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Vol. 12, Nº. 2 (November 2021-April 2022)
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UNDER THE BREEZE OF THE PORTUGUESE INDIAN OCEAN:
TOURISM AND HERITAGE IN ZANZIBAR
MARIA JOÃO CASTRO
mariajoaocastro@fcsh.unl.pt
PhD in Contemporary Art History and integrated researcher of the Humanities Centre (CHAM) of
the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences of the New University of Lisbon (NOVA/FCSH,
Portugal). Member of scientific committees, organised and participated in academic events,
actions carried out in Portugal, Spain, France, Scotland, Romania, Italy, Dubai, Brazil, New
Zealand and Zanzibar, which resulted in the publication of articles. Her fields of specialisation
focus on the History of Art and Contemporary Culture, inflecting on the connection of Art with
Power both in relation to Travel and (Post) Colonial Studies and Tourism. She is currently a post-
doctoral scholarship holder of the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia with the project
"ArTravel. Travel and Colonial Art in Contemporary Culture".
Abstract
Tourism is, in the 21st century, the largest industry in the world and a phenomenon
structured on the basis of a dynamic and tentacular articulation. Among the forms enshrined
in the phenomenon, the so-called "memory tourism" has gained relevance, based on a
colonial heritage whose values are formulated according to a reminiscence of a once shared
culture/ heritage: that of overseas empires. By gaining a new prominence, these post-
colonial places open themselves to new readings, responding to a societal challenge of
contemporary mobility by looking at the journey as a way of building culture and defining
identities, for which we propose to map the heritage of portuguese roots in the archipelago
of Zanzibar, a place integrated in the Lusitanian empire for two hundred years and a source
of multiculturalism and otherness that our time is heir.
Keywords
Colonial Empires, Indian Ocean, Heritage, Tourism, Contemporary.
How to cite this article
Castro, Maria João (2021). Under the breeze of the Portuguese Indian Ocean: tourism and
heritage in Zanzibar. Janus.net, e-journal of international relations. Vol12, Nº. 2, November
2021-April 2022. Consulted [online] on the date of the last visit,
https://doi.org/10.26619/1647-7251.12.2.12
Article received on April 22, 2021 and accepted for publication on August 10, 2021
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e-ISSN: 1647-7251
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Under the breeze of the Portuguese Indian Ocean: tourism and heritage in Zanzibar
Maria João Castro
190
UNDER THE BREEZE OF THE PORTUGUESE INDIAN OCEAN:
TOURISM AND HERITAGE IN ZANZIBAR
1
MARIA JOÃO CASTRO
Introduction
Tourism is today the industry with the greatest impact on the world economy,
constituting a global and transversal phenomenon of tentacular scope. In its genesis,
tourism and colonialism are not phenomena of the same order, but tourism and
imperialism are products of the same context being intrinsically linked since they both
involve the possession of a territory and its exploitation.It is certain that the
ascendancy of European empires in the development of tourism has a strong impulse in
the Universal Exhibitions, showcases of overseas territories that, by crystallizing a
whole exotic and distant imagery, drove an elite to embark on the colonial journey that
would soon become massified, contributing to the contemporary global tourism
phenomenon.
2
The motivations behind such an impetus are based on distinct reasons,
but there is one that has been gaining weight when it comes to choosing a travel
destination: the post-colonial nostalgia that aspires to visit places stopped in a certain
stone-time, not yet fully contaminated by an accelerated urbanity, momentarily giving
back an experience that the daily life of Western society has long excluded.This kind of
"tourism of nostalgia" has been gaining fans and we can understand why. Whether for
the architecture, the cultural heritage, the appeal to the "Good Wild" in us, the artistic
legacy or another reason rooted in a common past, the former European colonies have
become tourist destinations of choice. On the other hand, the fact that tourism is a
fundamental ally of economic, social and cultural development, generating important
revenues, has increased pressure on the authorities, with the need to manage it
responsibly and with critical thinking, so that it is an issue on the government's agenda,
particularly with regard to the heritage to be preserved, whether material or
immaterial.
