Introduction
This post discusses the meaning of cultural heritage, heritage, the cultural heritage of Tanzania and the heritage sites.
Meaning of Cultural Heritage:
Cultural heritage can be defined as the legacy of physical artifacts (cultural property) and intangible attributes of a group or society inherited from the past. It is the heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations.
Heritage refers to our legacy “inheritance” from the past, what we live with today, and what we pass on to future generations, including the natural and cultural, tangible as well as intangible assets with significance/value
Cultural Heritage sites:
In Tanzania, cultural heritage sites include the famous Olduvai Gorge in Arusha, Isimila in Iringa, Kilwa Kisiwani and Songo Mnara World Heritage Site, Zanzibar Stone Town World Heritage Site, Bagamoyo Historic Town, and many others.
Better known for its legendary wilderness areas Tanzania nonetheless provides a rich cultural and historical aspect. Ruins from the days of trading and slavery, and a history of colonialism, show not only Tanzania history, but the history of Africa in vibrant detail. Aside from the Ngorongoro Conservation Area with its features of our earliest ancestors Tanzania has three other Cultural Heritage Sites.
The Arusha Cultural Heritage Centre is located in Arusha, Tanzania. It is a place where the past and present of the Tanzania’s 120-plus tribes can be viewed in a single compound. The Centre boasts of various carvings, gemstones, artifacts, clothing and books.
Here’s is a list of cultural heritage sites in Tanzania:
Ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani and Songo Mnara – Date of inscription 1981
These are the remains of two ports situated on the coast of East Africa. They held an important position in East African trade and their influence stretched into Zimbabwe, Mozambique and as far as Asia. From the 13th to the 16th century, the merchants of Kilwa dealt in gold, iron, ivory, silver, pearls, perfumes, Arabian crockery, Persian earthenware and Chinese porcelain and hence most of the trade in the Indian Ocean thus passed through their hands.
Read: CULTURAL HERITAGE OF EGYPT
The ruins on the two islands were declared Heritage Sites due to their archaeological significance in understanding the origins of the Swahili culture, the influence of Islam on the African east coast, and commercial practice in the medieval and modern eras.
The Kilwa ruins show evidence of one great mosque and many smaller ones, an Arabian palace, and a large urban complex. Songo Mnara has only five mosques and a few domestic dwellings. Ornaments, cowrie shells and pearls of glass and quartz have also been discovered at the sites.
Archaeologists and historians consider Kilwa and Songo Mnara one of the most important sites of Swahili civilization in the region.
Stone Town – Date of inscription 2000
Stone Town is the old part of Zanzibar City and its Swahili architecture incorporates elements of Arab, Persian, Indian, European and African styles. The town was named for the coral stone buildings that were built there during the 19th century, on the site of a very old fishing village.
Stone Town was the centre of trade on the East African coast between Asia and Africa before the colonization of the mainland in the late 1800s. For many years Stone Town was a major centre for the slave trade; Slaves were obtained from mainland Africa and traded with the Middle East. The Anglican Cathedral is built on the site of a former slave market and some holding cells still exist at this site.
Today there are 51 mosques, six Hindu Temples and a Catholic and Anglican Cathedral in this multi-ethnic town. There are many burial places around the outskirts of town, with interesting headstones and graves, and some important graves in the town itself, usually of religious leaders.
Kondoa – Date of inscription 2006
On the eastern slopes of the Masai escarpment bordering the Great Rift Valley are natural rock shelters whose vertical planes have been used for rock paintings over several millennia. The Kondoa Rock Art Sites include over 150 natural caves/shelters and the spectacular rock paintings have high artistic quality and were made with a brush-like instrument.
The rock art sites at Kondoa are an exceptional record to the lives of hunter-gathers and agriculturalists that have lived in the area and reflect a unique variation of hunter-gather art from southern and central Africa. Some of the rock art sites are still used by the local communities for a variety of ritual activities such as rainmaking, divining and healing.