Dar es Salaam

Among the most resilient of human activities, trader networks operate sustainable, profitable, and growing commercial ventures in both adverse and beneficial conditions and, throughout history, show continuous adaptation to natural and intentional disasters such as famines and/or warfare.

A Brief History Of The Khojas In Dar es Salaam

By Iqbal I. Dewji, Editor, Khojawiki.org (June 2019-update 2024)

(I wish to acknowledge the generous helpings I have taken from the book "The Emerging Metropolis: A history of Dar es Salaam, circa 1862-2000 by James R. Brennan & Andrew Burton, published by my good friend, Walter Bugoya of Mkuki na Nyota Publishers Ltd. of Dar es Salaam)

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In 1862, when Sultan Majid of Zanzibar first planned a city he called 'Harbour of Peace' (Bandar es Salaam), he could not have imagined how prophetic his words would be. This world-class Tanzanian city has had an enviable 160-year history of multiculturalism and peaceful racial coexistence well before such concepts became vogue in the West. Throughout this period, the migrant community of the Khoja from India has been it's leading residents, thriving and growing, despite three major economic setbacks.

This is a brief record of their dogged existence and is in response to their conspicuous absence in contemporary accounts of the growth of Dar es Salaam.

Under Swahili Patronage & Omani Sultan's Domain

Prof Brown's study of the Arab and German records establish that by 1866, there were not less than 40 Khojas in Mzizima, the tiny fishing village destined to became Dar es Salaam. Undoubtedly, in 1859, when Albrecht Roscher of Hamburg became the first European to visit Mzizima, he would have replenished his supplies from a Khoja merchant but unfortunately, he was killed in the bush and all his notes lost.

Mzizima with its proximity to Bagamoyo, where there was a larger settlement of more than 130 Khojas, was a convenient commercial meeting point for three migrant peoples - the Khoja merchants, who by then had been trading along the East African coast for hundreds of years; the local “Shomvi,” Swahili/Shirazi plantation owners, whose ancestors had ruled the Swahili city-states from Somalia to Mozambique from the 10thC and who had settled there from Barawa, Somalia, and the Wazaramo, an inland Bantu tribe who had moved 200 miles from their home in the Uluguru mountains, seeking work and better prospects.

The local economy consisted of farming, coconut harvesting, fishing, hunting and crafts-making such as embroidery, wood-carving, metal and leatherwork which were traded with Khoja “dukawallas” shopkeepers for merikan cloth, from Salem, Massachusetts, agate and other natural beads from Kutch and other parts of Gujarat, India and building materials, etc. from Bagamoyo & Zanzibar.

Of Dar es Salaam itself, a French visitor in 1866 wrote thus:

Situated on the shore of its harbour, like an Arab woman in rags in the ruined home of her former husband, Dari Salama appears to mourn its isolation and poverty”.

Unlike Bagamoyo with its wealth from the interior caravans, this unhygienic village was hardly a place to build a home let alone a fortune but the hardy Khoja shopkeepers, having fled Kutch and Kathiawar due to the persistent famines during British rule, managed not only to survive but also to grow their economic clout in the local community.

The trajectory of nineteenth-century developments also led to increased indebtedness and commercial marginalization of Shomvi and other Shirazi ‘patricians’ to Indian creditors, as well as their loss of effective sovereignty to Arab political power centered in Zanzibar. The sudden projection of political power by the Sultan of Zanzibar, in part to circumvent the commercial power of Indian traders and creditors centered in Bagamoyo, marks the beginning of Dar es Salaam’s history.

In 1865 or 1866, Sultan Majid began building the port of Dar es Salaam. Both the Indian and Arab communities of Zanzibar and Bagamoyo were reluctant, if not hostile, about settling in the Sultan’s new town. The Indians complained that it was unhealthy but some poorer Khoja shopkeepers from Zanzibar, took up the offer of freehold plots to anyone who would develop the land agriculturally to help the Sultanate's projection of its power on its mainland domains.

Up until the 1860s Zanzibar had served as a transfer station, a point to which all Indian, Arab, European, and American goods could be gathered in one place and then divided up and distributed to various points along the coast of the mainland. Likewise, goods from the African interior, extending from modern Zimbabwe to Uganda and the Congo, were brought to the various ports (approximately thirty-four within the future German colony alone) and then gathered in the warehouses of Zanzibar from which the goods could be purchased by foreign merchants in bulk and redistributed to their home countries. Chosen in 1866, Dar es Salaam was to become the new administrative capital of the Zanzibari Sultanate. 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 Madagascar 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….”

But within a short 5 years, upon his death in 1870, the town was back into serious decline. The new Sultan, Burghash looked towards India and Europe to grow Zanzibar into an East African emporium. By 1873, the Indian traders in Dar es Salaam were forced to relocate to nearby villages to trade with the WaZaramo, who had boycotted the town; large houses fell in value from US $500 in 1871 to US $200 by 1873. Worse was to follow — an outbreak of smallpox in 1882 killed perhaps three-quarters of the town’s inhabitants; and in late 1884 a drought and famine took the lives of hundreds of local Wazaramo and brought increased slave trading, inter-village kidnapping and the pawning of children for food.

For the Khojas settlers, there was much commercial loss and many abandoned the town to move on to older established centre of Bagamoyo or to return to Zanzibar in failure, with debts to honor to their suppliers under the Dukawalla trading network.

Imperial German Rule

In 1885, German colonial designs arrived in East Africa by way of “gunboat diplomacy" and in the form of the German East African Company, business started to improve for the remaining Khoja traders. The ambitions of the newest European power meant significant infrastructural & corporate investment followed the declaration of the colony in 1891.