In this sense, the so-called "Tourism of Memory" has been gaining an increasing
prominence not only within national and regional government policies but also within
1
Article translated by Cláudia Tavares.
2
It is clear that tourism as a social phenomenon did not emerge with the Exhibitions; its genealogy dates
back to the late 17th and early 18th centuries with the Grand Tour, a movement born in the heart of the
English aristocracy that proposed to complete its education by verifying/visiting its civilisational past.
However, this tour was always channelled towards the great European artistic centres (first Italy, then
France and Greece) and did not therefore include the territories of the Empire, whose residents/visitors
were mainly missionaries, administrators and troops.
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academic research. Hence, this reflection proposes to create a "Tourism of Memory"
route of Portuguese heritage in Zanzibar in response to the question: what heritage of
Portuguese origin can be found in the Zanzibar archipelago? Its justification is based on
the centrality of heritage as the legacy of a shared memory and its basic objective is to
facilitate the integration of tourists into history by making them part of it.In other
words: the stimulation of knowledge by the "other" makes us know ourselves better in
an effective and full interculturality. The attainment of this central objective requires
research in synergy, hence the chosen methodology is anchored in interdisciplinarity
(historical science, heritage, archaeology and art history) with a cross-border vocation
and valorisation with a pluricontinental emphasis. Since it deals with both material and
immaterial heritage, the sources are mainly bibliographical and archaeological and
range from the Portuguese national archives to the institutions responsible for
conservation in the Zanzibar archipelago. As for its relevance, it is based on the fact
that it responds to a tentacular societal challenge of contemporary mobility by looking
at travel as a way of building culture and defining identities between visitors and the
visited, producing knowledge and experiences capable of contributing to an enlightened
citizen science.
I. Historical-Patrimonial Context
As it is known, heritage is in its essence of a memorial order and that what
characterises it is its symbolic character "a kind of immortalising aura" (Lourenço,
2015a: 54), of a moment passed, since all human works have their time counted. Now
the cultural diversity resulting from human action over time in a given place has been
valued for its pluralism, a characteristic that allows the development of a plurivocal
knowledge. After a period in which anti-colonialism dominated public opinion, post-
colonial tension slowly gave way to a less exclusive understanding of the meeting of
cultures whose concern became centred on the preservation of the heritage
bequeathed. An example of this was the creation in 1998 of the ICOMOS
3
International
Scientific Committee network and, within it, the Committee for the Colonial
Inheritance Partition.
4
This organisation has been drawing attention to the need to join
efforts to preserve, study and promote heritage assets, given the importance of
cultural diversity as a source of exchanges, innovation and creativity for present and
future generations.
Thus, and within this dual dynamic (tourism-patrimony) UNESCO
5
has been classifying
places, practices and expressions, recognised as an integral part of a culture. And that
is what happened in 2000 with Stone Town, the old part of the city of Zanzibar on the
island of the same name that saw the first Europeans arrive in 1503, during the
voyages of exploration of the Maritime Route to India.
As the chronicles recount, the Portuguese were the first Europeans to settle in
Zanzibar. Vasco da Gama (1469-1524) on his return from India pointed out the island,
as recounted in the annals of the morning of 29 January 1499, when the Portuguese
passed in front of Zanzibar (Fonseca, 1998:56):
3
International Council on Monuments and Sites. Online: https://www.icomos.org/fr (accessed 24.4.2021).
4
Online: https://www.icomos.org/risk/2001/colonial2001.htm (accessed 23.4.2021).
5
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
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And on a Sunday, which was the twenty-seventh day of the month
(27.1.1499), we set sail from here (Bass de S. Rafael) with a very good
wind at our stern, and the following night we hovered. And when morning
came, we found ourselves upon a very great island called Zamgibar, which
is inhabited by many Moors, and the land is about ten leagues off. And on
the first day of February, in the afternoon, we landed before the islands of
São Jorge, in Mozambique.
