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Ras Mkumbuu Ruins
Ras Mkumbuu Ruins (''Magofu ya mji wa kale wa Ras Mkumbuu'' in Swahili ) are located in Chake Chake district of South Pemba Region. They lie close to the village of Ndagoni at the end of a long narrow peninsula known as Ras Mkumbuu, which lies to the northwest of the town of Chake-Chake. The ruins mainly date from the 9th century CE and were abandoned in the 16th century, though there are indications that they were built over older foundations. Notable among these ruins are those of a large mosque which was for some time the largest structure of its type in sub-Saharan Africa. James Kirkman, the first archeologist to excavate here in the 1950s, proposed to connect his findings with the "Qanbalu" mentioned by the Arab explorer Al-Masudi Al-Mas'udi ( ar, أَبُو ٱلْحَسَن عَلِيّ ٱبْن ٱلْحُسَيْن ٱبْن عَلِيّ ٱلْمَسْعُودِيّ, '; –956) was an Arab historian, geographer and traveler. He is sometimes referred to as the "Herodotu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chake Chake District
Chake Chake District ( sw, Wilaya ya Chake Chake) is one of two administrative districts of Pemba South Region in Tanzania. The district covers an area of . The district is comparable in size to the land area of American Samoa. The district has a water border to the east and west by the Indian Ocean. The district is bordered to the south by Mkoani District and the north by Wete District of Pemba North Region. The district seat (capital) is the town of Chake-Chake Chake-Chake is a town located on the Tanzanian island of Pemba and capital of Chake Chake District. It is in the centre of a deep indentation in the west coast called Chake-Chake Bay. Chake-Chake is historically the capital of Pemba Island .... According to the 2012 census, the district has a total population of 97,249. Administrative subdivisions As of 2012, Chake Chake District was administratively divided into 31 wards. Wards # Chachani # Chanjaani # Chonga # Dodo # Kibokoni # Kichungwani # Kilindi # Kwa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pemba South Region
Pemba South Region or South Pemba Region (''Mkoa wa Pemba Kusini'' in Swahili) is one of the 31 regions of Tanzania. The region covers an area of . The region is comparable in size to the combined land area of the nation state of Grenada. and the administrative region is located entirely on the island of Pemba. Pemba South Region is bordered to the south by Indian Ocean, north by Pemba North Region and the west by Pemba channel. The regional capital is Mkoani. According to the 2012 census, the region has a total population of 195,116 . Administrative divisions Districts Pemba South Region is divided into two districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ..., each administered by a council: References Pemba Island Regions of Tanzania {{PembaSouth-g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coral Rag
Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton. A coral "group" is a colony of very many genetically identical polyps. Each polyp is a sac-like animal typically only a few millimeters in diameter and a few centimeters in height. A set of tentacles surround a central mouth opening. Each polyp excretes an exoskeleton near the base. Over many generations, the colony thus creates a skeleton characteristic of the species which can measure up to several meters in size. Individual colonies grow by asexual reproduction of polyps. Corals also breed sexually by spawning: polyps of the same species release gametes simultaneously overnight, often around a full moon. Fertilized eggs form planulae, a mobile early form of the coral polyp which, when m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swahili Culture
Swahili culture is the culture of the Swahili people inhabiting the Swahili coast. This littoral area encompasses Tanzania, Kenya, and Mozambique, as well as the adjacent islands of Zanzibar and Comoros and some parts of Malawi. They speak Swahili as their native language, which belongs to the Bantu language family. Graham Connah described Swahili culture as at least partially urban, mercantile, literate, and Islamic. Swahili culture is the product of the history of the coastal part of the African Great Lakes region. As with the Swahili language, Swahili culture has a Bantu core that has borrowed from foreign influences. History and identity The medieval sites along the Swahili coast represent a cultural tradition with diverse local traditions that can be traced to the ninth century. This has developed into the modern Swahili culture. Currently, there are 173 identified settlements that flourished along the Swahili coast and nearby Islands from the ninth to the seventeenth cen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swahili Architecture
Swahili architecture is a term used to designate a whole range of diverse building traditions practiced or once practiced along the eastern and southeastern coasts of Africa. Rather than simple derivatives of Islamic architecture from the Arabic world, Swahili stone architecture is a distinct local product as a result of evolving social and religious traditions, environmental changes, and urban development. What is today seen as typically Swahili architecture is still very visible in the thriving urban centers of Mombasa, Lamu and Malindi in Kenya and Songo Mnara, Kilwa Kisiwani, and Zanzibar in Tanzania. The distribution of Swahili architecture and towns provides important clues about trade relationships among different regions and societal systems. Exotic ornament and design elements also connect the architecture of the Swahili coast to other Islamic port cities. Many of the classic mansions and palaces of the Swahili coast belonged to wealthy merchants and landowners, who pl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Islamic Architecture
