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Mafia
Island
("Chole Shamba") is part of the
Tanzanian Spice Islands, which consists also
of
Zanzibar and
Pemba. Mafia is part of the
Pwani Region and is governed from the
mainland (not Zanzibar). Mafia has never been
part of
Zanzibar.
Mafia
Island
is also one of the 6 districts of the
Pwani Region. According to the
2002 Tanzania National Census, the
population of the Mafia District was 40,801.
[1]
The people of Mafia Island are mainly fishermen;
they combine their fishing activities with small
scale cultivation of foods.
The island is a good retreat for adventure
scuba divers, game
fishermen and those seeking simple
relaxation.
Geography
The Mafia
island cluster consists of one large island
(394km²) and many off-shore islands around it --
inhabited as well as uninhabited, including
Chole Island
(2km²) with a population of 800. Chole Bay,
Mafia's protected deep-water anchorage and the
original harbor, is studded with islands,
sandbanks and beaches. The main town is
Kilindoni. The stretch of
water between the
deltas of the
Rufiji River and the island is called
Mafia Channel.
History
Mafia
Island's
history goes back to
8th century. The island once played a major
role in ancient trade, between the people of Far
East and mainland Tanzania. It was a regular
stop for
Persian boats. On the tiny island of Chole
Mjini, just offshore in Chole Bay once stood a
settlement, which was one of the most important
towns controlling trade from the silver mines of
Eastern
Zimbabwe, via the old ports of
Kilwa and
Michangani.
In the mid
1820s, the town of Kua on Juani Island was
attacked by 80 canoes filled with
Sakalava
cannibals from
Madagascar, who ate many of the locals and
took the rest into
slavery.
Under a treaty of
1890
Germany took control of Mafia and
constructed the buildings still evident on Chole.
Germany paid Sultan
Sayyid Ali bin Said al-Said of
Oman DM 4 million for the island and part of
the mainland coast. In January
1915 Mafia was taken by British troops as a
base for the air and sea assault on the cruiser
Königsberg.
Although the
Cosa Nostra have, of late, been moving into
the East African coast as a new avenue for
money-laundering, the name Mafia probably
derives from the Arabic morfiyeh, meaning
“group” or "archipelago", or from the Ki-Swahili
"mahali pa afya", meaning "a healthy
dwelling-place".
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