6
In 1503, Rui Lourenço Ravasco imposed a tax on the sultan of Zanzibar to the
Portuguese crown. Years later, and already firmly established in Mozambique and
Melinde, Vasco da Gama's successors monopolised the East African traffic making
Zanzibar a Portuguese protectorate since 1522 (Campos, 1935:1-20), although the
feitoria and the hospitalization house were only established after Nuno da Cunha's
(1487-1539) visit to the island in 1527.
In 1580, with the loss of independence of the Portuguese crown to Spain and the
consequent weakening of the overseas empire, some overseas possessions were soon
lost, namely Muscat (in 1650), Melinde (in 1660) and finally Zanzibar in 1698.
Since then, and between the end of the 17th century and the 19th century, the
genealogy that reigned over the island gave it a new impetus, Arabising it and filling it
with buildings with clear Islamic features, among which emerged architectures of
Indian, African and colonial influences, the latter already in the 19th century, when the
English took over the government of the island, turning it into a protectorate. It was
precisely around this time - in 1879 - that Sultan Barghash (1870-1888) signed the
famous Treaty of Friendship and Commerce with the King of Portugal. In 1885, the
Kingdom of Portugal opened a consulate on the island and appointed Alexandre de
Serpa Pinto (1846-1900) as its first consul. In the 20th century, between 1911 and
1918, Aristides de Sousa Mendes (1885-1954). In those times, the predominant
population with portuguese roots on the island came from Goa, and dozens of families
settled there, mainly dedicated to trade. The Portuguese colony was the second largest
in number (about 400 people), after the British one (Mello, 1890: 89).
Focusing on the Portuguese heritage on the island, during the two hundred years that it
captained Zanzibar, the crown of the kingdom of Portugal and the Algarve undertook
buildings (trading post, church, hospital) and movements (change of capital) that
would reconfigure its territory, although little has survived until today. But traces know
how to speak to those who are willing to listen to them; you only need to look at some
of the testimonies to be able to formulate a heterogeneous itinerary capable of
rediscovering part of the Lusitanian heritage on the island.
6
It is worth mentioning that even before Vasco da Gama, ro da Covilhã had already advanced along the
East African coast, passing off the island, and he gives an account of this in his diary, although in an
unclear manner. It is known that travelled for a long time the coast of Azania, having integrated vessels
of Arab traders who regularly visited ports such as Mombasa, Melinde, Zanzibar, Kilwa or Sofala. See Leal
Freire, Pêro da Covilhã, Gráfica S. José, Castelo Branco, 1964, p. 10.
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Image 1 - Reproduction of the frontispiece of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce,
Lisbon
Source: National Press (1940). Historical Diplomatic Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
However, this presence and heritage building in the Zanzibar archipelago is one of the
least studied facets of Portuguese expansion and presence in East Africa. The direct
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contributions of Duarte Barbosa (c. 1480-1521), Gaspar Correia (1492-c. 1561) and
João de Barros (c. 1496-1570). Meanwhile, more recent studies by Abdul Sheriff and
Mark Horton have highlighted the issue, but only now, with the growing importance of
tourism in countries' GDPs, has the challenge been set for other historians to explore
the subject. Two orders of reasons may justify such a gap. Firstly, the focus on the
objective-destination - India - relegating the anchorages of the Route to a secondary
place; then the reduced and punctual sources, dispersed among documents of a very
diverse nature, make it difficult to draw a clear picture of the presence and experience
of the Portuguese in the lands of Zinj. Data with wide chronological hiatuses,
documents spread across several archives without being catalogued and that include
chronicles, reports, administrative notes and letters exchanged between Zanzibar
officials and the authorities based in Lisbon, condition and explain the rarity (not to
say absence) of studies of this specific historical reality. Even so, the information
gathered points to guidelines on the Portuguese presence in the Zanzibar archipelago
at a turning point of great historical and cultural potential.
