Dodoma

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Extract from A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ABJI AND LADAK FAMILIES by ABDULMOHAMED JAFFER LADAK.

The Germans had earlier started to build a railway line from Dar es Salaam to Kigoma.^[1]
Initially, there were more Ismaili dukas in Kilimatinde. See Old Map below.^[2] a distance of about 60 miles from Dodoma. At that time, there were only five or six small shops in Dodoma. The railway line was nearing Dodoma (around 1910) and a large labour force was employed in building the railway line. Business started to improve in Dodoma and most of the Ismailis in Kilimatinde then moved to Dodoma, and opened up small dukas.
The First World War started in the year 1914 and ended in 1918. There was no Jamatkhana at that time. When it was convenient, the Ismailis met in somebody’s house for prayers. On other days, they prayed where they lived.
In 1921, the first Jamatkhana was built. The first Mukhi was Late Nasser Damji with Late Rajpar Ladak as his Kamadia.

Under Swahili & Zanzibari Rule

A porter, Sabatele's map of the main caravan route through Kilimatende, 1906. Photograph courtesy of the Archiv Museum fur Volkerkunde za Leipzig (Neg. Af 0 1428; from the originial glass plate negative).^[3]

Under German Colonial Rule

German Boma (Fort & Administrative building) Kilimatinde circa 1914.
German Built Railway Station, Dodoma photo circa 1940's.

British Colonial Dominance

Dodoma Cinema.
Dodoma Ismaili Jamatkhana.
Shariff Jamal Mill.
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References & Notes

↑ 1906-The Central Line starts at the Tanzanian metropolis of Dar es Salaam at the Indian Ocean with today's capital of Tanzania, Dodoma, in the center of the country and proceeds further to Tanzania’s most important port at the shore of Lake Tanganyika, Kigoma. It crosses central Tanzania completely with a length of 1,254 kilometers (779 mi) and overcomes the height of the east edge East African rift valley. The main stations on this line are: Dar es Salaam, Ruvu, Morogoro, Kilosa, Dodoma, Manyoni, Tabora and Kaliua.
↑ Kilimatinde was an important stop on the old caravan route to Tabora and Lake Tanganyika. Hence the presence of Khoja traders here and along the entire caravan route.
↑ The scene of Africans drawing ground maps to the profound surprise of Europeans is a recurring theme of the exploration literature. The German geographer Karl Weule was “overwhelmed” by the number of maps members of his caravan produced during a six-month research expedition through German East Africa in 1906. Between marches, he supplied his carriers with paper and pencils to see what they would draw. This is the map made by a Mambwe man named Sabatele, originally from the southern shore of Lake Tanganyika near the present Tanzania-Zambia border. The map, which traces caravan routes across Tanzania, was made in Lindi at the very beginning of Weule’s expedition. Weule notes that Sabatele’s map was oriented with south at the top, but he turned it around 180 degrees “in order to bring it into agreement with our maps.”