Ujiji is a historic town located in

Kigoma-Ujiji District Kigoma-Ujiji District is one of the eight administrative districts of Kigoma Region in Tanzania. The District covers an area of . It is bordered to the west by Uvinza District in the south east and to the north by Kigoma District. The western ...

Kigoma Region Kigoma Region (''Mkoa wa Kigoma'' in Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative regions. The regional capital is the city of Kigoma. Kigoma Region borders Kagera Region, Geita Region, Katavi Region, Tabora Region, DRC and Burundi Accordin ...

in Tanzania. Originally an Arab trading post in the mid-nineteenth century nominally under the

Sultanate of Zanzibar The Sultanate of Zanzibar ( sw, Usultani wa Zanzibar, ar, سلطنة زنجبار , translit=Sulṭanat Zanjībār), also known as the Zanzibar Sultanate, was a state controlled by the Sultan of Zanzibar, in place between 1856 and 1964. The Su ...

, the town is the oldest in western

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 ...

. In 1900, the population was estimated at 10,000 and in 1967 about 41,000. The site is a registered National Historic Site.

History

Historically the town that is now Ujiji was the home of the Jiji people. Ujiji is the place where

Richard Burton Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s, and he gave a memorable pe ...

and

John Speke Captain John Hanning Speke (4 May 1827 – 15 September 1864) was an English explorer and officer in the British Indian Army who made three exploratory expeditions to Africa. He is most associated with the search for the source of the Nile ...

first reached the shore of Lake Tanganyika in 1858. It is the site of the famous meeting on 10 November 1871 when Henry Stanley found Dr.

David Livingstone David Livingstone (; 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, and pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, an explorer in Africa, and one of the most popular British heroes of t ...

, and reputedly uttered the famous words “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” Livingstone, whom many thought dead as no news had been heard of him for several years and who had only arrived back in Ujiji the day before, wrote “When my spirits were at their lowest ebb, the good Samaritan was close at hand, for one morning y servantSusi came running at the top of his speed and gasped out, ‘An Englishman! I see him!’ and off he darted to meet him. The American flag at the head of the caravan told of the nationality of the stranger. Bales of goods, baths of tin, huge kettles, cooking pots, tents, etc., made me think, ‘This must be a luxurious traveller, and not one at his wits’ end like me.’” republished by Qontro Classic Books (12 July 2010) A monument known as the "Dr. Livingstone Memorial" was erected in Ujiji to commemorate the meeting. There is also a modest museum. There is a former slave route near the market. In 1878, the

London Missionary Society The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed in outlook, with Congregational m ...

established their first missionary post on the shore of Lake Tanganyika at Ujiji. Some in Burundi claim the location of the famous meeting is a few miles south of the former capital Bujumbura. However, the Livingstone-Stanley Monument in Mugere actually marks a visit the two men made 15 days later on their joint exploration of northern Lake Tanganyika.

Gallery

Burton and Speke Monument in Ujiji.jpg, Burton and Speke Monument Cine Atlas in Ujiji.jpg, Cine Atlas Pan Africanism mural in Tanzania.jpg, Pan Africanism mural

References

External links

Photos
* {{Authority control Populated places in Kigoma Region Lake Tanganyika