Islamic architecture comprises the architectural styles of buildings associated with Islam. It encompasses both secular and religious styles from the early history of Islam to the present day. The Islamic world encompasses a wide geographic area historically ranging from western Africa and Europe to eastern Asia. Certain commonalities are shared by Islamic architectural styles across all these regions, but over time different regions developed their own styles according to local materials and techniques, local dynasties and patrons, different regional centers of artistic production, and sometimes different religious affiliations. Early Islamic architecture was influenced by Roman, Byzantine, Iranian, and Mesopotamian architecture and all other lands which the Early Muslim conquests conquered in the seventh and eighth centuries.: "As the Arabs did not have an architectural tradition suited to the needs of a great empire, they adopted the building methods of the defeated Sassan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swahili Language
Swahili, also known by its local name , is the native language of the Swahili people, who are found primarily in Tanzania, Kenya and Mozambique (along the East African coast and adjacent litoral islands). It is a Bantu language, though Swahili has borrowed a number of words from foreign languages, particularly Arabic, but also words from Portuguese, English and German. Around forty percent of Swahili vocabulary consists of Arabic loanwords, including the name of the language ( , a plural adjectival form of an Arabic word meaning 'of the coast'). The loanwords date from the era of contact between Arab slave traders and the Bantu inhabitants of the east coast of Africa, which was also the time period when Swahili emerged as a lingua franca in the region. The number of Swahili speakers, be they native or second-language speakers, is estimated to be approximately 200 million. Due to concerted efforts by the government of Tanzania, Swahili is one of three official languages (th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Pemba Region
Pemba South Region or South Pemba Region (''Mkoa wa Pemba Kusini'' in Swahili) is one of the 31 regions of Tanzania. The region covers an area of . The region is comparable in size to the combined land area of the nation state of Grenada. and the administrative region is located entirely on the island of Pemba. Pemba South Region is bordered to the south by Indian Ocean, north by Pemba North Region and the west by Pemba channel. The regional capital is Mkoani. According to the 2012 census, the region has a total population of 195,116 . Administrative divisions Districts Pemba South Region is divided into two districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ..., each administered by a council: References Pemba Island Regions of Tanzania {{PembaSouth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ras Mkumbuu
Ras Mkumbuu is a long narrow peninsula on the central west coast of Pemba Island, one of the two main islands of Tanzania's Zanzibar Archipelago. The town of Chake-Chake, one of the island's main population centres, is located immediately to the south of it on Chake-Chake Bay. The peninsula stretches due west for 12 kilometres, tapering to only a few tens of metres wide at its narrowest point. The peninsula, along with Fundo Island to the north, forms part of a natural breakwater which provides a calm harbour for the northern town of Wete. Ras Mkumbuu was an important site in Pemba's history, being the site one of the island's most important early settlements, Qanbalu, which is now a ruin. The small village of Ngagu Ngagu is a village on the Zanzibari island of Pemba. It is located at the end of a narrow peninsula known as Ras Mkumbuu, which lies on the west coast immediately to the north of Chake-Chake Bay. The town is located close to the Quanbalu Ruins. Po ... is now the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chake-Chake
Chake-Chake is a town located on the Tanzanian island of Pemba and capital of Chake Chake District. It is in the centre of a deep indentation in the west coast called Chake-Chake Bay. Chake-Chake is historically the capital of Pemba Island, and the seat of Pemba's court. Pemba's only airport is 7 km south-east of Chake-Chake. The Mkama Ndume ruins are close to the airport in Pujini village. Climate Chake Chake has a tropical climate, yet milder than Tanzania's mainland or Unguja Unguja (also referred to as "Zanzibar Island" or simply "Zanzibar", in grc, Μενουθιάς, Menuthias – as mentioned in The ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'') is the largest and most populated island of the Zanzibar archipelago, in Tanza ... island. The average temperature in Chake Chake is . The average annual rainfall is . See also * Historic Swahili Settlements References Swahili people Swahili city-states Swahili culture Cities in Zanzibar Pemba Island {{Zan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mosque
A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, including outdoor courtyards. The first mosques were simple places of prayer for Muslims, and may have been open spaces rather than buildings. In the first stage of Islamic architecture, 650-750 CE, early mosques comprised open and closed covered spaces enclosed by walls, often with minarets from which calls to prayer were issued. Mosque buildings typically contain an ornamental niche ('' mihrab'') set into the wall that indicates the direction of Mecca (''qiblah''), Wudu, ablution facilities. The pulpit (''minbar''), from which the Friday (jumu'ah) sermon (''khutba'') is delivered, was in earlier times characteristic of the central city mosque, but has since become common in smaller mosques. Mosques typically have Islam and gender se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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