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