Latham Island, known locally as Fungu Kizimkazi, Fungu Mbaraka is a small, relatively isolated island in the

Zanzibar Archipelago The Zanzibar Archipelago ( ar, أرخبيل زنجبار, sw, Funguvisiwa la Zanzibar) consists of several islands lying off the coast of East Africa south of the Somali sea. The archipelago is also known as the Spice Islands. There are four ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

which is historically under the Government of Zanzibar since 1898.

History

The island has several local names in addition to Fungu Kizimkazi, the most notable of which are ''Fungu la Mbarak'', after the Arab who had the right to collect wreckage there in the reign of Seyid Barghash who was the Sultan of Zanzibar; ''Shungu Mbili'' and ''Shan Jove''. The island was featured on an early sixteenth century Portuguese map (Ingrams, n.d) but it derives its present name from the East India man Latham, who rediscovered it in 1758.

Zanzibar Administration on the Island

The island was annexed to Zanzibar on 19 October 1898 when British First Minister Sir Lloyd Mathews under the order of the Sultan of Zanzibar visited the island, planted the Zanzibar Flag, and declared it to be under the administration of Zanzibar. Lloyd Mathews arrived on the island on 18 October 1898 with the warship HHS Barawa alongside Captain Arthur Agnew, Zanzibar Port Officer, and Dr. Alfred Andrew Spurrier, a Medical Officer. Following the Plantation of Zanzibar Flag on 19 October 1898, 21-gun salutes were performed as a military honor and the island was officially annexed to the Sultan's authority. An iron house was built; its corner stone was laid and written with "LATHAM ISLAND, FUNGU KIZIMKAZI UNDER ZANZIBAR SOVEREIGNTY".

Geography

Latham Island is a flat coral island located south-east of

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 ...

and east of

Dar es Salaam Dar es Salaam (; from ar, دَار السَّلَام, Dâr es-Selâm, lit=Abode of Peace) or commonly known as Dar, is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over s ...

. It is roughly long and wide, and has an area of . The island is surrounded by a fringing

reef A reef is a ridge or shoal of rock, coral or similar relatively stable material, lying beneath the surface of a natural body of water. Many reefs result from natural, abiotic processes— deposition of sand, wave erosion planing down rock out ...

and is oceanic, as it lies off the continental shelf and is surrounded by deep water.

Ecology

The island is an important breeding ground for various bird species, namely the

masked booby The masked booby (''Sula dactylatra''), also called the masked gannet or the blue-faced booby, is a large seabird of the booby and gannet family, Sulidae. First described by the French naturalist René-Primevère Lesson in 1831, the masked bo ...

greater crested tern The greater crested tern Retrieved 28 February 2012 (''Thalasseus bergii''), also called crested tern or swift tern, is a tern in the family Laridae that nests in dense colonies on coastlines and islands in the tropical and subtropical Old World ...

sooty tern The sooty tern (''Onychoprion fuscatus'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. It is a bird of the tropical oceans, returning to land only to breed on islands throughout the equatorial zone. Taxonomy The sooty tern was described by Carl Linnaeu ...

and the

brown noddy The brown noddy or common noddy (''Anous stolidus'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. The largest of the noddies, it can be told from the closely related black noddy by its larger size and plumage, which is dark brown rather than black. The b ...

, and has been designated an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

. Latham is also thought to be of importance for nesting turtles.

Dispute

Although the Island is under Zanzibar territorial water, controversy has emerged over the ownership of the Latham Island between Zanzibar and Tanzania Mainland, the Island is ruled by the United Republic of Tanzania and not under the Zanzibar jurisdiction. Some members of the House of Representatives in Zanzibar and Opposition leaders have been complaining about ownership of the Blocks and Latham Island.

References

Uninhabited islands of Tanzania Islands of Zanzibar Zanzibar Archipelago Important Bird Areas of the Zanzibar Archipelago {{Tanzania-geo-stub