II. Subsidies for a Portuguese itinerary in Zanzibar
Designing a tourist itinerary through the material and immaterial heritage of
Portuguese heritage in Zanzibar recovers a history registered at the time of navigation
and exploration of the contours of the world, in consequent voyages that configured it
on a global scale introducing the modern era. It is therefore important to bear in mind
that history is made of layers, layers that overlap each other, the oldest ones sinking
beneath the most recent ones, in an accumulation of sediments and testimonies that
embody fractions of the historical narrative. In fact, it is in this past substratum that
part of contemporary Zanzibar is enclosed and justified, so that listing this legacy
constitutes an excellent access to understand and promote Zanzibar as a tourist
destination.
It should be noted, however, that the aim is not to draw up an exhaustive list of the
Lusitanian heritage on Zinj soil, but rather to create a patrimonial corpus with its own
identity, and that this survey will always be provisional and subject to multiple
readings.
ZANZIBAR ARCHIPELAGO
UNGUJA (Zanzibar Island)
I Material Heritage
1. Stone Town
With garrisons established in the ports of Zanzibar, Pemba and Mombasa, the
old capital of Zanzibar situated at Unguja Ukuu, about twenty-four kilometres
south of the present capital, was gradually relocated to a site further north-
west, which was later to become known as Stone Town. As stated in the
Portuguese manuscript of the Relação made by Father Francisco de Monclaro of
the Company of Jesus, this was due to the port to the south, which was
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small
7
for the Portuguese ships to anchor. With the growing affluence of ships
coming from India, the new capital made possible an increase in the port calls of
maritime traffic in Zanzibar, reiterating the importance of this port on the Indian
coast.
2. Trading post, Hospital, Church
In Stone Town, and after the visit of Nuno da Cunha in 1527, a trading post and
a hospital house would be built, which surely coupled with a chapel-church. This
was located in the so-called Old Fort (re) built by the Arabs after the conquest of
the island from the Portuguese in the late 17th century. The indications are that,
in 1612, there would have been an Augustinian church there, such occurrence
appearing in the papal bull (Gray, 1958:174) of 21 January of that year, which
shows the Lusitanian ecclesiastical commitment to East Africa. From the few
things that are known, it seems that the Lusitanian missionary power found here
a tolerant society but deeply convinced of its (Muslim) religiosity, so that the
evangelisation was reduced to occasional conversions. According to the article
by J. J. Campos, there was a building where the trading post and the Portuguese
church would function, which would be protected by a wall later erected by the
Arabs. In 1774, Alexander Dalrymple - the Scottish geographer - would state in
his Collection of Charts etc. in the Indian Navigation, that this "fortress" looked
like a ruined church. An inscription in the museum of Beit al Ajaib informs:
Portuguese remains indicate that there was a Portuguese chapel of
cruciform design, with rectangular windows, built in the 16th century, and of
which traces remain on the west wall of the old fort.
And, a few metres away, at the Old Fort, a plaque reiterates that this was:
Erected by the Omani Arabs around 1700 on the basis of the materials of
the old Portuguese chapel and adjoining residence.
Recent studies and excavations - in 2017 and 2019 - confirm the church's
authorship
8
and move towards new formulations of questions concerning its function
and importance.
7
Relation made by Father Francisco de Monclaro of the Society of Jesus, of the expedition to Monomotapa,
commanded by Francisco Barreto, Portuguese Manuscript no. 8, pp. 241-265, V., BNP, Lisbon, 1573, p.
344.
8
Online: https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2017/august/early-portuguese-churches.html(accessed on
24.5.2021).
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Image 2 - Information plaque at the entrance of the Old Fort, Stone Town.
Source: Photograph by Maria João Castro.
As for the old hospital, it was built after the visit of the future governor of India, Nuno
da Cunha, who, after definitively conquering Mombasa in 1527, landed with his captain
of the guard Manoel Machado in Zanzibar, where he left 200 patients in the care of
Aleixo e Sousa Chichorro.From that date onwards, the island would figure as a port of
hospitalisation for the sick on the Indian Route, since it was less palustrine than
Mozambique (Strandes, 1961:118) and it was only with the expulsion of the
Portuguese, in 1698, that the Real Hospital (on the island) of Mozambique became
essential as a place for curing the sick soldiers and crew members coming in the ships
of the kingdom.
