Mikindani

Early in the second millennium, stone-built urban centres grew in number and a common, cosmopolitan material culture that mixed Islamic and Middle Eastern elements with African ones gave rise to a florescence of Swahili culture. During this time, Swahili towns maintained their independence and competitiveness while interacting with Indian Ocean traders, following various forms of Islam, and maintaining connections to the various African groups that made up their respective hinterlands. Even though Swahili people have continuously fought, cooperated with, and been ruled by colonial forces from Europe and the Oman since the sixteenth century, they have managed to preserve their own cultural identity.[6]

At Mikindani, the early second millennium marks a clear break from the centuries before it. This second phase is mostly a reorientation of Mikindani's exterior linkages away from the sphere of the Indian Ocean and towards the interior Rovuma River basin. The absence of any imported ceramics—which had become more prevalent elsewhere on the Swahili coast—from the archaeological record in the Mikindani region at this time is arguably the most noticeable feature. Even though tens of thousands of pieces of locally made pottery were found, none of the imported celadon, sgraffito, black-on-yellow, Islamic monochrome, Chinese stoneware, or other types of pottery were found.[6]

Local pottery provide evidence for how the area thrived despite its residents' withdrawal from trade with the Indian Ocean; they relied on connections with interior communities. The pottery types made in the Mikindani region at the beginning of the second millennium were distinct from those made there in centuries prior as well as from those being developed further north at other Swahili sites along the coast. They are distinguished by thin-walled, well-fired open bowls and necked vessels with flattened, tapered rims and significant areal stamping or shell-edge impressions on their exteriors. In terms of decoration, vessel form, rim type, and production method, these varieties are similar to the Mwamasapa tradition made in northern Malawi and the Lumbo tradition made in northern Mozambique.[6]

The archaeological record thus documents a change in cultural and economic ties when Mikindani's residents turned their focus inward rather than towards the Indian Ocean sphere. It is possible to propose a number of explanations for why that change took place. The development of Kilwa as a significant commercial and political hub would have been one crucial factor. That Swahili city was well known for controlling access to trade and imported products even inside its own province, and it even claimed some degree of authority over the southern Tanzanian coast.[6]

Second, given that Mikindani appears to have embraced Islam relatively late, rising cultural disparities are likely to have made the economically precarious situation that Mikindani held in the Indian Ocean worse. However, Mikindani's residents may have benefited from additional trade options along the Rovuma River even as their opportunities to take part in Indian Ocean trade grew increasingly limited. The similarities in culture that the local ceramics revealed linked Mikindani to the places that the Makonde's oral traditions identified as their ancestral homelands.[6]

Second, given that Mikindani appears to have embraced Islam relatively late, rising cultural disparities are likely to have made the economically precarious situation that Mikindani held in the Indian Ocean worse. However, Mikindani's residents may have benefited from additional trade options along the Rovuma River even as their opportunities to take part in Indian Ocean trade grew increasingly limited. The similarities in culture that the local ceramics revealed linked Mikindani to the places that the Makonde's oral traditions identified as their ancestral homelands.[6]

While most Tanzanian accounts place the Makonde's origin in an ill-defined area of northern Mozambique known as Ndonde before crossing the river, the ethnographer Jorge Dias' account of their history in Mozambique suggests that they began along the shores of Lake Malawi and then followed the Rovuma coastward. Given the range of Makonde group movements in southern Tanzania since the middle of the eighteenth century that have been historically documented, it is important to remember that the archaeological record should not be interpreted as confirming these oral stories.[6]

However, when combined, these two datasets do indicate that Mikindani's residents, who faced dwindling opportunities in Indian Ocean trade, instead established significant cultural and economic ties with dispersed, expanding, non-Swahili communities in the interior throughout the early second millennium.[6]

The people of Mikindani gradually started to reintegrate into the Indian Ocean region starting in the sixteenth century. They started buying imported ceramics, such as Chinese blue-on-white porcelain and different knockoffs made overseas. Imports were primarily limited to the communities around Mikindani Bay, which for the first time encompassed the permanent habitation of the majority of Mikindani's town. From such contexts, common Swahili Ware pottery were also found, particularly open bowls painted red and those with bands of punctate ornamentation on the neck. Ruined mosques are further evidence that at least some of the local inhabitants had converted to Islam. All of these traits imply that the people of Mikindani were once more a part of Swahili social, economic, and cultural life as well as Indian Ocean networks. Notably, this development took place as Kilwa's authority and influence were waning.[6]

