Mrima or Mrima Coast is the traditional name for the part of the East African coast facing

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 islan ...

. The inhabitants were often called "Wamrima" or Mrima people even though they could belong to different tribes and language groups. The sources give different definitions about the borders of the coastal stretch. Generally the Mrima consisted only of a coastal strip of a width of two days travel, i.e. about 20 miles or 30 km.

Ludwig Krapf Johann Ludwig Krapf (11 January 1810 – 26 November 1881) was a German missionary in East Africa, as well as an explorer, linguist, and traveler. Krapf played an important role in exploring East Africa with Johannes Rebmann. They were the first ...

, who collected his information at Mombasa between 1844-1852, wrote that the Wamrima began on the northern side with the Vumba people, the speakers of the Kivumba dialect of Swahili, who lived in the area of Shimoni, opposite Wasini Island, continued southwards until the Usambara Hills and "the land of Mrima". A.C. Madan who collectd his material at Zanzibar around 1890, described Mrima being the area between Wasini and Kipumbwi at the mouth of the Msangasi River, about 25 km south of the Tanzanian town of

Pangani Pangani Town is a historic Swahili settlement located on the south eastern shore of Tanga Region, Tanzania. The town lies south of the city of Tanga, at the mouth of the Pangani River. It is the headquarters of the Pangani District. Admini ...

. Madan thought the name Mrima could derive from a variation of the Swahili word"mlima" for hill, mountain, thus denoting the hilly country rising behind the immediate coast. Later authors described a wider use of the name on the southern side.

Stigand Stigand (died 1072) was an Anglo-Saxon churchman in pre-Norman Conquest England who became Archbishop of Canterbury. His birth date is unknown, but by 1020 he was serving as a royal chaplain and advisor. He was named Bishop of Elmham in 10 ...

for example described the Kimrima dialect reaching from

Vanga The family Vangidae (from ''vanga'', Malagasy for the hook-billed vanga, ''Vanga curvirostris'') comprises a group of often shrike-like medium-sized birds distributed from Asia to Africa, including the vangas of Madagascar to which the family ...

(southern Kenya) until the neighborhood of

Kilwa Kilwa Kisiwani (English: ''Kilwa Island'') is an island, national historic site, and hamlet community located in the township of Kilwa Masoko, the district seat of Kilwa District in the Tanzanian region of Lindi Region in southern Tanzania. K ...

. In southern Kenya there is a village and a small mountain called Mrima about 20 km north of

Kwale County Kwale County is a county in the former Coast Province of Kenya. Its capital is Kwale, although Ukunda is the largest town. Kwale county has an estimated population of 649,931. Kwale is mainly an inland county, but it has coastline south of Mo ...

. Fungu Mrima (also Fungu Marima) is a coral reef in the Mafia Channel between the mainland and

Mafia Island Mafia Island (Kisiwa cha Mafia) is an island and district of Pwani Region, Tanzania. The island is the third largest in Tanzanian ocean territory, but is not administratively included within the semi-autonomous region of Zanzibar, which has been ...

.Cf
Fungu Marima
= Fungu Mrima Coasts

References

Swahili people Geography of Tanzania Geography of Kenya