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DHOWS AND THE MAKING OF ZANZIBAR CULTURE
The dhow – the lateen –rigged sailing vessel unique to the Indian Ocean – is one of the symbols characteristic of Zanzibar. The white sail of these vessels, seen floating above turquoise waters, may be the first image to strike the visitor when approaching Zanzibar on the ferry, or when peering out through the window of a beach bungalow on a sunny morning. But the dhow is more than just a utilitarian sailing boat; it is an emblem of the historical and cultural evolution of the Island and the coastal communities nearby.
As part of the maritime economy the dhows used to bring people on to the Island. Their crew mixed with locals and from this was born the Zanzibar culture.

Historically, everyone from the Assyrians to the Persians to the Indians has contributed to the development of the Island, yet the Arab influence reigns as the one predominant. In 1832, Sultan Seyyid Said of the Oman moved his Sultanate from Muscat to Zanzibar, hence he and his descendants ruled for 130years, encouraging the trade and commercial activities that would come to infuse the Island with its constant influx of people and tradable goods. Central to this development was the dhow. Today there are several places in Zanzibar where dhows are manufactured. One of them is the Northern Coast at Nungwi, which for long has been an important dhow building centre. Though overshadowed by modern ships, dhows play an important role in the local commerce. Many of them are motorized today, but those relying solely on wind are still around. Popular routes (particularly in the past ) include those connecting Zanzibar and Pemba with Dares Salaam, Bagamoyo, Tanga and Mombasa, those connecting Kilwa, Masoko, Lindi, Mikindani and Mtwara with other Coastal towns and those connecting Mafia Island with the mainland. If you want a history of the dhows look no further than “dhows and the colonial economy of Zanzibar, 1860 -1970 by Erik Gilbert. He traces the history of the dhow, highlighting the role of East Africa's commercial connection to the Middle East and Indian during the colonial period. These vessels and the regional trade they fostered allowed a class of indigenous entrepreneur to thrive in Zanzibar. The vessel was the premier vehicle for economic and socio-cultural exchange in the western Indian Ocean before the entry of the Europeans in the sixteenth century, and especially before the steamers from the nineteenth century. Rather than an archaic survival from the past has remained unchanged for centuries, the dhow and its role have adapted changed (sometimes willingly, sometimes out of needs must') according to the prerequisites of the times. Recurrent prediction of the imminent demise of the dhows since the middle of nineteenth century has proved to be without foundation, Gilbert writes. His main thesis is that even if Zanzibar locked the means to resist occupation, the dhow enabled Zanzibar to resist the steamship, until the regional economy was fundamentally transformed in the twentieth century. Despite changes when players entered the world market arena, the old long distance dhow trade to Arabia and India dealing in local commodities such as salted fish, dates and mangrove poles was not touched during the nineteenth century, while in export of ivory to India in exchange for textile there was some adjustments but the dhow was not completely ruled out. However the British anti-slavery activities, which progressively limited the slave trade before prohibiting it altogether, deprived the dhow one of its traditional cargoes. In 1890 Zanzibar itself was declared a British Protectorate, and the colonial authorities moved to impose their authority and create a colonial authority and create a colonial economy. In the case of the dhows they were to be ‘monitored, listed, registered, labeled, flagged, charged fees and relegated to their own corner of Zanzibar harbour.” Yet the dhow economy had the ability to resist attempts to marginalize it. Even when the colonial authorities tried to encroach on the local carrying trade between the two Islands within the protectorate, transporting cloves from Pemba which was the larger producer, in exchange for consumables, the dhow was able to put up a stiff resistance against government steamers, thanks to the former lower freight rates and ability to penetrate the numerous creeks and small ports in Pemba. The second commodity on which the dhow had relied was mangrove poles. For hundred of years they have been used around the treeless coast of Arabia as well as in the East African Coast, as beams to support the ceiling and as a source of fuel. With the progressive loss of other cargoes, the dhow were forced to rely on them as their main export to Arabia and the Persian Gulf during the 20th century, while their production and local transport along the East African Coast gave employment to a loargwe number of the dhow men and sailors on cutters. The poles were an item that did not feature in the world of colonial economy. The Zanzibar Revolution 1964 dealt a blow to the local dhow traffic in cloves when it nationalized the whole clove trade, and accomplished what the colonial state had failed to do, to transfer the whole clove traffic to the even bigger state owned steamers. This double blow was without doubt devastating to the dhow trade and to the whole community of the people from sailors to owners and mangrove cutters to others who were in one way or the other involved in it. It is evident that the use of the dhow made it possible for Zanzibar to play an important part in the cultural interaction that bridge over the continental division between Africa and Asia. Were it not for the dhow and equally important seasonal winds, the monsoon which facilitated journeys to all four cardinal points, little of the Zanzibar culture as we know and enjoy it today would exist.