9
9
The creation of the Royal Hospital (on the Island) of Mozambique dates back to the 16th century and, in
1681, its administration was entrusted to the religious of the Order of São João de Deus. In the following
year, 1682, the hospitallers transferred the hospital to the south of the town, in an area considered to
have better air.
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3. Beit al Ajaib (House of Wonders)
3.1. Cannons
At the entrance to Stone Town's largest building until the last century are
two Portuguese cannons.
10
Both pieces, cast in bronze, bear in relief the
coat of arms of King Dom João III (1502-1557) with the crown and the
royal figure "J" in ornament, the royal standard being supported by a
heraldic lion. One of the pieces measures 3.7 metres and has a calibre of
20 centimetres and a diameter of 55 centimetres; the other is 3.12 metres
long, with a calibre of 18 centimetres and a diameter of 44 centimetres.
There is also another cannon, the largest of all, which is in the garden of
the English Resident's Palace, 4.15 metres long.
A Persian legend recorded later reads:
Images 3, 4, 5 - Portuguese cannons at the entrance of Beit al Ajaib, Stone Town
Source: Photograph by Maria João Castro.
In the name of God and by the grace of Mahomed Ali is communicated to
the true believers gathered for warfare, the good news of success and
victory in the year 1031 of Hegira.
11
During the reign of Shah Abbas, Safawi,
King of Earth and time, whose power ever increases, Imam Kuli Khan, by
the grace of Shah, Defender of Faith, conquered Fars, Lar, Mount Kaiwan,
Bahrain and the Fortress of Hormuz and arrested Ibn Ayyub.
10
Online: http://memoria-africa.ua.pt/Library/ShowImage.aspx?q=/BIVG/BIVG-N026&p=24 (accessed
on 21.4.2021).
11
1622 of our Common Era.
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The inscription suggests that the cannons came from Hormuz, after the
siege of 1622, and that the Arabs from Oman transported the pieces to
Zinj.
3.2. Stone
In the ground-floor museum of Beit al Ajaib, in a corner and protected by a
glass case, lies a grey sandstone stone, whose grooves draw letters that
are grouped into Portuguese words. The chisel engraved a phrase from
which the following letters are legible today:
VEL
12
LEITAO
13
G…SEM
TÃO MOR
14
MEMDES
15
SELO
16
This type of stone does not exist in Zanzibar, so the stone is supposed to
have come from Portugal.
Image 6 - Stone with inscription in Beit al Ajaib, Stone Town
Source: Photo by Maria João Castro.
12
Fragment of the word Remarkable?
13
Word for the given name Leitão?
14
Fragment of the word Captain-major?
15
Word for Mendes proper name?
16
Word for the given name Vasconselos?
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As for the name, it is known that in Mombaça, the works on the fortress of
Jesus were initiated by its first captain, Mateus Mendes de Vasconcelos
between 1593 and 1596, and it is also known that the captain killed during
the assault on the same stronghold in 1631 was called Pedro Leitão de
Gamboa. The dating points to the 17th century so both hypotheses are
plausible but need further study.
As for its function, the legend accompanying the stone says that it is a
testimony to an Old Leitão tombstone, apparently found in the area of
Uroa, on the eastern part of the island. However, its size and the inscribed
words point more in the direction of having been a commemorative stone,
since on tombstone other types of epigraphs tend to be engraved.
4. Portuguese Arch
At the corner of the intersection of Kanuda and Vuga streets, and set in a
small garden, is the so-called Old Portuguese Arch. Although its construction
and building are shrouded in mystery, its structure and decorative elements
are identical to other Portuguese ones scattered around the world.Without
being dated, the pointed arch with Corinthian lateral capitals may be a
vestige of the Portuguese presence on the island, or simply have been built
based on the religious architectural influence disseminated along the East
African coast of Lusitanian origin.
Image 7 - Portuguese Arch, Stone Town
Source: Photograph by Maria João Castro
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5. Streets
5.1. Portugueza Street
Portugueza Street was behind the old fort and was renamed Gizenga.