After 1st January 1891, when Dar es Salaam became the new capital of German East Africa, whilst significant government money flowed in, the initial suspicions of the German administrators towards the British-Indians, did not induce the larger Indian trading houses to relocate from Bagamoyo or Zanzibar.

It is no secret that much of the recent troubles and difficulties of the German Company in East Africa arose from the unwisdom of its employees in endeavoring to rudely and suddenly oust the Indians from their commercial supremacy and in thereby making Indian sentiment opposed to the extension of German rule.

By the time the Central Line began in 1905, Dar es Salaam had taken off with the addition of two grand German churches-the Lutheran, begun in 1898 in Bavarian Alpine style and the Catholic St. Joseph’s Cathedral completed in 1902, built-in Gothic style. The State House and the equally imposing European Hospital were sited facing the Indian Ocean. Along Azania Front, adjacent to the old Arab harbour lay the government’s main office buildings, all built in a simple but striking classical style. Khoja settlement increased significantly, largely at the expense of Bagamoyo, which had started a steady and permanent decline. For the personal histories of some of the Khojas who moved from Bagamoyo to Dar es Salaam, see Habib Adat Dewji; Mohamed Meghji;Husein Alarakhia Kheraj.

A period description of the (Indian) bazaar area states as follows

To the north of Marktstrasse and south of both Sultanstrasse (now roughly Bibi Titi Mohammad Road and Libya Street) and Ringstrasse (Jamhuri Street) lay an overwhelmingly African neighborhood of makuti huts, with a handful of Indian residents inhabiting stone buildings next to the town market (roughly at Indira Gandhi Street between Mosque Street and Morogoro Road).

The Maji Maji Rebellion (1905) forced the importation of a large contingent of “Askari Schutztruppe”, who were either Sudanese or so-called ‘Zulu’ (i.e., Shangaan) mercenaries hired in Mozambique. Following the suppression of the rebellion, these troops were stationed in Dares salaam, leading to the growth of import and retail trade, which was still largely controlled by the Khojas through their networks of wholesalers & retailers.

In 1907, the major German trading houses and banks were also strong-armed into relocating from Zanzibar.

The Hanseatic merchant companies like O’Swalds and Hansing were European middlemen, importing both German and non-German goods to East Africa and exporting East African products to Germany and elsewhere. They were not interested in colonization. They used Indian firms as their “agents and commercial go-betweens” and did not think twice about putting profit above patriotism.

This increased commercialization lead to the growth of a multicultural, tolerant lifestyle amongst the colonized inhabitants of Dar es Salaam. The latter-day Mayor of Dar es Salaam, Kleist Sykes as well as his uncle, Abbas Sykes, the 1st post-Independence African Regional Commissioner, were descendants of those early Zulu migrants.

German suspicions of the Indians, particularly the Khoja traders, arose from the close association of their leader Agakhan III with British imperial ambitions.

The Indians, who by their high intelligence and endeavor get the most out of education, without being useful to the Government, will be held back and segregated.

It remains a mystery why, whilst the Bombay Khojas had made significant advances in education by this time, , there were no Khoja schools in Dar es Salaam or elsewhere in East Africa - to fill the gap, the well-known Khoja philanthropist, Sewa Haji Paroo donated the building for a multiracial school in Bagamoyo in 1890.

Other enlightened private Khoja donors did the same for Zanzibar. “Tharia Topan's son was one of the first Indian leaders to establish an ‘Indian school’ in Zanzibar, where South Asian Hindus and Muslims were educated in their own languages" Significantly, both schools were non-sectarian.

A government school was established in 1895 and by 1897 was attended regularly by some forty students ranging in age from 7 to 35; additionally, some 39 Indian students (including Khojas acting on their own initiative) took advanced courses in Gujarati at this school.

Around 1907, a number of German companies relocated their businesses from Zanzibar to Dar es Salaam including the Deutsch Ostafrikanische Bank, affording opportunity for the Khoja traders to become agents and suppliers to these companies. Kassum Sunderji Samji worked for one of these companies and remained a fluent German speaker till his death.

Still, the suspicions and discrimination against the Khojas and other other Indians were persistent. "In the late 1890s, a Goan skilled builder could earn between 2.5-3 rupees per day, while a Hindu and Muslim Indian doing the same work would earn between 2-2.5 rupees per day".

The German government, in particular, had a conflicting relationship with the Indian community, which grew in size from 100 in 1891, to 900 in 1900, and leaped to 2,600 by 1913. On the one hand, it was reliant upon Indian capital for key urban investments—including Sewa Haji’s gift of 12,400 rupees to build a school and hospital. Yet the state was also pressured by European settlers, businessmen, and some of its own officials—who criticized Indians on grounds of "unfair trading and unhygienic practices" - to restrict Indian immigration and commercial penetration.

To the Germans, the Indians were just “colonial subjects” and unlike the British, Greek and other European settlers, they was not entitled to the protection of the German civil law. These traders were subject to the same harsh treatment meted to the defenseless “natives”, but had to compete with the incoming German companies and settlers essentially with “one hand tied to their backs”. 'In legal terms, there was no differentiation between Indians, Arabs, and Africans; all were “natives”, barred from observing civil law reserved for Europeans.'

Notwithstanding German hostility, the Khoja population continued to grow steadily, due mainly to the extended business networks. A migrant would work for his sponsor for several years establishing his credentials and eventually earn the trust of the sponsor to receive goods on credit with which to establish his own store in the hinterland of Dar es Salaam. Once established, he would return to his town or village in India to secure a bride and after some years the pattern would be repeated with another relative.

