Mangapwani (original) (raw)

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Town in Zanzibar, Tanzania

Mangapwani

Mangapwani is a town on the Tanzanian island of Unguja, the main island of Zanzibar. It is located on the northwest coast, 25 kilometres (16 mi) north of the Zanzibari capital of Stone Town.

The town's name means "Arabian Shore" in swahili,[1] a name which probably dates from the black-market slavery days of the 1840s to 1880s. The shoreline here contains numerous caves, some of which were used for holding slaves at that time. Among the caves is a popular attraction, the Coral Cavern, which is located two kilometres south of the town. The caves of Mangapwani were discovered by Joseph Thomas Last, a British explorer and missionary in East African in the 1870's. There is also a famous slave chamber still in Mangapwani only 1.9 kilometres (1.2 mi) away, which is about a 3 minute drive.

1. ^ More specifically, the word "manga" refers to Muscat (Omani) arabs; arabs born in Zanzibar are called mwarabu. See W.H. Ingrams, Zanzibar, Its History and Its People p. 205, [1]

• Finke, J. (2006) The Rough Guide to Zanzibar (2nd edition). New York: Rough Guides.

5°59′33″S 39°11′41″E / 5.9924°S 39.1948°E / -5.9924; 39.1948