Today, it remains one of the busiest streets in the capital as it was more
than a century ago when most of the shops of the Portuguese merchants
from Goa were located there. In period photographs one can see the signs
with Portuguese surnames such as Silva, Paixão de Noronha, and which
advertised the shops of various specialities such as medicine, wines and
photography.
Image 8 - Old Portuguese Street now renamed Gizenga Street, Stone Town, c. 1930.
Period postcard
Source: Author's collection
5.2. Souza street
About this street there is a testimony from the 19th century that describes
it as follows:
The Portuguese Indians, who composed a large colony in Zanzibar, were
increasing in numbers; almost all of them were called Souza and sold
alcoholic beverages. There is even a street of the Sousas in the city
(Anonymous, 1851: w.p.).
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Image 9 -Ad for the establishment Sequeira & Souza, Stone Town, 1924
Source: Rohit Ramez Oza Collection, Capital Art Studio.
6. Fukuchani and Mvuleni Ruins
In the Beit al Ajaib museum in Stone Town, an inscription reads:
In Fukuchani and Mvuleni there were a number of estates or fiefs in these
rural areas with arched doorways and gaps in the outer walls which,
defensively, served to place firearms.
The remains of the Portuguese houses of Fukuchani and Mvuleni are located in
the north of the island. They were probably old merchants' houses, both dating
from the 16th century.
At Fukuchani, opposite the island of Tumbatu, the enclosure around the main
dwelling shows a wall enclosure two metres high, which shows, without much
difficulty, holes drilled to place weapons in them. Each of these openings has a
different orientation according to the angle of the target that was intended to be
hit. The main building is now protected by a thatched structure that houses the
walls dividing rooms arranged around a central corridor from east to west, with
balconies at the front and back. The doors were designed in vidaka arches,
typical of local architecture. The heritage authorities have carried out various
excavations but little evidence has been recovered that does not allow their real
purpose to be ascertained.
Less than a kilometre south of Fukuchani, a wall topped by a rusty gate guards
Mvuleni. The construction plan of Mvuleni is almost identical to that of
Fukuchani. Here too, openings can be seen in the defensive wall, which were
used to display the weapons of their owners. The eastern wall of the enclosure
encloses an underground tank fed by a fresh water spring. Unlike Fukuchani, the
ruins of Mvuleni are submerged by vegetation already evident in photographs
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from the early 20th century and belonging to the National Archives. In the
central part of the façade stands a row of doors flanked by windows with ogival
arches of clear Arab influence.
Image 10 - Façade of the old Portuguese house in Mvuleni, Unguja.
Source: Photograph by Maria João Castro.
7. Trunks/cases
Made from fine woods and decorated with brass, silver and mother-of-pearl
inlays, Zanzibar trunks reflect the Indo-Portuguese style imported from Goa.
Known as sanduku (from the Arabic sanduq) or kasha (from the portuguese
caixa) these pieces of furniture replace dressers, wardrobes and wardrobes and
are inherited from one generation to the next as treasured possessions.
II Immaterial Heritage
1. Vocabulary
There is still today in the Swahili vocabulary a set of words whose origin dates
back to the Portuguese. Most of these words are related to the sea and we can
understand why: because they were the first to boost maritime commerce on
the Swahili coast, despite the fact that there was already traffic in the region
before. By way of example, we list the following words which, because they are
more common, are easily audible in everyday conversation:
Table 1 -Examples of Swahili words of Portuguese origin
almirante
almiranti
amarra
amari
bandeira
bendera
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barquinha
barikinya
batel
batela
bomba
bereu
boia
boya
bolo
boleo
bule
buli
caixa
kasha
cárcere
gereza
17
cana
kana
chapéu
chepeo
companhia
kompania
copo
kopo
fronha
foronya
lenço
leso
limão
mlimau
manteiga
manteka
mesa
meza
padre
padri
pão
pao
parafuso
parafujo
pistola
batola
roda
roda
sapato
sapatu
tabaco
tumbako
vinho
mvinyo
xaile
shali
2. Photographers
Various period photographs, taken by professionals with surnames such as
Gomes, Coutinho, Souza, Almeida or Silva, subsist to this day in a "sultanate" of
photographers of Portuguese descent that has been studied, allowing us to
begin to understand the dynamics of the journey of Portuguese Indian residents
to the island of Zanzibar.
