Mangapwani is a town on the

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 ...

n island 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 ...

, the main island of

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islands ...

. It is located on the northwest coast, north of the Zanzibari capital of

Stone Town Stonetown of Zanzibar ( ar, مدينة زنجبار الحجرية), also known as Mji Mkongwe ( Swahili for "old town"), is the old part of Zanzibar City, the main city of Zanzibar, in Tanzania. The newer portion of the city is known as Ng'ambo ...

. The town's name means "Arabian Shore" in swahili,More specifically, the word "manga" refers to

Muscat Muscat ( ar, مَسْقَط, ) is the capital and most populated city in Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is s ...

(

Omani Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

) arabs; arabs born in Zanzibar are called ''mwarabu''. See W.H. Ingrams, ''Zanzibar, Its History and Its People'' p. 205

/ref> a name which probably dates from the black-market slavery days of the 1840s to 1880s. The shoreline here contains numerous caves, some of which were used for holding slaves at that time. Among the caves is a popular attraction, the Coral Cavern, which is located two kilometres south of the town. The caves of Mangapwani were discovered by

Joseph Thomas Last Joseph Thomas Last (1849, Tuddenham- 1933, Shortlands) was an English missionary, explorer and naturalist. In 1872 Last was ordained at the Church Missionary College. From 1874 to 1876 he was in East Africa at the mission at Kisulutini. He br ...

, a British explorer and missionary in East African in the 1870's. There is also a famous slave chamber still in Mangapwani only away, which is about a 3 minute drive.

Footnotes

References

*Finke, J. (2006) ''The Rough Guide to Zanzibar (2nd edition).'' New York: Rough Guides. Villages in Zanzibar {{Zanzibar-geo-stub