An impressive Indian neighborhood grew up in what was later called “Uhindini” in the center of Dar es Salaam, with one or two-story buildings in brick to house the stores and upstairs accommodations.

In 1913, German authorities bought Indian and Arab lands in Upanga for “exclusive” European development and also purchased a parcel of land called “Schöller’s shamba” to create the planned African neighborhood of Kariakoo, or “Karrier Korps”, as the army luggage carriers were stationed there. They also created an adjacent “cordon sanitaire” (now called Mnazi Mmoja) a sanitary zone that would separate it from the rest of the town. In an irony of history, Mnazi Moja, a product of apartheid, and its famous public arena, The Arnuatoglu Hall (named after it's Greek-Turkish donor) later played an important role in the political rallies that gave rise to Julius Nyerere as the leader of the Independence movement.

The Imperial War of 1914-1918 was the second major setback for the Khojas. Defying the Congo Act of 1895, which specifically stated that the European powers were not to extend their wars into Central Africa, in 1914, the British forces from Kenya invaded German Tanganyika. Hostilities forced European planters-settlers and up-country Indian traders to stream into Dar es Salaam for safety creating food and housing shortages. This drove the poorer Africans to return to rural farmlands to survive, drying up retail sales for the dukawallas. An even greater loss to the Indian business community was the confiscation of their goods and vehicles by the German authorities “for the war effort”, in exchange for German paper currency and colonial IOUs that proved to be worthless after the War.

In an act of brazen theft, the post-war German government honored their obligations only in Germany so returning Germans settlers got compensation but impoverished Indians traders could not. The conquering British colonial army under the command of the notorious racist, Gen. Smuts of South Africa, confiscated the Indian trucks etc. from the fleeing German forces and refused to pay compensation arguing that they were seizing 'enemy’ i.e. German property, whilst aware of that the ultimate owners were the British Indian subjects. From historical records and family traditions, it appears that all three sides in the East African War - the Germans, British & Belgians freely looted the hapless Indian traders.

British Colonial Dominance

After the British victors entered Tanganyika in 1916, they engineered the collapse of the German currency (by circulating forged notes) leading to widespread trade disruptions. Then on January 1st 1922, the German currency (and Indian Rupee which had been used in East Africa for over a century) were demonetized, impoverishing many who held those currencies. The Kenyan currency (the East African shilling newly minted) was made the only legal tender. British and Kenyan banks and companies were given financial credit to acquire the assets of the now bankrupt Khojas.

The demonetization and preferential credit created a decades-long lag in commercial and industrial growth between Tanganyika and Kenya. Khoja businesses families in Dar-es-Salaam lost a couple of generations of family wealth whilst Kenya secured for itself a role as a manufacturing powerhouse for the whole of East Africa. In fact, until the late 1950s, Dar es Salaam Khoja business houses developed only as wholesale and retail merchants.

The wartime African exodus out of Dar es Salaam also facilitated a British attempt to structure Dar es Salaam for a racist residential hierarchy - by creating separate zones for Europeans in Oyster Bay & Upanga and the Africans in Kariakoo and Ilala areas, whilst the center, (by now called Uhindini) was where the Khojas and other Indians were required to live. This congested bazaar area was deemed to provide both residential and commercial space for Dar es Salaam’s then fastest-growing community (rising from 2,600 in the closing years of German rule to almost 9,000 in 1937).

During German rule, Uhindini consisted of two-and three-storey stone buildings and makeshift single-storey structures that doubled as both home and duka shop. However, in between the 1920s and ’30s, the growing prosperity of the Indian community resulted in the transformation of the area into stylized buildings incorporating a diverse array of architectural influences from Indian to classical European.

The Indian communities still lived and worked close to their community centres-notably the Khoja Ismailis built in the vicinity of their old (and later, new) Jamaatkhana on Mosque Street, the Khoja Ithna-asheris congregated on the corner of India Street where they had built their mosque in 1904, whilst the Hindus 'jats' built a number of mahajan and temples around Kisutu Street and lived in close proximity. Overall, though, there was more general mixing. For instance, the Dahya Punja Indian Library, built-in 1929 by a Khoja Ismaili was located on India Street, well away from the Jamatkhana and closer to the mosque. By its very name, it was intended to be for the enlightenment of all Indians and by usage, was open to all Dar es Salaam residents. The Indians also developed a love for cricket amidst a boisterous but generally friendly rivalry. See Dar's Cricket Fraternity

In the 1930s, the British cleared the racially mixed housing that had grown in Mnazi Moja but turned a blind eye to poorer Indians moving into Kariakoo, which was the principal African residential area and technically off-limits for Indian housing.

Urban conditions were very bad in part because urban public expenditure, which had always been inadequate, was severely cut. This gave rise to increasing numbers of Indians renting accommodation from Africans in Kariakoo, the quarter nearest the ‘neutral zone’.

On the 'official' side of town, Acacia Avenue, despite being the main European shopping thorough-fare, gradually fell into the control of Khoja and other Indian shopkeepers. In the late ’30s, Haji Brothers, a prominent family originally from Zanzibar set-up an iconic retail establishment at its center, near the 'Askari Monument'. Moloo Bros, also a Zanzibari family, started a branch curio shop around the same time on Acacia Avenue.

But by and large, the land zoning structure between Uzunguni, Uhindini, and Uswahilini formed the principal residential locations for the town’s European, Indian and African communities and continued to entrench racial preference and segregation until Independence in 1961.