This is probably a result of efforts to uphold and preserve the crucial social, cultural, and economic networks that link the area to interior non-Swahili populations. It might also be the outcome of ongoing rivalry and unpredictability around Mikindani's position in Indian Ocean trade. While Kilwa's fall brought about previously unattainable opportunities, it also left a void in southern Tanzania that neighbouring Swahili centres hastened to fill. In fact, the power vacuum sparked rivalry that persisted into the nineteenth century between Mombasa, Zanzibar, the restored Kilwa polity, and others.[6]

The Omani Sultanate's consolidation of authority was arguably one of the most significant developments along the Swahili coast in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Since the middle of the eighteenth century, the Omanis have actively participated in coastal politics, first joining forces with different Swahili communities to fight the Portuguese and later pursuing their own colonial ambitions. As a result, throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Omani sovereignty was extended to a number of Swahili cities, most notably Mombasa and Zanzibar. The last time the Omani Bu'Saidi Sultanate defeated Kilwa's "embattled independence" was in 1785, according to southern Tanzania. Omani colonialism was neither uniform nor unwavering at the same time.[6]

The Mazrui liwali of Mombasa, who were also Omani, declared independence from Oman after the Bu'Saidi dynasty succeeded the Ya'rubi sultanate in Oman. From that point on, they pursued a distinct coastal agenda until they were finally overthrown by the Bu'Saidi in 1837. The port town of Sudi, which is twenty kilometres from Mikindani, had stronger relations to Mombasa in the late eighteenth century, but the majority of the evidence points to Mikindani's association with the Bu'Saidi seat in Zanzibar. Naturally, the colonial tactics used by the Omanis, whether Bu'Saidi or Mazrui, led to this exact mistake. This tactic, which mostly left local authority institutions in place and avoided direct control in favour of a scheme of nominal sovereignty and customs taxes, was intended to sustain brisk and profitable trade throughout the Indian Ocean. The Mikindani region appears to have followed a similar path, as European authors noted that the Sultan was unable to assert his authority without the "cordial cooperation" of the Swahili and Makonde populace.[6]

The Omani sultanate was ultimately confronted with the flaws in their strategy as British and German power grew in the nineteenth century. While they were forced to comply with European expectations, they were also unable to do so without endangering their relationship with their Swahili "subjects." In particular, the British compelled the Zanzibari sultanate to sign anti-slavery accords and later served as the agreements' de facto enforcers, foreshadowing the Protectorate system that would take place at the end of the nineteenth century.[6]

Prior to the Moresby Treaty of 1822, the Omanis assisted in facilitating the slave trade, which was so important for Mikindani's own expansion. They also started Pemba Island and Zanzibar's clove plantations, the first prosperous, extensive, exploitative colonial operation on the coast. In doing so, they expropriated local people and reimagined the relationship between the owner and the slave, establishing a model for commercial agriculture that was later replicated all along the coast, albeit with other crops. The development of rubber plantations in the hinterland of Mikindani appears to have followed a similar pattern.[6]

In the late eighteenth century, Mikindani had tremendous growth, and in the nineteenth century, when it participated in the commerce in ivory and gum copal as well as the purchase of enslaved people for the Indian Ocean plantation system, it was a profitable port. Its peak occurred later than most Swahili cities because of this, but it was nonetheless a port community like Bagamoyo and Kilwa Kivinje that also benefited from shifting trade patterns in the Indian Ocean. Although it happened quite late, Mikindani's expansion and wealth are nevertheless relatively well-known, at least for a town of its clearly average size.[6]

Mikindani town is documented in European sources from the later eighteenth century, its oral tradition was recorded in the nineteenth century, and in the past ten years, archaeological study has started to gather material culture evidence for the time period. Mikindani started to appear on European-made maps and charts in the latter half of the eighteenth century under the name Quindarmis. The notes that go with those records mention that the town is home to a "King's residence."[6]

