THE BLACK COMMUNITY IN THE INDIAN SUB-CONTINENT

An East African community arrived and settled in the Indian subcontinent during the 1200AD and 1900AD period. They are believed to have been descendants of slaves, sailors, servants and merchants from East Africa. They were to be known as the sidis. A large number occurred in the region in the 17^th century when Portuguese slave traders sold a number of the slaves to the local princes.

The origins of the name sidis is believed either to be from a term of respect from North Africa or derived from the name of captains of Arab vessels that first brought the sidi settlers to India. They are currently estimated to be a population of 20 000 – 55,000 within the regions of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka states of India and Sindh and Balochistan provinces of Pakistan. Some Indian Siddis are descended from Tanzanians and Mozambicans brought by the Portuguese. While most enslaved African people became Muslim and a small minority became Christian, very few became Hindu since they could not find themselves a position in the traditional Hindu caste hierarchy

In western India (the modern states of Gujarat and Maharashtra), they were known for their physical strength and loyalty, they were sought out as mercenaries by local rulers and as domestic servants and farm laborers. Some escaped slavery to establish communities in forested areas,.

Although Gujarati Siddis have adopted the language and many customs of their surrounding populations, some African traditions have been preserved. These include the Goma music and dance form, which is sometimes called Dhamaal (Gujarati).The term is believed to be derived from the Ngoma drumming and dance forms of Bantu East Africa. The Goma also has a spiritual significance and, at the climax of the dance, some dancers are believed to be vehicles for the presence of Siddi saints of the past.

Many members of the Siddis community of Karnataka had migrated to Pakistan after independence and have settled in Karachi, Sindh. The majority of the Siddhis in Karnataka are descendants of Siddhi slaves who were brought from East Africa (mostly Mozambique) and Ethiopia to Goa by the Portuguese, British and the Arabs between the 16th and 19th centuries. During the Goan Inquisition, some of these slaves were freed and some escaped into the forests of the neighbouring Karnataka state.

A number of Africans (Ethiopians aka Abyssinians aka  Habshis) who  were enslaved and taken to India in medieval and post-medieval times eventually rose to positions of power and influence in the 16th century e.g.  Shams ud-Dawlah Muhammad al-Habshi, Bilal Habshi, Said Safar Salami and Shaik Said al-Habshi Sultani (perhaps best remembered as the builder of a famous mosque, known by his name, in Ahmedabad)

FORT JESUS

Fort J

Fort Jesus is a Portuguese fort built in 1593 by order of King Philip I of Portugal

(King Philip II of Spain), then ruler of the joint Portuguese and Spanish Kingdoms,

located on Mombasa Island to guard the Old Port of Mombasa, Kenya. It was built

in the shape of a man (viewed from the air), and was given the name of Jesus. In

2011 the fort was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, highlighted

as one of the most outstanding and well preserved examples of 16th century

Portuguese military fortifications

Between 1631 and 1875 the fort was won and lost nine times by the nations contesting control of Mombasa. It was declared a historical monument in 1958. Today it houses a museum.

The fort was designed by a Milanese  architect, Giovanni Battista Cairati, who was the Chief Architect for Portuguese possessions in the East. It was the first European-style fort constructed outside of Europe designed to resist cannon fire. Today, it is one of the finest examples of 16th century Portuguese military architecture, which has been influenced and changed by both the Omani Arabs and the British. The fort quickly became a vital possession for anyone with the intention of controlling Mombasa Island or the surrounding areas of trade. When the British colonised Kenya, they used it as a prison, until 1958, when they converted it into a historical monument. James Kirkman was then assigned to excavate the monument, which he did (with a large use of external historical documents) from 1958 to 1971.

The architecture of the fort represents the rough outline of a person lying on their back, with the head towards the sea. The height of the walls is 18 meters. The original Portuguese fort had a height of 15 meters, but the much taller Oman Arabs added 3 meters upon capturing the fort.

The fort combines Portuguese, Arab and British elements, representing the major powers that held it at different times in history. Portuguese and British presence if felt by the presence of their respective cannons. The Portuguese cannons had a range of 200 meters and are longer than the British cannons which had a range of 300 meters. Oman Arabs marked their occupancy with numerous Koran inscriptions into the wooden door posts and ceiling beams. The Muslim tradition of 5 pillars is also portrayed throughout the fort, with a former meeting hall supported by 5 stone pillars to the ceiling.

Some of the historical structures still standing in the fort include Oman House, which was the house for Sultan who governed the East African coast. Others are an open water cistern by the Portuguese for harvesting rain water, and a 76-foot deep well sank by the Arabs, but whose water was too salty to be used for anything but washing.

