Kanji Hansraj

From Khoja Wiki
Mukhi Kanji Hansraj
Town of birth
Country of birth
Place of Death
Name of Cemetery and plot no
Source of Information
  • Zanzibar Mukhi & Kamadias Board-Zanzibar JK
Profession or occupation carriedout for the longest period in life
  • Trader-Wares
Where-City or Country

Born in Mundra

Kanji Hansraj first came to Zanzibar where his firm grew in a major supplier of trade caravans into the interior of East Africa. He also became a prominent elder of the Khoja Ismaili community in Zanzibar.

The business consortium of Haji, Kanji & Bros became famous as dealers in arms and ivory and financiers for trading caravans. [1]

Kanji Hansraj was also an agent for Tharia Topan in recruiting porters for interior caravans. Per W.H.Whitley. Nairobi(1966) p.3


With the growth of the trade, Bagamoyo became the new distribution hub and Kanjibhai established himself there with his brother Janmohamed Hansraj. During the German colonial period, he played an important role in averting vioience and protecting the merchants during a rebellion by the Arab & Swahili population. See below an account of his bravery in a major history of that rebellion.

Evidence of local bonds and attachments can be witnessed on the first day of the uprising: the local rebels neither looted nor damaged a single property with the exception of one belonging to a DOAG agent.68 Salim bin Abdallah, the jumbe, initially blamed for leading the uprising at Bagamoyo and retrospectively labeled its ‘‘soul,’’69 and Kisoka, the oldest and most venerable of the majumbe, led groups of men into the town center to requisition more firearms and ammunition. The group made its way to the house and store of the most prominent South Asian merchant in town, Kanji, shouting his name out repeatedly from the street. Kanji appeared and said, ‘‘here I am, what do you want? If you want to kill me, here I am.’’ Abdallah told him that he wanted to make shauri,or consultation. Kanji refused to do so unless Abdallah called off his armed men. This he agreed to and Kanji invited Abdallah into his home. The latter demanded that Kanji hand over his stocks of weapons and gunpowder. Kanji refused. The outcome of their shauri was terminated abruptly when the German warship, the Leipzig, began firing shells into the town, prompting Abdallah to flee.70 While we will never know what would have happened between these two town leaders, this episode still suggests that, in the aftermath of the Bagamoyo uprising, the jumbe foresaw the retention of the Asian trading community in Bagamoyo, instead of their expulsion as agents of the Sultan. Abdallah held back the crowd to avoid the risk of alienating key figures so vital to the town’s economic prosperity.[2]


Bagamoyo grew very prosperous during this time, and Kanjibhai was very instrumental in the growth of the Indian merchant community.

Among the prominent Indians of the (Khoja ed.) Ismaili community, I remember a number by names, and I shall enumerate some of them. Bandali Remtullah as Mukhi was their representative. Others were Alidina Visram, Ibrahim Lila, Kanji Hansraj, the heir of Jan Hansraj, Dhalla Bhimji, Daramsi Haschem, and Jaffer Dossa Thawer, Jaffer Remtullah, Pardan Mohamed, Abdullah Allarakia, Merali Remtullah, Jaffer Somji, Ali Siwji, Ismail Jiwani, Ali Somji, Ibrahim Hasim, Saleh Siwji, and many others. In 1899, there were 401 brick houses in the town of Bagamoyo, belonging almost entirely to members of the (Khoja ed.) Ismaili community. In addition, there were 2431 native houses with makuti roofs, built along streets which were already comparatively straight in those times. Besides, there were two large and magnificent houses which had been given as a present to the German administrative authorities by the Indian Sewa Hadji. [3]


References & Notes

  1. The Sultan's Spymaster: Peera Dewjee of Zanzibar Amazone Edition Location: 1704-1715
  2. Steven Fabian (2013): Locating the local in the Coastal Rebellion of 1888–1890, Journal of Eastern African Studies, DOI: 10. 1080/ 17531055. 2013. 770680.Kindle Location 264-274
  3. Otto Mahnke, German Colonial Official- reprinted from Simerge.


The German Colonial Handbook Supplement 1904 mentions the firm of "Kanji Hansraj" as being wares merchants in Bagamoyo in 1908.