ANÁLISIS POR SEGMENTOS ANÁLISIS POR SEGMENTOS

The founding of Dar es Salaam is related to a quasi colonial context (cf. Raimbault 2006, 26). Since the early 17th century the Sultanate of Zanzibar and Oman had been a major power on the East African coast, which also controlled the slave and goods trade stretching far into the interior of the African continent. The major town on the mainland that functioned as terminus for caravans was Bagamoyo, situated across the Zanzibar strait from Stone Town. It was Sayyid Majid bin Said Al-Busaid, the Sultan of Zanzibar then residing in Stone Town, who conceived a new town at a large natural harbour about 70 km south of this wealthy trading town in 1862 (cf. Brennan and Burton 2007b:16).

An argument developed by Fabian (2007) is that the founding of the new city was due to power politics in order for the Sultan to gain real control of economic rela- tions. This is because the Sultan did not exert much power in Bagamoyo, his subor- dinate administrators on the mainland often worked towards their own political sovereignty and economic gains (Becher 1997:28; also cf. Fabian 2007:457). "’Dar es Salaam, by contrast, [...] was to be the Sultan's own city’; in other words, profit would not be eaten away by local rulers” (Sutton 1970, 4 cited in Fabian 2007, 450). As also the British Acting Consul to Zanzibar Edwin Seward articulates this move was in order to strengthen his authority:

"There, the Sultan could with great ease extend his authority over the continent, making himself recognized by the tribes of the interior, steering the caravans coming from the lakes to this point, attracting to this port the European navy boats as well as the dhows from Madagas- car and Arabia and India, to strengthen himself if need be; to be, in a word, there; to be more secure than on the island of Zanzibar.”

(Fabian 2007:448)

Twenty-five years later, after a period of decline following Sultan Majid’s death, similar reasons gave Dar es Salaam the push to emerge as the main urban centre on the heels of German colonisation. The major reason generally stated for the shift of capital from Bagamoyo is the better protected harbour, which is also accessible for steamships as it is deeper than the coastline at Bagamoyo (cf. Calas 2006:12; Raim- bault 2006:27; Becher 1997:30f). Even though steamships were more important for the Germans than for the Zanzibari Sultan, according to Fabian also their major mo- tifs to move the capital from Bagamoyo to Dar es Salaam were to gain control of trade connections.

"Dar es Salaam's rise and Bagamoyo' s decline was not dictated simply by German want of a protected, deep-water harbor, but was the result of a conscious and protracted struggle to liberate East African trade from socioeconomic ties established prior to colonial rule. The Ger- mans may have desired Dar es Salaam as a port, but they, like the Omanis and British before them, also wanted greater control over the wealth of Bagamoyo”

(Fabian 2007:469)

This measure was necessary because the trade networks were controlled by ‘Indi- ans’ and ‘Arabs’ situated in Bagamoyo, as well as by porters who preferred Baga- moyo to Dar es Salaam. (Ibid. 443) During the long struggle trying to break Baga- moyo’s dominance it was even proposed to close down its port. (Ibid. 442) Other measures in the attempt to disconnect the age-old ties with Zanzibar were running steamships from Europe directly to Dar es Salaam and imposing customs duties charges also for imports from nearby Zanzibar, therefore offering goods cheaper in the new town. (Ibid. 462; 466)

The towns on the coast were in economic competition (Ibid. 448f) and tax income was an important issue. Bagamoyo’s revenues, initially still under the Sultan’s con-

trol, by far exceeded those of Dar es Salaam under control of the DOAG (Ibid.:457f; Becher 1997:34f). Direct colonial control of Bagamoyo would have caused friction with residents and in order to avoid a war it was easier to establish a new town where control could be more easily exerted, given that trade connections could be diverted there (Ibid. 456; 459f). When customs duties in all ports along the coast were handed over to the DOAG by Sultan Khalifa ibn Sa’id in 1888 a rebellion broke out, as there had been no consultation with mainland authorities. The fiercest bat- tles were around Bagamoyo where the local elite felt cut off their powerful posi- tions and stood to lose financially as well (Ibid. 460). To counter the insurgency the imperial German government was called for help, which eventually led to negotia- tions to put DOAG’s concessions under imperial rule (Ibid. 460f; also cf. Raimbault 2006, 27), formally establishing the colony of German East Africa. Not long thereaf- ter the decision was taken to move the headquarters away from the pre-colonial trading community of Bagamoyo to Dar es Salaam32 (Ibid. 443; 462).

Despite efforts to lure caravans to Dar es Salaam for about 15 years it remained mainly an administrative and garrison town (cf. Becher 1997:30). The German colo- nial government couldn’t break the economic dominance of Bagamoyo even through development of the port in the new capital. Dar es Salaam’s economic rise and Bagamoyo’s decline began with the railway, which gradually started operating from 1907 (cf. Becher 1997:35; 46f; Fabian 2007:468; Iliffe 1979:137). An important aspect besides time and capacity factors was that the railway was controlled by the German colonial government and replaced porters that were linked to the estab- lished trade elite and also preferred “Bagamoyo where they felt more freedom than in the segregated city of Dar es Salaam” (Fabian 2007:469). All this shows how much Dar es Salaam is based on and was shaped by colonialism. As will be described in chapter 0 Kariakoo is a central piece within this picture as the place where segre- gation and ‘racial’ discrimination materialized.

32 _{Not only Dar es Salaam but also Tanga and Lindi were proclaimed as new major port towns in-}