Bagamoyo

An Old Boma in Bagamoyo, situated along the central coast of Tanzania was built by the Germans in 1895. The Boma was meant to serve as an administrative headquarters for German East Africa, the purpose that it served until 1919. After the Versailles Treaty which marked the end of the German rule in Tanzania/Tanganyika, the Boma was renamed ‘English Boma’ and the British colonial government used it as an administrative building. After independence in 1961, the Boma served as an office for the District Commissioner and continued to serve the same purpose until 1997 when its use stopped due to continued collapsing. Fortunately, between 2010 and 2014, the entire Boma was renovated. Many of the building’s collapsing parts were restored. What remained is the internal and external finishing, fixing of some doors and windows, landscaping and gardening, adding a simple fence to make the building ready for use.

Old Fort in Bagamoyo, Tanzania is one of the historic buildings built by an Arab trader namely Abdallah Sulleiman during the 1860s. By then, it was a stone-alone two-storey building in the town of Bagamoyo and continue to be used as a residential house until the 1880s. Between 1880 and 1919, the Old Fort was used by the Germans to serve as a military base. From 1920 to 1974, both the British colonial government as well the independent Tanganyika/Tanzania used the building as a prison. Between 1974 and the end of the 1980s or early 1990s, an Old Fort was used as a police station before it was used as a hostel for the conservation students until 1996/7. Since then until to date, the building is used as a tourists destination as well as offices for the Antiquities Department in Bagamoyo.

Bagamoyo, is a coastal town founded at the end of the 18th century, though it is an extension of a much older (8th century) Swahili settlement, Kaole. It was chosen as the capital of German East Africa by the German colonial administration and it became one of the most important trading ports for the Germans along the East African coast along the west of the Indian Ocean in the late 19th and early 20th century. Today, it is the capital of the Bagamoyo District in Pwani Region. In 2011, the town had 82,578 inhabitants.