Like other Indians, Dar es Salaam Khojas began to participate in local and international politics in the 1920’s and 30s as there was a significant Gandhian influence in the diaspora. Habib Adat Dewji was a prominent businessman, who as the head of the Indian Association led a successful 22-day commercial strike in 1922 to retain the Indian book-keeping system for tax purposes.

Soon however, the Khoja Ismaili political involvement became openly pro-colonial as their Imam, Agakhan III firmly allied himself with the global British interests and was able to negotiate separate education budgets for private schools directly under his personal control. By 1940, at the launching of the Ismaili Khoja-owned “Africa Sentinel”, Kassum Sunderji Samji, the leading Khoja Ismaili figure in Tanganyika, summarized this as follows “the patriotic and pro-British sentiment of the Khoja community found no proper representation in the local Indian Press and that the community wished for this to be rectified". Africa Sentinel was succeeded by another Ismaili-owned Anglo-Gujarati paper, Young Africa which remained in print into the 1950s, though few copies survive.

In the 1930s, however, Mohamed Ratansi, an Ithna-Asheri Khoja and Habib Jamal, an Ismaili Khoja jointly agitated for greater rights for the Indian community and it was this activism that later spawned the partnership of Julius Nyerere and Amir Habib Jamal which was so effective in the peaceful transition of Tanganyika to majority African rule.

The Second World War changed the gently-ordered colonial city. Food rationing with preferential treatment for Europeans, aroused African anger that lead to a countrywide strike in 1947 and effectively started the 'winds of change', which were so consequential for the future of the Khojas.

Immediately after the war, the community grew prosperous from rising commodity prices and a burgeoning exports/imports economy brought on by the Korean conflict. There was substantial re-development of Uhindini with an array of buildings incorporating many modern influences. The Khojas also poured their life savings into new multi-story buildings in Kariakoo.

"...from a 1948 baseline of 72 units worth 4.8 million shillings, a peak was reached and sustained between 1953 and 1958 when 1004 units were constructed per annum worth 143.4 million shillings

Between 1949-1951, new residential buildings valued nearly £1 million (US$50m in 2019 values), commercial properties of about £750,000 and industrial buildings of over £600,000 were completed. The following year the value of buildings under construction or planned, was as high as £7 million (ED.an astonishing US$ 250 million, in 2019 values)

Notwithstanding the controls imposed on Indian immigration by the British officials, ostensibly to protect indigenous Africans - one has to contrast that to the heavy post-war European immigration into Kenya to appreciate the hypocrisy - the number of Indians rose from under 9,000 in 1940 to almost 30,000 by 1957. This was partly fueled by the renewed recruitment of Indian civil servants following the Second World War but above all by increased birth rates among Indians already resident in Dar es Salaam. From the early 1950s, Upanga to the north of Uhindini experienced rapid development of cooperative housing schemes, built on the legal structures of the Cooperatives Acts that had helped the Chaggas, Sukuma and other African tribes to market their coffee and other produce from the 1930's.

In the 1960s, more real estate investment, in the form of self-help housing schemes modeled on the government-run developments for Africans in Kinondoni and other African areas, vastly improved the lives of the Khoja under-class.

By the late 1960s, this community-based housing cooperative scheme had resulted in an investment in Dar es Salaam of approximately US S35-41 million (ED. US$ 320 million in 2019 value) and a further US S2.6 million in up-country towns.

Though the British had envisioned a racially divided city, they were not able to enforce their rules due to chronic underfunding of services by the colonial government and Dar es Salaam neighborhoods grew socially more diverse than neighboring capitals such as Nairobi or Lusaka. In 1956, the Khoja-donated ‘native’ Sewa Haji Hospital was renamed the Princess Margaret Hospital. After independence, in an effort to wipe out the vestiges of colonialism, this iconic institution got another name change but not back to the name of its founder-it was renamed as 'Muhimbili Hospital', so with the sunset of the British Empire, decades of Khoja history & philanthropy in Dar es Salaam were swept away.

African Majority Rule

Notwithstanding that the frenetic pace of investment continued even after 1957 when majority African rule was made official British policy and remained apace decades after Independence, the loyalty of the “Asians”, as Indians were now called, was always questioned by opportunist indigenous leaders and was a factor in the misguided nationalizations after 1971.

This, the third financial catastrophe to hit Khojas, was ostensibly introduced to advance Tanzania’s socialist goals by way of the nationalization of "exploitative" second properties. "Between 1971-1973, the “Acquisition of Buildings Act 1971, allowed the government to confiscate, without compensation, nearly 3,000 buildings in Dar es Salaam, of which 96 percent belonged to Tanzanian Asians"

The final spate of acquisitions ended in 1973 by which time 2,994 buildings had been acquired worth an estimated 500 million shillings; almost all had belonged to Asians.

The Nationalization Act was cleverly crafted to exclude African landlords by targeting only multi-storey buildings over a value that exempted the bungalow-type properties favored by Africans investors both in Uswahilini and across the country. A survey of housing in Dar es Salaam 10 years earlier had found "over 12,000 houses were African-owned—with 18 percent of men and 47 percent of women owning one house or more."

In breach of its avowed socialist goals, the government also fraudulently confiscated the cooperative housing schemes of the poorer Asians - these relatively new urban dwellings were much coveted by the elites cadres of the "para-statal sector" and their friends - under the legal fiction that the co-op society was “one single owner” and it owned “multiple” units and so it fell under the axe of the Act.