THE STORY OF THE AFRICAN QUEEN - MV LIEMBA.

                                                                                   MV Liemba

If ships could talk then the MV Liemba would tell a story like no other. It has probably seen all faces the world would assume bloody war, hope and peace in a life time that spans several decades. It was earlier known as the Graf von Götzen. Mv Liemba was buit in 1913 at the Meyer- Werft Shipyard in Papenburg Germany. It was named after the former Governor of German East Africa, Count Gustav Adolf Graf von Gotzen. She was to serve as a passenger and cargo ferry in conjunction with the East African Railway company. She was fully assembled in 19 14 at Kigoma on Lake Tanganyika and was operational by 1915.

The Germans fully dominated lake with the aid of the Gotzen, it was additionally armed with a 105 mm (4.1 in) autocannon. Other than ferrying cargo and personnel the ship acted as a base to launch ambush attacks on the enemy and allied forces.

                                  German gun crew manning Graf Goetzen's 105mm autocannon

The British under the command of Geoffrey Spicer-Simson and the Royal Navy brought two armed motor boats from England via Belgian Congo to the western shore of Lake Tanganyika. The two boats waited until Dec 1915, then mounted surprise attacks on the Germans, capturing their gun boat – Kingani and Hedwig von Wissman was sunk on February 1916, leaving the Gotzen as the only German vessel remaining on the Lake.

With strengthened positions on the Lake, the British and allied forces, (Belgians) bombed German positions in and around Kigoma. The Belgians set up an airbase at the western shores of the Lake and claim to have hit the Gotzen a claim that the Germans denied. The German spirit suffered and consequently striped of her gun. Kigoma was quickly being cut-off by the allied forces having cut-off the railway link in July 1916. The German naval commander Gustav Zimmer ordered the Gotzen to be dismantled to avoid it falling on enemy hands. This was to be done by three engineers’ who had travelled from Germany to assemble the ship. They saw the possibility of salvaging the ship in future and they loaded the ship with sand and covered all engines with a thick layer of grease before sinking her carefully on 26^th July off the mouth of the Malagarasi River.

The Gotzen would stay submerged at the bottom of Lake Tanganyika until 1924 when the British Royal Navy salvaged her to aid transport in the lake at their new protectorate of Tanganyika. They found the engines and boilers were still usable and she returned to service in May 1927 as a passenger and cargo ferry under the new title MV Liemba. The Liemba would operate full time and non-stop from that date.

In 1997 the UNHCR used Liemba to transport more than 75,000 refugees, who had fled Zaire during the First Congo War ,back to their homeland following the overthrow of long time dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.

So the next time you visit this Magical land make a date with history  have a glance or a ride on the MV Liemba.

Lake Tanganyika

Argentinian revolutionary Che Guevara in 1965 used the western shores of Lake Tanganyika as a training camp for guerrilla forces in the Congo. From his camp, Che and his forces attempted to overthrow the government, but ended up pulling out in less than a year since the National Security Agency (NSA) had been monitoring him the entire time and aided government forces in ambushing his guerrillas.

The Lake was the scene of two famous battles during World War One.

The first known Westerners to find the lake were the Great British explorers Richard Burton and John Speke, in 1858. They located it while searching for the source of the River Nile. Speke continued and found the actual source, Lake Victoria. Later David Livingstone passed by the lake. He noted the name "Liemba" for its southern part, a word probably from the Fipa language which in 1927 was chosen as name for the conquered German ship which is serving the lake up to the present time.

GERMAN POST OFFICE

German nationals Clement Denhardt and G. A. Fisher first made contact with the Lamu hinterland in the late 1870s. They became friends to the Sultan of witu, Ahmed Abdullah Simba, who at the time was having trouble with the rulers of Lamu and Zanzibar. Witu became a German protectorate.They built a building that was the first German Post Office ever established along the East African coast in November 22nd 1888 by the Germans, led by Clement Denhardt. The communications and trade contacts for the German Protectorate in Witu could at the time be served through Lamu, which was a well established town with links to the outside world.The Post office operated for more than two years before its closure on March 3rd 1891 after the withdrawal of the German settlement in Witu.German Post Office now a Museum is located in Lamu old town, Lamu district in Coast Province Kenya.

WW1 BALL ROUND

Manufactured April 1910 (4-10) by ( S) Indian Government Ammunition Factory Kirkee, Southern Circuit, INDIA expended at Salaita hill,most likely fired from an SMLE rifle learn more about the battle of Salaita hill

BATTLE OF SALAITA HILL