The History & Conservation of Zanzibar Stone TownAbdul Sheriff Zanzibar Stone Town presents the problems of conservation in its most acute forms. Should it be fossilized for the tourists? Or should it grow for the benefit of the inhabitants? Can ways be found to accommodate conflicting social and economic pressures? For its size, Zanzibar, like Venice, occupies a remarkably large romantic space in world imagination. Swahili civilization on these spice islands goes back to the earliest centuries of the Islamic era. Up until the nineteenth century it was the capital of a trading empire which spread Kiswahili and Islam over a large part of eastern and central African and the Indian Ocean. Zanzibar then suffered the loss of its empire to the Germans and the British. In the last thirty years it has passed through its second period of crisis. After the Revolution of 1964 the new rural owners did not have the wherewithal to maintain the old stone houses. The Stone Town seemed to be on the verge of extinction. In the 1980s the government reversed its policies and the old town became threatened by rapid redevelopment which disfigures as it builds. The Old Stone Town now stands in danger of being drastically transformed by tourism and trade liberalization. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Abdul Sheriff Ahmed al-Busaidi Arab architecture Barghash Barwani Beit al-Ajaib British building built burial buried cemetery centre clove colonial commercial Comorian conservation Creek Dar es Salaam Darajani Decree dedicated East Africa East African coast economic family vault Farsi Forodhani Friday mosque graves graveyard Hadhrami houses Humoud huts Ibadhi mosques imam Indian Islamic island Ismaili Ithna'shari Joint Building Kajificheni Khoja Kiponda kiunga Lamu land landowners London Malindi Meffert merchant mihrab Mkunazini Mnazi Mmoja Mombasa Muhammad municipal Muslim Nairobi Ng'ambo nineteenth century Office Old Dispensary Oman Omani organisation palace peninsula plantation economy plots Programme properties rehabilitation religious rent Revitalisation Road Said's Seyyid Shangani Shatiri Shi'a slaves social Source STCDA street Suleiman Sultan Sunni survey Swahili Tharia Topan tombs Town of Zanzibar Town Planning town's trade traditional UNCHS upkeep urban Vuga Wakf Wakf file wall Zanzibar Protectorate Zanzibar Stone Town Zanzibar Town