18
This movement occurred at the end of the 19th century when Goan families
from Portuguese India disembarked to open photographic studios. The Coutinho
Broswas probably the first commercial photographic house in East Africa, having
formed a partnership in 1890 with A. C. Gomes (who had run a studio on the
island of Zanzibar since 1870), owned by the Coutinho brothers, both of
Portuguese origin. The sons of A. C. Gomes continued the family business by
signing A. C. Gomes & Cº, photographers, Zanzibar; some years later we found
stamps with Copyright issued by A. C. Gomes & Cº, Son, Zanzibarand finally A.
C. Gomes & Cº, Sons, Zanzibar.
Today there is only one shop left open, Capital Art Studio, on Kenyatta Road. In
business since 1930, it was founded by Ronchad T. Oza (? -1993) who, although
not of Goan origin, began working as an apprentice photographer for A.C.
17
This is the Swahili word for prison and comes from the Portuguese igreja, having its origin in the fact that
many Portuguese churches and forts scattered along the African coast were later converted (by the Arabs
and the English) into prisons. Hence the analogy.
18
See studies by Pamila Gupta. Online:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325077977_Sensuous_Ways_of_Seeing_in_Stone_Town_Zanzi
bar_Patina_Pose_Punctum(accessed on 20.4.2021).
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Gomes & Cº, Sons in 1925. Ronchad became the official photographer of Sultan
Khalifa bin Haroub (1879-1960). In 1979 his son, Rohit Ramez Oza, took over
the shop, a space that harks back to a bygone era given by the walls lined with
black and white photographs. In many of these records, the streets depicted
display hanging signs announcing surnames of Portuguese origin showing the
profusion of families I up to half a century ago inhabited the streets of Stone
Town.
Image 11 - Capital Art Studio, Rohit Oza, Stone Town
Source: Photograph by Maria João Castro
All the documentation concerning the Zanzibar-Portugal relations that can be found in
the National Zanzibar Archives (ZNA), Torre do Tombo Archives, Foreign Affairs Ministry
Library, and Overseas Historical Archives and that contains several documents between
the Zanzibar sultans and the Portuguese monarchy.
Pemba Island
1. Chake Chake Fortress
It is believed that the fortress of Chake Chake
19
was of Portuguese origin (1594).
The old space - a kind of sixteenth-century barracks - is believed to have been
destroyed by the Omanites to make way for a new defensive building, a
fortress. The traces of the Portuguese garrison are not visible but there are
records dating from the early 19th century that describe it as being rectangular
in plan, with two square towers and two round towers at the corners, topped by
thatched roofs. As is known, the round towers are typical of Arab and Swahili
architecture of the time, but the square towers are unusual and indicate the
possible Portuguese influence. Today it houses the Pemba Museum showing,
History and Culture of the Island including early history, polity, maritime culture,
colonial occupation and ways against it, years of politics, independence and
revolution.
19
Online: http://memoria-africa.ua.pt/Library/ShowImage.aspx?q=/BIVG/BIVG-N026&p=17 (accessed on
21.4.2021).
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2. Bullfights
Introduced in Pemba during the Portuguese colonisation, bullfights take place
during the most varied celebrations on the island, such as New Year's Day.
Reminiscent of a tradition established in the 17th century, bullfights are seen as
a test of bravery of the men who own cattle and are kept within a strong
community and festive character in small villages such as Chuale and
Kangagani.
