Mtoro bin Mwinyi Bakari: Swahili lecturer and author in Germany

1. Growing up in Dunda and Bagamoyo

1 Growing up in Dunda and Bagamoyo They do neither have a religion nor know how to read (the Quran). They do not have a religion apart from their belief in ancestor spirits and sacrifices. Mtoro Bakari on the Doe and Zaramo people respectively The industrial production of commodities, such as metals, beads, cloths and firearms, and the growing demand of ivory on the world market increasingly stimulated commercial activities on the East African mainland during the nineteenth century. Trade networks extended up to Lake Tanganyika and beyond, with caravans from the coast following the expanding trade routes. Both men and women took advantage of these changes, for instance by working as traders and porters, or by selling hunting produce or food to the caravans. But the ensuing social and political transformations were also accompanied by negative developments, such as increasing violence, the expanding slave trade and the spread of infectious diseases. Population declined in many places, though it grew in some coastal towns and other centres of trade. The commercial upsurge attracted more and more immigrants from the Arabian Peninsula and India, as well as a number of Europeans. Expanding his activities on the East African Coast in the 1830s, the Sultan of Oman won control over the most important ports in East Africa and finally shifted his residence from Muscat to Zanzibar. The backing of European powers both facilitated and limited his political achievements. The number of slaves on the East African littoral temporarily increased after British ships began to hinder the export of slaves to the Indian Ocean islands and Arabia in the 1870s. Mtoro Bakari was born during this period, i.e. most likely during the final years of the 1860s. His official date of birth (October 3rd , 1869) was fixed either by the District Office in Bagamoyo or at the time when he had to register on his arrival in Berlin in 1900. On later occasions he stated that he did not know his exact age and estimated that he was born in 1864 or 1875.1 1 Information kindly provided by the state archives in Berlin and Hamburg from the historical registration files (Landesarchiv Berlin: Historische Berliner Einwohnermeldekartei 1875-1960; StA HH 332-8, A30: Toten- und Verzogenendatei). When he applied for a birth certificate in 1904 Mtoro Bakari mentioned that he did not know his date of birth and . O N E 6 Growing up in Dunda and Bagamoyo 7 His place of birth was Dunda, a small settlement close to a shallow section or ford of the Ruvu (Kingani) River about twenty kilometres southwest of Bagamoyo.1 Until the 1850s a major caravan route leading to Unyamwezi (western Tanzania) and beyond passed along the southern bank of the river and offered growing trade opportunities for the people living in its vicinity. From the 1860s on, however, caravans used to cross the Ruvu shortly after leaving Bagamoyo, traversing the more arid area north of the river. Apparently, this was a reaction to the formation of the Mbunga confederacy in the Mahenge area which extended its influence up to the Uluguru Mountains and partly destabilized the regions east of Morogoro.2 While Bagamoyo remained the most important port of trans-shipment on the East African mainland until the turn of the century, the Zaramo people in the west were thus partly cut off from participation in the long-distance trade. As a general tendency, the increasing commerce rendered it possible for the merchants of Zanzibar to extend their influence, and for the Sultan to consolidate his position vis-à-vis political leaders at the coast.3 In the context of these changing economic and political conditions Mtoro Bakari’s parents moved from Dunda to Bagamoyo, where he as well as his mother and sister evidently lived in the 1890s. On occasion, he used to come back to Dunda to visit relatives; he mentions his father’s elder brother and his brothers Abdallah and Slemani.4 The fact that his work rarely refers to any aspect of the maritime world may indicate that he never visited Zanzibar, which is situated at a sailing distance of only a few hours from Bagamoyo. By applying the Swahili title “Mwinyi” to his father, Mtoro Bakari expressed that he was the son of a respected Muslim, who had died in 1estimated that he was about 29 years old, thus making himself 5-6 years younger than before. Note...