While formally exempted from nationalization, a large percentage of Ismaili cooperative housing was also acquired because tenant-purchasers had rented units to third parties

. In fact, the law was crafted such that even if a single unit out of 300 was a rental, all the owners lost their life savings.

Notice of acquisition appeared in the local press and was immediately followed by the arrival of the police who took possession of the building and attached assets. Basically, individuals were evicted — amidst the scarcely concealed glee of Africans — sometimes without being able to remove personal possessions. In Dar es Salaam approximately 1578 buildings were acquired - fewer than 250 of which were eventually returned — affecting 5300 private tenants.

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In the initial surge of acquisition not only privately owned buildings but also those belonging to communal associations - mosques, guest houses, and community halls — were also acquired. While the latter were eventually returned, the entire process of appropriation caused a major panic in the Indian population. At the same time, houses belonging to and occupied by individual families were also nationalized and then rented back to their former owners and sitting tenants.

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The Khojas, who, on the advice of their community leaders and unlike some other Indians, had put 'all their eggs in one basket' were devastated. Generational life savings were wiped out and families became renters in their own homes. The predictable consequence was a loss of business confidence and a slow shut-down of the economy. Most of the Khoja (who had owned a majority of the properties) as well as other Indians, lead a mass exodus out of Tanzania, mostly with nothing more than the support of families living elsewhere.

During the hard days of economic wilderness that followed, many up-country Khojas, who lacked the resources or inclination to leave Tanzania moved into Dar es Salaam for greater community support and to hold on to a precarious living.

In the 1990s, a change of government and liberalization of trade and economic policies brought renewed opportunities and once again the Khojas, like the proverbial Phoenix, have rebuild their lives and regained prosperity.

It is a testament both to their centuries of tenacity and to Africa’s rich opportunities, that for more than 150 years, the migrant Khojas of the Indian subcontinent, have had a peaceful and prosperous existence in Dar es Salaam.

Omani Sultan Majid, also of migrant heritage, would have been pleased with this outcome of his dream of an “Abode of Peace” (another translation of word 'Dar es Salaam')

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Photo Gallery Of Dar es Salaam Throughout its History

Under Swahili Patronage & Omani Sultan's Domain

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  Ginger-Merchants Street, Dar es Salaam, circa 1890.

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  Street in Magogoni, now part of Dar es Salaam, circa 1890.

German Imperial Rule

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  German Governors Villa, Dar es Salaam circa 1898

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  Dar es Salaam Harbour circa 1890.

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  Hindu Merchants, Dar es Salaam circa 1890.

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  The Lutheran Church(built by Germans in 1898 and still beautiful!

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  India Street, Dar es Salaam circa 1900(German caption says this was done after a survey.

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  St.Josephs Catholic Church (built 1902)

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  German Mail Streamer, circa 1906

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  German Cultural Centre, circa 1906.

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  Dar es Salaam Harbour, circa 1906.

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  Dar es Salaam Hospital, circa 1906.

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  Indian Traders recorded in living in Dar es Salaam in the German Colonial Handbook 1908.

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  A fine example of German buildings circa 1910.

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  Old Post Office, built 1911- familiar to many Khoja residents for the daily long walk to collect mail.

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  Creative marketing on the back of a baby elephant, Dar es Salaam, circa 1906.

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  "Banyanis" (Hindu) Brahmin merchants, Dar es Salaam, circa 1912 (Photo credit German Colonial Society)

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  Indian school children, Dar es Salaam circa 1914 (Photo credit German Colonial Society)

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  Indian students playing European, Dar es Salaam circa 1914 (Photo credit German Colonial Society)

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  Indian ladies, Dar es Salaam circa 1914 Photo (Credit: Baals)

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  Well-stocked Indian retail store, Dar es Salaam, circa 190-1914 (photo credit: German Colonial Society.)

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  Hindu students, Dar es Salaam circa 1914 (Photo credit: O.A. Becker).

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  Large Retail store with residence, Dar es Salaam, circa 1906-1914 (Photo credit: German Colonial Society).

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  Dukawalla (small retail store), Dar es Salaam, circa 1906-1914 ( Photo credit:German Colonial Society.)

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  Indians & Arab having chai & kahawa coffee, Dar es Salaam circa 1911( Photo credit Weockner)

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  After their victory, the British colonial authorities replaced the statute of the German Governor, Hermann von Wissmann with that of the Askari, at his feet.

British Colonial Dominance

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  An Indian-owned truck looted by the Germans and then kept by British colonial army 1916.

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  A street scene after the damage from the European War. (Bundesarchiv-Bild-105-DOA3077)

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  Acacia Avenue, circa 1920's.

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  Dar es Salaam circa 1923.

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  Nice.

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  The famous Askari Monument-The Haji Brothers store is visible in the background.

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  Kariakoo Dar 1950.

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  Jiwan Hirji Building,built in the 50's.

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  This sheltered harbour was the reason why Sultan Majid chose to build Dar es Salaam!

African Majority Rule

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  Julius Nyerere after his election as Leader of TANU party.

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  Khoja Ismaili women marching in support of Julius Nyerere circa 1960's

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  Tanganyika Legislature at Independence circa 1961.

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  Upanga Ismaili Jamatkhana, built in December 1963

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Photo Gallery Of The Khoja In Dar es Salaam

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  Khoja shopkeeper, Dar es Salaam circa 1914 (Photo credit German Colonial Society)

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  Cosy Cafe, c1900-1912 Originally started as a bakery by a German named August Treuheit, Cosy Cafe saw its limelight as a popular bistro-café, operated by the Bhaloo family for many decades through the 40-70's. It was one of the haunts of Julius Nyerere and other pre-Independence political activists but its greatest local fame was as a rendezvous for many a love affair amongst young Khojas. (With the kind permission of Sarah Markes, Artist https://darsketches.wordpress.com) See Special Note below on Randal Sadleir

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  The first Khoja Shia Ithna-Asheri Mosque in Dar-es-Salaam, built-in 1904.

