Archaeologists working on a UAE-led heritage project have revealed more striking finds in Zanzibar’s famous Stone Town.
The team at the Unesco World Heritage site in Tanzania uncovered a 16th-century Portuguese trading base that is believed to have housed precious cargo such as ivory, spices and ceramics.
They also found more evidence for the existence of a major Portuguese colonial-era church that was established in the early 17th century and unearthed a cemetery under its nave with at least 18 skeletons. It is thought many more were buried here as the graves were reused.
The latest finds follow the discovery — announced in September — of an original settlement at the site that dates back to the 11th century. This proved that Stone Town — previously thought to be an 18th century Omani Arab urban area — was actually established much earlier by local Swahili people.
But the second part of their work completed in summer focused on the Portuguese legacy at Zanzibar and how interconnected it was with life across the Indian Ocean and into the Gulf.
“Portuguese colonial cemeteries have not received much attention from archaeologists so we are doing something exciting and new,” said Prof Tim Power of United Arab Emirates University (UAEU).
“We have small skeletons, which are children or babies, so there is a human element to this. Mothers may have buried children and the photographs of the infant burials are quite moving.”
DNA and strontium isotope testing will be conducted on bone samples in an attempt to determine who these people were.
A multicultural community
“We have every reason to believe this will demonstrate a cosmopolitan community drawn from Africa, Asia and Europe,” said Prof Power. “The Portuguese colonial cemetery at Zanzibar thus presents us with a fascinating microhistory of the early modern Indian Ocean world."
The heritage project in Zanzibar, which started this year, is a collaboration between UAEU, New York University Abu Dhabi, the Royal Agricultural University in the UK and the Department of Antiquities in Zanzibar to explore links across the Indian Ocean.
Stone Town started as a small fishing village but grew rapidly on the back of trade networks that developed across the ocean. It came under Portuguese, Omani and European influence with the Portuguese era starting in the 16th century and lasting for about 200 years.
The Portuguese made Stone Town a crucial East African base to keep an iron grip on its lucrative trade network of slaves and spices, prevent “piracy”, safeguard shipping routes linking their Indian Ocean empire to their homeland and as a base for missionary churches.
East Africa was a source of slaves, gold, ivory and ebony, prized pearls came from the Gulf and ceramic and silk from Asia. The trading station uncovered this summer was a type of fortified warehouse with accommodation that offered Portuguese merchants with these types of goods a safe haven for the night.
Mombassa, just to the north, became the main Portuguese centre along the East African coast at this time but Zanzibar was an important part of that.
“They needed stations they could call at, refuel and replenish and sleep in safety with their cargoes,” said Prof Power.
The Portuguese also exploited slave labour from East Africa to establish a network of forts from the coast across the Indian Ocean to the Gulf to protect shipping routes from attack.
“But it was done on the cheap,” said Prof Power. “They were heavily dependent on slave labour from East Africa to build the [forts] and heavily dependent on locally recruited troops to man them. These forts, including those in modern-day UAE, were manned by locals ... with one or two Portuguese officers.”
Fresh insight into historic church
Trenches dug in Stone Town’s old fort also yielded more details about a major Portuguese-era Augustinian church first identified in 2017 and previously only known about in historical documents.
“The Portuguese period in East Africa has been much neglected by historians,” said Prof Mark Horton of the Royal Agricultural University’s cultural heritage institute.
“Our discoveries in Zanzibar of a massive Portuguese church in the remains of the fort is a really significant discovery.
“It is one of the largest Portuguese churches in East Africa. Only a handful of these churches are known about.”
It is believed that two of the walls of the church were later used by Omani Arabs to build the fort walls, underlining how so many layers of history exist at the site. The work of the UAE-led team, which aims to return for more digging next year, also shows how the Portuguese oversaw a type of colonial cosmopolitanism, with trade taking place between people from East Africa and the Gulf.
Modern-day UAE also underwent a century of Portuguese rule from the 16th to 17th century so the Zanzibar dig shows how interconnected people were then.
“This is really exciting stuff,” said Prof Power. “These regions were interacting with each other. We have a [Portuguese] fort in Fujairah near Bidya where there is a famous early mosque.
“So people from each region were settling and living with people from the other region. It is remarkable to think these regions were in contact with and relevant to each other 500 years ago.”
Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
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The five stages of early child’s play
From Dubai-based clinical psychologist Daniella Salazar:
1. Solitary Play: This is where Infants and toddlers start to play on their own without seeming to notice the people around them. This is the beginning of play.
2. Onlooker play: This occurs where the toddler enjoys watching other people play. There doesn’t necessarily need to be any effort to begin play. They are learning how to imitate behaviours from others. This type of play may also appear in children who are more shy and introverted.
3. Parallel Play: This generally starts when children begin playing side-by-side without any interaction. Even though they aren’t physically interacting they are paying attention to each other. This is the beginning of the desire to be with other children.
4. Associative Play: At around age four or five, children become more interested in each other than in toys and begin to interact more. In this stage children start asking questions and talking about the different activities they are engaging in. They realise they have similar goals in play such as building a tower or playing with cars.
5. Social Play: In this stage children are starting to socialise more. They begin to share ideas and follow certain rules in a game. They slowly learn the definition of teamwork. They get to engage in basic social skills and interests begin to lead social interactions.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
About Karol Nawrocki
• Supports military aid for Ukraine, unlike other eurosceptic leaders, but he will oppose its membership in western alliances.
• A nationalist, his campaign slogan was Poland First. "Let's help others, but let's take care of our own citizens first," he said on social media in April.
• Cultivates tough-guy image, posting videos of himself at shooting ranges and in boxing rings.
• Met Donald Trump at the White House and received his backing.
Company%20Profile
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RESULT
Norway 1 Spain 1
Norway: King (90 4')
Spain: Niguez (47')
Also on December 7 to 9, the third edition of the Gulf Car Festival (www.gulfcarfestival.com) will take over Dubai Festival City Mall, a new venue for the event. Last year's festival brought together about 900 cars worth more than Dh300 million from across the Emirates and wider Gulf region – and that first figure is set to swell by several hundred this time around, with between 1,000 and 1,200 cars expected. The first day is themed around American muscle; the second centres on supercars, exotics, European cars and classics; and the final day will major in JDM (Japanese domestic market) cars, tuned vehicles and trucks. Individuals and car clubs can register their vehicles, although the festival isn’t all static displays, with stunt drifting, a rev battle, car pulls and a burnout competition.
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Most sought after workplace benefits in the UAE
- Flexible work arrangements
- Pension support
- Mental well-being assistance
- Insurance coverage for optical, dental, alternative medicine, cancer screening
- Financial well-being incentives
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Warlight,
Michael Ondaatje, Knopf
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Visit Abu Dhabi culinary team's top Emirati restaurants in Abu Dhabi
Yadoo’s House Restaurant & Cafe
For the karak and Yoodo's house platter with includes eggs, balaleet, khamir and chebab bread.
Golden Dallah
For the cappuccino, luqaimat and aseeda.
Al Mrzab Restaurant
For the shrimp murabian and Kuwaiti options including Kuwaiti machboos with kebab and spicy sauce.
Al Derwaza
For the fish hubul, regag bread, biryani and special seafood soup.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The Buckingham Murders
Starring: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ash Tandon, Prabhleen Sandhu
Director: Hansal Mehta
Rating: 4 / 5
THE BIO
Favourite place to go to in the UAE: The desert sand dunes, just after some rain
Who inspires you: Anybody with new and smart ideas, challenging questions, an open mind and a positive attitude
Where would you like to retire: Most probably in my home country, Hungary, but with frequent returns to the UAE
Favorite book: A book by Transilvanian author, Albert Wass, entitled ‘Sword and Reap’ (Kard es Kasza) - not really known internationally
Favourite subjects in school: Mathematics and science
THE SCORES
Ireland 125 all out
(20 overs; Stirling 72, Mustafa 4-18)
UAE 125 for 5
(17 overs, Mustafa 39, D’Silva 29, Usman 29)
UAE won by five wickets
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Naga
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In numbers
1,000 tonnes of waste collected daily:
- 800 tonnes converted into alternative fuel
- 150 tonnes to landfill
- 50 tonnes sold as scrap metal
800 tonnes of RDF replaces 500 tonnes of coal
Two conveyor lines treat more than 350,000 tonnes of waste per year
25 staff on site
