The short version
The Stone Town of Zanzibar was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000. It sits on a promontory on the western side of Unguja island, and UNESCO calls it an outstanding example of a Swahili trading town whose urban fabric and townscape survive virtually intact.
What makes it exceptional is fusion. The inscription describes a culture that "brought together and homogenized disparate elements of the cultures of Africa, the Arab region, India, and Europe over more than a millennium", and cites the town as "an outstanding material manifestation of cultural fusion and harmonization".
The buildings
The major buildings date from the 18th and 19th centuries. UNESCO names, among others, the Old Fort, built on the site of an earlier Portuguese church; the House of Wonders, a ceremonial palace built by Sultan Barghash; the Old Dispensary; St Joseph's Roman Catholic Cathedral; the Malindi Bamnara Mosque; the Jamat Khan built for the Ismaili community; the Royal Cemetery; and the Hamamni and other Persian baths.
Those buildings, with the narrow winding streets and the seafront mansions, are the physical record of centuries of seaborne trade between Asia and Africa.
Slavery, and its suppression
This is central to the inscription rather than a footnote to it. UNESCO's criterion (vi) states that "Zanzibar has great symbolic importance in the suppression of slavery, since it was one of the main slave-trading ports in East Africa and also the base from which its opponents, such as David Livingstone, conducted their campaign."
Christ Church Anglican Cathedral stands on the site of the last slave market and commemorates the campaign for abolition. The residence of the slave trader Tippu Tip also survives. UNESCO records Stone Town as the place where slave trading was finally terminated.
Note carefully which trade this is. Zanzibar was a principal port of the East African and Indian Ocean trade, which ran largely toward Arabia, Persia and South Asia. It is a different system from the transatlantic trade that shaped the African American diaspora, and the two should not be treated as one. Our Tanzania and diaspora reconnection guide goes into that distinction.
Visiting respectfully
Stone Town is a living, working, largely Muslim community, not a museum quarter. Dress modestly away from the beaches and resorts, ask before photographing people, and be conscious that the lanes people are living in are also the attraction. The culture and etiquette guide covers the specifics.
The historic core is dense and its surfaces are uneven, which matters if anyone in your group has mobility needs. See accessible travel in Tanzania.
Planning with LABUSA Travel
We plan and manage Tanzania journeys for groups: itinerary design, park permits, lodges, internal flights and ground transport, and a single point of contact while you travel. Start with the Tanzania travel guide, or tell us what your group has in mind on the plan your trip form.
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Tanzania and Diaspora Reconnection
