
- 29.
‘The government would immediately set up good homes for the care of the elderly, and every modern equipment will be installed in their homes.’ Concerning which Petterson remarked that, ‘these promises would turn out to be the first of many that Karume’s government would be unable to fulfil’. Petterson clearly did not know Sebleni. See Petterson (2002, p. 178).
- 30.
Different sources that tell the story of the development of Michenzani reveal that the East Germans wanted to link the separate blocks, as was done in Kikwajuni and Kilimani. But, Karume wanted to place skyscrapers at the axes, and apparently had scale models made to see how this would look. His engineers convinced him that it would not be possible to build skyscrapers due to problems with the foundations, shortage of the necessary materials, insufficient water pressure, and expensive lift installations. At which point Karume toppled over the towers and said, according to the reports: ‘If we cannot get skyscrapers, we will build groundscrapers.’
- 31.
Myers (1995, p. 1356). Daniel Mbisso, in his research on comparable flats in Ubungu in Dar es Salaam, came to the same conclusions. See Daniel Mbisso, ‘Domiciliating Modern Architecture in Tanzania: The Case or Ubungo National Housing Corporation Scheme in Dar es Salaam.’ In Folkers, Van der Lans, and Mol (2005, pp. 189–196).
- 32.
According to the city planner Muhammad Salim Sulaiman designed by an architect from Eindhoven.
- 33.
Karl Henrik Nostvik , a Norwegian architect best known for his expressionistic Jomo Kenyatta Conference Centre in Nairobi of 1974.
- 34.
Interview with Muhammad Salim Sulaiman, Zanzibar, September 17, 2006.
- 35.
According to Nicola Colangelo and Muhammad Salim Sulaiman.
- 36.
We have not been able to verify this. The comparable Luna Park in Ouagadougou of 1985 was built and paid for by the Chinese.
- 37.
Myers (1995, p. 1357).
- 38.
Ibid., p. 1356.
- 39.
‘Dutton was never far from the verandas of power.’ After Elspeth Huxley. Ibid., p. 1358.
- 40.
For an extended biography of shaik Abeid Karume, see above all Petterson (2002).
- 41.
Dutton built 150 low-cost dwellings, Karume more than an estimated twenty times as many, apart from his other building projects in service of the revolution.
- 42.
Interview with Muhammad Salim Sulaiman, Zanzibar, 17 September 2006.
- 43.
Ministry of Water, Construction, Energy & Lands.
- 44.
In 1923, Lanchester thought that a doubling of the population would be advantageous. By 2008, the population was nine times greater.
- 45.
Interview with the urban planner Ghalib Awadh in 2007.
- 46.
The main authors of the NSDS were Muhammad Juma and the British urban planner John Smith.
- 47.
Lanchester (1923, p. 21).
- 48.
Petterson gives an account of the school that was built with American aid in 1964–65, despite American aversion to the communist regime, then in power in Zanzibar. Petterson (2002, pp. 218–219).
References
Al-Maamiry AH (1988) Omani Sultans in Zanzibar. Lancers Books, New Delhi
Baumann O (1896) Der Sansibar-Archipel. Ergenbnisse einer mit Unterstützung des Vereins für Erdkunde zu Leipzig 1895/96 ausgeführten Forschungsreise. Zweites Heft. Die Insel Sansibar und ihre kleineren Nachbarinseln. Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig
Burton R (1872) Zanzibar: City, Island, and Coast, vol 2. Tinsley Brothers, London
Folkers A, van der Lans, B, Mol J (ed) (2005) Proceedings: conference modern architecture in tanzania around independence. ArchiAfrika, Utrecht
Ghaidan U (1975) Lamu: a study of the Swahili town. East African Literature Bureau, Nairobi
Juma A (2004) Unguja Ukuu on Zanzibar: an archaeological study of early urbanism. In: Studies in global archaeology, vol 3. Uppsala Uppsala University
Lanchester HV (1923) Zanzibar: a study in tropical town planning. Burrow & Co., Cheltenham
Longair S (2015) Cracks in the dome. Fractured histories of empire in the Zanzibar museum, 1897–1964. Ashgate, Farnham
Menon R (1978) Zanzibar in the nineteenth century: aspects of urban development in an East African Coastal Town. Ph.D. thesis. University of California, Los Angeles
Meredith M (2006) The state of Africa: a history of fifty years of independence. The Free Press, London
Myers GA (1993) Reconstructing Ng’ambo: town planning and development on the other side of Zanzibar. Ph.D. thesis. University of California, Los Angeles
Myers GA (1995) A stupendous hammer. Colonial and post-colonial reconstructions of Zanzibar’s other side. Urban Stud 32(8):1345–1359
Petterson D (2002) Revolution in Zanzibar: an American’s cold war tale. Westview, Boulder
Roche M (1970) Le M’zab. Architecture Ibadite en Algérie. Arthaud, Paris
Sheriff A (ed) (1995) The history & conservation of Zanzibar Stone Town. James Currey, London
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Folkers, A.S., van Buiten, B.A.C. (2019). The Other Side of Zanzibar. In: Modern Architecture in Africa. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01075-1_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01075-1_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-01074-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-01075-1
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)