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  Khoja Ismaili Cemetery,Dar es Salaam, photo circa 1906-1914.

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  "The enigmatic Gate Posts of Eternity on Ocean Road in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, once marked the entrance to the Ismaili burial grounds". David Stanley.

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  The magnificent Khoja Ismaili Jamatini, Uhindini (Gham) built in 1930.

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  Khoja women with their distinctive Bandhani shawls, Waterfront, Dar es Salaam, circa 1939.

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  Jamatkhana Street Scene.

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  Diamond Jubilee Celebrations at the corner of Mosque Street and Indira Gandhi Street,1946 (photo Shani Gray)

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  The wonderfully colorful buildings of Uhindini, Dar es Salaam.

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  Dahya Punja Library, where many a surreptitious glances were exchanged.

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  Avalon Cinema, built by Hassanali Kassum Sunderji ("Chocolate"), who also built Amana Cinema in Illala for his African clients.

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  Askari Monument, Dar es Salaam, with Haji Bros Store in the background.

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  Another angle of the Askari Roundabout, with a famous cafe(?) and Shelina Studio.

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  The elegant Aga Khan Library, built 1934.

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  Bombay style architecture, Dar es Salaam-India was so close and yet so far!

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  A wonderful image of the entrance to the harbour.

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  The local beach lay on the path of the daily morning walk for the Khojas.

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  Many a Khoja youngster has swam or fished of this jetty.

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  Kebab heaven.

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  Cinema time.

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  Street cricket.

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  Community Sewadaris:Mukhi- Kamadias-Khoja Ismaili Jamaat, Dar es Salaam (1882-1973)

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  Dar Khoja Ismaili leaders

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  Sakar and other Volunteers with Majarmaa Sakar Hassanali Bandali & Mukhiani Zehra Akber Lalji Samji and Kamadiani Shirin Badrudin K Karsan - Darkhana Dar es Salaam.

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  Kariakoo Ismailis Volunteers

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  A lineup of Ismaili Amaldaris in thier traditional Indian "Jubas" Dar es Salaam 1960's.(These magnificiant jubas have been now been replaced by recent middle eastern influences amongst the leadership of the Khojas.

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  Acacia Av. - Now Samora Av(Photo courtesy of Nizar Kassam(Boga)

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  1960s - Dsm. Club Entrance(Photo courtesy of Nizar Kassam(Boga)

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  Metropole Hotel Bldg(Photo courtesy of Nizar Kassam(Boga)

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  Morogoro Rd - Karmali Bhanji Shop(Photo courtesy of Nizar Kassam(Boga)

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  Motor Mart - Used Car Sales, Upanga Rd(Photo courtesy of Nizar Kassam(Boga)

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A Timeline Of The Khoja History Of Dar es Salaam (Courtesy of Khojapedia.com)

1840’s – Khoja & Banias (Hindu) merchants establish Dukas (shops) in Mzizima Village but only Khojas have spouses and family living here.

1862 – Bandar es salaam - founded by Omani Sultan Majid bin Said of Zanzibar near Mzizima Village.

1872 – Hurricane destroys many Khoja business & houses.

1873 - African boycott of Arab rulers forces Indian traders to move out to nearby villages.

1885 - Berlin Conference allocates most of Tanganyika to German colonialists.

1887 - Town "taken by imperialist Carl Peters for German East Africa Company."

1891 - Capital of German East Africa relocated from Bagamoyo to Dar es Salaam.

1893 - Dar es Salaam Botanical Gardens established.

1894 - Lighthouse built.

1897 - Ocean Road Hospital built.

1899 - Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Zeitung (de) (newspaper) begins publication.

1900 - "Port facilities" built.

1901 - Lutheran Church built on the Waterfront.

1903 - New Boma (district office) built.

1905 - Baugesellschaft Daressalam (construction firm) establishes.

1905 - St. Joseph's Cathedral consecrated on the Waterfront.

1906 - Kaiserhof (New Africa Hotel) in business.

1907 - Morogoro-Dar es Salaam section of Central Railway Line completed. More Khoja families settle in Morogoro/Kilombero/Kilosa.

1911 - Post office built.

1914 - Kigoma-Dar es Salaam railway begins operating-More Khpja traders and families establish shops in and along the railway towns, Ifakara, Dodoma, Tabora and Kigoma.

1916 - 3 September: Town captured by British colonial forces.

1919 - Town becomes capital of British Tanganyika Territory.

1922 - State House built.

1926 - Legislative Council of Tanzania headquartered in Dar es Salaam.

1929 - Tanganyika African Association active.

1930 - Daily News begins publication.

1933 - Yacht Club opens.

1940 - George V Memorial Museum opens.

1950’s – Rapid construction of multistory commercial-residential buildings in Uhindini.

1972- Nationalisation of Buildings Act begins emigration of Khojas from Tanzania and influx of Khojas from up-country towns to Dar es Salaam.

1990- Liberalisation of the economy begins a growth of new commercial and residential development in Dar es Salaam by Khojas entrepreneurs.

