Mangapwani Slave Chamber in Zanzibar[MANGAPWANI SEHEMU YA KUHIFADHIA WATUMWA ]

 

 

The Mangapwani Slave Chamber is ~20 kms north of Stone Town and 2 kms up the coast from the Mangapwani Coral Cavern.  The Slave Chamber is a square underground cell that was cut out of the coralline rock, with a roof on top.  The chamber was originally built by Mohammed bin Nassor Al-Alwi, a prosperous slave trader, to store his slaves.  Boats from Bagamoyo on the Tanzania mainland would unload their human cargo on a secluded beach, separated from the main Mangapwani Beach by coral-rock outcrops.  The dirt path from the beach to the Slave Chamber still exists today.

Mohammed bin Nassor would keep his slaves here until it was time to take them into Zanzibar Town for sale at the Slave Market.  Many historians believe that even after Sultan Barghash signed the Anglo–Zanzibari treaty which officially abolished the slave trade in 1873, the cave was still used as a place to hide slaves, as the slave trade continued illegally for many years. 

 

SWAHILI VERSION

HANDAKI  LA KUHIFADHIA WATUMWA MANGAPWANI 

 

Ni kilometa ishirini kutoka kaskazini mwa mji wa Stone Town na ni kilometa mbili  kutoka ufukwe wa Bahari ya Hindi, Handaki hilo lilijengwa kwa kukatwa mwamba kwa ndani likiwa na paa juu yake .na lilijengwa na  Mohammed bin Nassor Al-Alwi, moja kati ya wafanya Biashara maarufu ya Utumwa na ndiyo sehemu aliyokuwa akihifadhia watumwa ,Maboti yaliyokuwa yakitoka Tanzania bara wakati huo na kugeshwa katika fukwe za Mangapwani Beach huko Zanzibar yalikuwa yakisafirisha hadi  Sehemu hii ya Handaki ya kuhifadhia watumwa na ipo mpaka leo hii.

 

Mohammed bin Nassor alikuwa akiwahifadhi watumwa wake mpaka muda wa kwenda kuwauza ulipofika katika masoko ya watumwa ndani ya Zanzibar,  Wanahistoria wengi wanaamini kuwa hata baada ya Sultan Barghash kusaini usitishwaji wa Biashara ya Utumwa iliyokuja kuhitimishwa mwaka 1873 Eneo lilikuwa likitumika kwa Biashara ya utumwa isivyo kihalali kwa  miaka kadhaa iliyofuata  .