Having concluded the non-exhaustive list, and contrary to what Oliver and Mathew
wrote that "the Portuguese presence for 200 years contributed nothing to art and
architecture" and that its passage was "a mere lost dream” (Oliver, 1963:168), we can
see that this was not merely residual but relevant in the sense that it left a legacy that
time has seen fit to extinguish. However, in the last decades, we have begun to
understand its scope, thanks to new investigations, excavations and analyses that
have been carried out through partnerships and protocols with foreign entities and
that have brought to light some significant data that have filled in some of the less
clear areas of history.
Having said that, we must not forget that the definitive victory of the Muscat Arabs
over the Portuguese in 1698 and the English colonialism that turned the island into a
British protectorate for part of the 19th and 20th centuries contributed to a dilution of
the vestiges of previous cultures, as happens in all historical processes.
III. Non-final considerations
Having traced the itinerary of part of the Portuguese heritage in Zanzibar, it is
important to understand that history is a discovery in permanent crescendo that is
built and put into perspective in a dynamic of multiple approaches. The very vision of
the cultural and artistic assets that make up a country's heritage is constantly
reconfiguring, which means that there is no one-focused or definitive view; rather,
there are approaches that, being interdisciplinary, transnational and intercommunal,
leverage the construction of a responsible and attentive cultural heritage policy.
Because heritage can be an instrument of resilience for local communities and a
fundamental element in maintaining a common identity. In fact it has been used as a
prospective force capable of promoting well-being and cohesion, contributing to a
more inclusive and sustainable society, within a more altruistic and solidary
geopolitical dynamic.
In this sense, if we take into account the growth of a sustained tourism market with
Zanzibar's resources, this could be the catalyst for an improvement in the quality of
life of its population and the sedimentation of its cultural identity. Of course, balancing
this equation is challenging and poses a number of questions for the government.
Since tourism is a recent phenomenon (1970s) in the archipelago - driven by the
decline of clove cultivation from 1975 onwards - it was seen as a substitute for the
inflow of foreign currency to the island, based on an offer that combines not only
leisure (végiatura) but also an Arab-Swahili culture of its own. The success of this
commitment is reflected in the fact that tourism contributes more than 27% of the
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gross domestic product (Keshodkar, 2013:71) - data from 2012 - which not only
shows the ascendancy of the sector in the economy but also poses new challenges to
its preservation (Zanzibar Mail, 2020:7).
In the field of philosophy, ethnology, anthropology or art historiography, the
understanding of the nature of a given artistic heritage was often anchored in a
Western-matrix thinking (Palmeirim, 2006: 14) that postcolonial studies have stirred.
What perhaps seems basic in this context is that, regardless of currents, lines of
thought or ethnocentric positions, the cultural-artistic heritage mapped out in a given
territory integrates an aesthetic and symbolic genealogy that determines the present
time and experience. In this sense, the visual research of a phenomenology of place
constructed under several historical-artistic layers is fully realized in Zanzibar.
In any case, in the diaphanous and mellifluous palimpsest that is Zanzibar, the island-
joia of the Islamic and Swahili civilization presents itself today as a tourist focus of
choice that goes far beyond the univocal offer of the beach destination. Because the
richness of the heritage and memory resulting from a narrative based on the blending
of Arab, African, Indian and Lusitanian cultures, places its territory as a reference
destination for Indian culture. This circumstance constitutes a challenge for the
archipelago's guardianship because it is centred on balancing an equation of great
fragility and complexity: conservation, development and sustainability.
A worthy starting point was the recognition of Stone Town as a UNESCO World
Heritage Site in 2000. Finding the right balance between the quality of life of the
inhabitants and the quality of the visitor experience, while ensuring - above all - that
heritage values are not compromised, is always a challenge, even though the potential
of Zanzibar's resources do not end at Stone Town but go far beyond it. We can only
believe that, under the breeze of the Indian Ocean, the legacy of a time when
Portuguese expansion involved the installation of emporiums and trading posts by the
sea constitutes a memory and a heritage capable of deepening the historical
dimension not only for those seeking reminiscences of a shared past but, above all,
knowing that only by knowing the past can one have a perspective on the future
because the ultimate truth is that "we only exist in the mirror of others"(Lourenço,
2015b).
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