KARIAKOO(Carrier Corps)

In 1914, the German colonial government of Tanganyika commissioned the first building on the land that is now the Kariakoo Market. The building was built to housea celebration of the coronation of King Kaiser Wilheim, but WWI broke out before the event could be held.During the War, Dar es Salaam and Tanganyika fell under British rule. The British army used the building as a camp for their “Carrier Corps” unit, a team of African porters who critically supported British troops in battle. After the war, in 1919, the new British protectoraterepurposed the space as a market. The market was named “Kariakoo,” a Swahili pronunciation of “Carrier Corps” in honor of the men that served in the war. As Dar es Salaam grew as a city, more and more crop volume passed through the market, and in the 1960s, after Tanzanian independence, the young Nyerere government commissioned cement and concrete stalls to be built for the sellers.