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Special Note on Cosy Cafe

Speaking to a nationalist rally in the early days, Nyerere had declared that 'Kutawaliwa ni fedheha' and Sadleir probably saved him from prosecution, and the country from probable turmoil, by pointing out to the authorities that this meant “It is a disgrace to be ruled” rather than “We are ruled disgracefully”. The two became close friends, drinking companions at the Cosy Cafe, and Sadleir acted as an intermediary between Nyerere and the new Governor, Sir Richard Turnbull, assisting at what proved to be an unusually harmonious transition.

— from 'Tanzanian Affairs issue 95 - Obituaries.

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Special Note on Dar Street Scene

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  Dar es Salaam Streetscape

The photo above shows the crossroads at Zanaki (Selous) and India Streets. The cream building on the right-hand corner had a Konkani cafe called Osman's T-Room. We used to call it "Kasuku's" because it had an African Grey parrot (Kasuku) on the premises. The cream building had a chemists' shop called "Tanganyika Chemists" on the India Street side and next to Kasuku's and owned by the same Brahmin Family who owned Universal Spares. Dr. Chakera's surgery was near the Tanganyika Chemists.The 1st building on the left (a bit dark), was a Daudi Bohra individual/community-owned multi storey residential/commercial complex and was called "Nyumba Maili" because the shape of the building was like a steamship. There was an upmarket/pricey shoemaker called "Tapu Ruda" on the corner with Kaluta (Harding) Street. He clientele was mainly Europeans who had their shoes hand-made; The round grey building on the left of the photo had an automobile spare parts shop called "Universal Spares" on the corner. On the Zanaki side of the building, it had offices/shop of "House of Manji" the Baring biscuits manufacture from Nairobi? Kenya. The building after round building was owned by cousins of Dr. M. T. Chakera and called Abbros Mansion. The ground floor was occupied by The Bank of India. On the opposite side of the Bank of India Branch, we had the famous "Dar es Salaam Hotel" restaurant owned by a Gosai Family. It did roaring trade in Vati dal Bhajiyas and Kachoris. The Vadgama Family migrated to Canada and the Gosai Families to Leicester where they still have Sweet and Farsan mart as well as a restaurant on Melton Road, called "Sharmilee". Further down, you can make out the dome of the KSI Mosque. The dome looks like as if it is constructed in sand and cement. The original dome was constructed in red corrugated iron roof sheets. The construction of the original dome was overseen by my Late Paternal Grandfather (Dada) Knaji Mulji Varambhia; The 1st building on the right-hand side of the photo is the Telephone Exchange building which also had a tall metal pylon next to the building in India Street corner. In the old days, there used to be competition as who could throw a coin over the top of the pylon.

— by Naren Varambhia

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Dar es Salaam through changing times

The journey to Dsm from Zanzibar in those days of the early 50s was mostly by the ships 'Al Said' or 'Al Hadhra'. Recalling vaguely that adventure; the early morning, docks, porters and passengers yelling at each other, boarding the ship, the siren and the ship drifting away, passengers spreading mats and placing refreshments, the open deck and then the rains. We reached Dsm in the afternoon. The ship did not anchor at the harbour. We’d to be ferried in a motorboat that had come to collect us. The journey took some 5 hours unlike today.

The first sight of Dsm that comes to mind was the exquisite Ithnashri 'Musafirkhana' minaret that was opposite my uncle's house where we had put up. Dsm then was wondrous and had its ethereal beauty. There was a marked difference between its houses and the Zanzibar stone houses that were adjacent to each other and almost clinging to the opposite ones. Also the roads were wider compared to the stone town that abounds in gullies and alleys. Oyseterbay breathed refreshing coolness. Right opposite the house was 'Osman Tea Room' where we'd go to buy 'paan'. In the evening i accompanied my uncle to the 'Tanganyika Printers' across there to collect his Gujarati periodicals. Next to it was 'Kalyanji Bhanji' where he bought the 78 rpm records. The hits then were songs from 'Barsaat', 'Awara', 'Deedar' and 'Beju Bawra'. On Saturday nights it meant seeing a film at Odeon where we'd our tickets reserved through Manubhai.

It is said that when Mehboob Khan's Aan, the first Indian film in colour, starring Dilip Kumar was being released at Odeon a procession with drummers was taken out through the streets of Dsm. The procession was led by the Aan banner carrier riding on a horse and announcing over loudspeaker the release of the film.

Today the evenings in Dsm unlike the past are uneventful and drag. Once there were as many as seven Cinema Houses (Odeon, Empress, Avalon, Cameo, Amana, New Chox and Empire besides the Drive in Cinema) that have been forsaken for some new set ups. On Wednesday evenings all roads led to the Drive In as cars and pick ups packed with cine goers headed for the film there. Honestly speaking the 'multiplex' despite modern technology do not attract the old timers. Nothing to beat the pleasure of seeing a film in those old theaters. Also gone are those days when spectators thronged Government Service, Gymkhana and Chungani grounds to watch thrilling cricket and volleyball contests between various communities. Today Gymkhana provides membership to only the elite group that dominates its golf course and tennis courts. In the earlier days the Isherwood Cricket Tournament played among the schools thrived. The Azania/Aga Khan encounter was always a thriller. The Azania boys were groomed by their teacher CD Patel who himself represented Tanganyika. Nowadays students no more give priority to Azania but prefer private schools like the Agakhan Mzizima, Shaban Robert or Almuntazir. The rich opt for International School run by the Americans.

