The economic history of Bagamoyo 1885-1950
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Date
1977
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University of Dar es Salaam
Abstract
Bagamoyo is one of the historic towns in the East African littoral, whose early history needs to be uncovered and analyzed. The word "Bagamoyo" comes from the Swahili words, bwaga moyo, which is commonly translated as "rest one's burden" or some variation of this. There are number of theories as regards the origin of this word but the most plausible explanation is that which is connected with the early porters in the central caravan route with Bagamoyo as its terminus. The main aim of this study is to examine the dynamics which led to the dramatic rise and fall of Bagamoyo town and its consequent station. Compared to other ancient East Afrioan towns such as Kilwa, Mombasa, Zanzibar, Pemba, Kaole and Malindi, Bagamoyo is relatively younger. However, Bagamoyo is relatively older than Dar es Salaam. Before the nineteenth century, Bagamoyo was either non-existent or obscure; however, from its infancy as a fishing and trading village, it gathered momentum during the later half of the nineteenth Century in which period it attained its peak as a commercial centre only next to Zanzibar. But its hey day was relatively short-lived. By the end of the century it began to decline at a tremendous rate so that by the early decades of the twentieth Century it represented only a shadow of its former self, and has not recovered to date. The complexity which shrouds the Bagamoyo "phenomenon" cannot be explained by focusing on Bagamoyo town alone, but by examining the strategic position Bagamoyo held in the Zanzibar economic System. It is therefore the duty of this study to attempt to explain the rise of Bagamoyo within the framework of the Zanzibar economic system, which includes the penetration of Asian merchant Capital. The growth of Bagamoyo, therefore, is associated with both, its being an outport of Zanzibar and an entrepot of East and Central Africa.The fate of Bagamoyo came with the penetration of European capitalism which was spearheaded by German imperialism. German imperialism imposed a new Colonial economic system which brought about the collapse of the then prevailing Zanzibar system. Bagamoyo and indeed the mainland was reduced to a "periphery" which served the "centre" (Germany and Europe). Attempts to forstall the imposition of German imperialism failed because of the superiority of the capitalist economic system over the Zanzibar system and the consequence was the collapse of the latter together with Bagamoyo. The shift of the seat of government from Bagamoyo to Dar es Salaam and the construction of the central line from Dar es Salaam to Ujiji by the German administration were relevant to the collapse of Bagamoyo as a commercial centre. The British period saw attempts to accommodate Asian commercial capital in the changed fortunes of the town, this never prevented the rapid deterioration of the town since the majority of the Asian capitalists, who were the dynamic force of the town's economic life, left for other towns where they could play their intermediary role in commerce. The collapse of Bagamoyo is related to the rise of Dar es Salaam since the role which was formerly played by the former was now taken over by the latter; hence the fall of Bagamoyo and the rise of Dar es Salaam are part and parcel of the same mechanism initiated by European capitalism. Underdevelopment was a process which was associated with the penetration of capital and the exploitation of the majority of African peasants of Bagamoyo was a common denominator in all epochs that the town experienced. However this exploitation became intensified with the onset of European Capitalism. The study ends in I950 not because of any special reason but rather the fact that by that time all the important phases of Bagamoyo have already been experienced and Bagamoyo was decaying. From 1950 onwards there was nothing new in Bagamoyo except the continuation of the decaying process. However this study is not exhaustive because of the limitations posed by the in availability of adequate data for the whole period under study. The pre-colonial history of Bagamoyo is based on secondary sources which were quite sketchy. There are no specific books on Bagamoyo; hence the first chapter is largely based on a few articles and dissertations of Walter T. Brown and Augustus Nimtz Jr. The second chapter too is based on books which deal with the general history of East Africa, which vary in quality as regards their pieces of information about Bagamoyo town. The major limitation in this key chapter is my inability to consult German Annual Reports which are written in German. Only a few of them have been translated so far. Hence a big draws back as regards empirical analysis in the German period. The third and fourth chapters are based largely on primary sources. This includes Bagamoyo files available in the Tanzania National archive and interviews of old man and women in Bagamoyo. Although some old men in Bagamoyo refused to give information since they regarded this information as an economic asset, the amount collected was quite adequate considering the time factor
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Keywords
Bagamoyo, Tanzania, Economic conditions, 1945-1990, Economic history
Citation
Shemhilu, S.T (1977) The economic history of Bagamoyo 1885-1950, Masters dissertation, University Dar es Salaam. Available at http://41.86.178.3/internetserver3.1.2/detail.aspx?parentpriref=