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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

Vol. 12, Nº. 2 (November 2021-April 2022), pp. 189-208

Under the breeze of the Portuguese Indian Ocean: tourism and heritage in Zanzibar

Maria João Castro

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UNDER THE BREEZE OF THE PORTUGUESE INDIAN OCEAN:

TOURISM AND HERITAGE IN ZANZIBAR

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.

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

Article translated by Cláudia Tavares.

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

International

Scientific Committee network and, within it, the Committee for the Colonial

Inheritance Partition.

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

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):

International Council on Monuments and Sites. Online: https://www.icomos.org/fr (accessed 24.4.2021).

Online: https://www.icomos.org/risk/2001/colonial2001.htm (accessed 23.4.2021).

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.

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.

It is worth mentioning that even before Vasco da Gama, Pêro 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

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

and move towards new formulations of questions concerning its function

and importance.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Online: http://memoria-africa.ua.pt/Library/ShowImage.aspx?q=/BIVG/BIVG-N026&p=24 (accessed

on 21.4.2021).

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

LEITAO

G…SEM

TÃO MOR

MEMDES

SELO

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.

Fragment of the word Remarkable?

Word for the given name Leitão?

Fragment of the word Captain-major?

Word for Mendes proper name?

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Online: http://memoria-africa.ua.pt/Library/ShowImage.aspx?q=/BIVG/BIVG-N026&p=17 (accessed on

21.4.2021).

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205

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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