Those restaurants famous for the peculiar taste of their specialties like Dsm Hotel (kachori & sambharo), Naaz ('mix'), Pandya (thali), Embassy (bhajia), Pakodiwala (bhelpuri), City (shrikhand puri) and Koyas (icecream) have disappeared from the scene. Now appear barbeques occupying part of Jamhuri Street (formerly Ring Street). The 'A.T.Shop' and 'K.T.Shop' famous for the taste and flavour of their kabab and tea still flourish. Purnima caters to those with taste for vegetarian food. 'Raj Kapoori Paan' shop is no more there. The good old Abdulbhai is said to be somewhere in Toronto. Also Mehta Paan and Iceland have quit the scene.

In the 50’s Kariako was a slum area and bushy while Upanga was hardly inhabited and not much heard of. Leave aside the Msasani, Mikocheni, Masaki and such places which were as good as non existent. People still flock Oysterbay but it is devoid of its past sophistication. Its supply of 'kitale with mbatata' continues. The commercially inclined Slipway and Sea Cliff also attract the public. Unlike today Acacia Avenue with its Askari monument was familiarly intimate, and alongside the stretch of 'Nano Dario' (sea shore) that made a lively resort and welcomed the crowd even beyond midnight. Today Dsm is metropolis. The skyscrapers adorn the city including the once shanty Kariako and Simbazi. Dsm stretches beyond Mbezi. Msasani, Masaki and Mikocheni portray spectacular bungalows and where the affluent reside. Many have shifted from the city to these newly developed localities.

In the past children played tennis ball cricket and volleyball in the openness of the veranda (lavani). I recall the Ithnashri mosque that was small and its attendance hardly a hundred. In the evening the elderly gathered in groups and sat on the pavement around the lime tree. It had scenic beauty. Today it is transformed into a grand monument. The Bohoras have also grown in number. They have put up their new mosque adjoining their cricket ground at Upanga. Their major functions are now held there.

The Ismailis formed the majority and numbered more than 15,000. They reigned the place and Daressalaam's initial development must be attributed to them. In fact full credit to them for inhabiting Upanga by putting up scores of structures. They built as many as 5 'jamaat khana' (Dur, Upanga, Karimabad, Kariako and Changombe) but the IPS retreat and their exodus mainly to Canada has left only 1500 Ismailis today. The irony of time!

The enterprising Hindu elders still sit outside their Kisutu temple. Even in today's time people visit TB Seth library to read the Indian periodicals and papers. I'm reminded of the late Urmilaben Jhaveri who had shared her story of the library on our 'Namaskar East Africa' forum. Sadly she died recently in Noida, India. Her Husband Kantilal Jhaveri, Mwalimu's associate, had passed away earlier. Today the 'navratri gharba' at 'Luhana Mahajan', 'Bhatia Vadi' and several other spots do not stretch beyond midnight unlike the past when they continued till the wee hours and 'jalebi & ganthia' feasted. The 'diwali' night illumination and firework around 'Odeon Roundabout' that attracted hundreds is a thing of the past. Now it is a limited firework display at the Patel Ground.

The Sikh gurudwara stands tall at 'Kidongo Chakhundu' along Mnazimoja. It is famous for its 'langar'. The good old pal Dr. Kulbirsingh Gupta being our main acquaintance. I understand through this forum that even he has left for the States. Most of the old inhabitants, Sikhs as well as other community members, have fled Daressalaam and emigrated to the UK, States, Canada and Middle East. The present lot is mostly from upcountry. The expatriate class that was on the rise is now declining. The US $ costs around sh 2300 and that affects the consumers. Karibu Dsm the 'Tanzanians living abroad' but do not crave for a vision of the same time period Dsm or you are in for a disappointment.

— By Abdulrazak Shariff Fazal

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Some Dar es Salaam Khojas And Their Life Stories

Click on the names to retrieve their stories:

Click names to read their amazing stories Mohamed H. Ahamed Sumar the sumars of lindi Mehdi Bawa his story, told his way. FakirMohamed Hussein Karim Gaidher calgary's bapa Dhanji Jadavji Bhatia east african entrepreneur Rahemtulla Walji Virji 100 years young Faisal Devji history scholar Hassanali Walji Kanji intercontinental migrant Sachedina Peermohammed Mawji mosque builder Amersi Manji Lakhani a sewadari Nargis Dhanji Bhatia author-life actually Ismail Mohamed Dewji publisher, film-maker 1940's Juma Lalji Ladha coop housing legacy ROZINA VISRAM social scholar,author Rashid Adat Dewji merchant, agent Daulatkhanu Hassanali Suleman Bhanji everyone's aunty Sewa Haji Paroo 19th century philanthropist Abdullah Ratansi magistrate, german east africa Mohamed-Jaffer Habib Dewji Bhayani never say defeat [[Saleem Al Noor Kassum]] international civil servant Gulsaker Dewji a fighter Amir Habib Jamal dedicated minister,tanzania Issa Gulamhussein Shivji africa's towering intellectual Kulsum Abdalla Hasham traditional herbalist Kassamali Hirji Jessani a migrant story Abdulkarim Karmali Mohamed life of sewa Mohamed Dewji tailor to alhaj Al Noor Kassum reliable technocrat Maherali Gokal Versi bwana versi of newala Mohammed Gulam Dewji new merchant prince Abualy Alibhai Aziz voice of conscience Mehboob (Mike) Dewji against all odds Amirali Bhatia british lord Habib Jamal Walji progressive leader 1930s Habib Adat Dewji fighter for indian rights, tanganyika This essay and others like it on Khojawiki are written to provide context for the life and migration stories of individual Khoja families. We would like to add more such family histories of those who lived here, so our collective history is more complete. Please Click Here To Add Your Family And More Information To Our History