They also observed its increasing affluence over time: in 1881, Captain Foot stated that "Mikindani had prospered immensely since Livingstone visited it," despite David Livingstone's visit to the city in 1866 being mostly unimpressed by its people and business. The archives make it abundantly evident that this prosperity was achieved at the expense of people who were held as slaves and that the slave trade in Mikindani continued long after Great Britain convinced the Zanzibar Sultanate to outlaw the practise in the 1870s. If anything, the ensuing decline in the cost of slaves made it possible for richer, more affluent people in the area to hire slaves to work on their farms and newly established rubber plantations.[6]

The Swahili Chronicle of Mikindani is a significant source of historical data during this era. The town's and its area's oral histories were recorded at the request of Carl Velten, the German governor of East Africa's interpreter at the time, in the late nineteenth century. It, too, highlighted the locals' participation in the slave trade and copal exports in the Indian Ocean, as well as the Sultanate of Zanzibar's significant impact in how the town's residents "learned to do business." Periodic mentions of locals who emulate the Swahili cultural ideal of urbane gentlemen (waungwana) are also made.[6]

Additionally, the chronicle emphasised ethnic tensions and divides in the town that were only hinted at in the texts from Europe. It's interesting to note that the town's founders were Makonde, the biggest non-Swahili ethnic group in this region of Tanzania. In contrast to practically every other Swahili account, the Makonde were not quickly and completely replaced by Muslim immigration but rather remained a significant part of the history.[6]

Makonde and Arab relationships were said to be tense, with disputes requiring Zanzibari mediation and rumours of men from the Arabian Peninsula robbing locals of their slaves. This more complicated situation is reminiscent of European accounts from the 1880s that claimed Makonde groups in southern Tanzania recognised the sultan of Zanzibar as the legitimate ruler, but that his rule was largely ineffective once one moved inland, as evidenced by the continued presence of the slave trade.[6]

Archaeological proof of Mikindani's peak in the nineteenth century is evident. European clay ceramics were the most distinctive artefacts of trade in the Indian Ocean throughout the nineteenth century. These containers were discovered in large quantities at Mikindani, where they made up as much as 34% of the entire assemblage in some areas of the city.[6]

The majority of these ceramics had underglaze floral patterns in blue, green, yellow, and maroon colours on white backgrounds. When the vessel's shape could be recreated, it was always a sizable open bowl. These sherds are illustrations of the European ceramics that were reportedly imported in significant quantities in the nineteenth century. One piece was a base with a potter's mark made by the French manufacture Opaque du Sarreguemines in the second part of the nineteenth century. Northern Mozambique has also uncovered nineteenth-century contexts with pottery from this French manufacture, highlighting the connections between this region of the coast and French colonies in the Indian Ocean.[6]

In the later nineteenth century, other groups of material culture also point to rising prosperity. The test excavations in Mikindani revealed a rise in the era's use of pricey coral-stone structures. There were also a lot of pieces of imported Indian pottery, which were identifiable by their thin walls, orange-pink paste, and red or brown slip patterns. Such pottery were ubiquitous along India's western coast, but the Mikindani vessels might also have been regional imitations, probably created by local Indian potters.[6]

The dispersion of imported ceramics is a clear indicator of Mikindani's rise as a thriving port city and the centre of the surrounding economy. Mikindani's regional dominance may be seen when comparing its import ratio to other settlements in the area.The proportions and numbers of imports from Europe and India were higher at Mikindani, moderate at bigger nearby communities, and low at the farthest and smallest sites. It has been suggested that these patterns of distribution correspond to the stonetown-controlled dispersal of imported products elsewhere on the coast and that they meet expectations from archaeological applications of Central Place Theory. The distribution of imported items, which is concentrated close to the main Friday mosque, also points to patterns of distinction within the Mikindani population.[6]

Mikindani's experience suggests that, just as Kilwa's emergence contributed to Mikindani's absence from early second millennium networks and Kilwa's decline allowed Mikindani to reengage, the ability to realise this ideal at many Swahili sites would have been constrained by the competition between Swahili cities. In these circumstances, it was possible for different cultural values and concepts of regional identity to arise. At Mikindani, this was tangibly emphasised by the production of local pottery with characteristics similar to those in the interior and the long-term durability of those ceramics.[6]

The inhabitants of Mikindani were no less "Swahili" when they eventually appeared in the historical record because of their absence from early second-millennium trade or their connections to the interior. In addition to all of that, these locations also contributed to the dynamic coastal economic networks and the coastal culture we regard as Swahili.[6]