Tabora[3] is the capital of Tanzania's Tabora Region and is classified as a municipality by the Tanzanian government. It is also the administrative seat of Tabora Urban District. According to the 2012 census, the district had a population of 226,999.[4]
History
Indian shops in the year 1906 during the day time.
Beginning in the 1830s, coastal traders increasingly settled in the region to take advantage of the ivory and slave caravan trade. Swahili and Omani traders established Kazeh, near present-day Tabora, in the 1850s. By 1870, Tabora was home to a population of 5,000-10,000 people living in roughly fifty large square houses. These homes accommodated up to several hundred people each and had inner courtyards, adjacent garden plots, store rooms, servant quarters, and outbuildings for slaves.
The town was surrounded by Nyamwezi villages, whose people provided produce and caravan labor. In this period the Sultan of Zanzibar appointed a representative there.[5] It was part of the Kingdom of Unyanyembe. Tabora was a center of trade for traders from as far North as the Buganda Kingdom. By August 1871, one-quarter of the town was burned when the forces of the Nyamwezi ruler Mirambo sacked it.[6]
Allthough the German East Africa protectorate was proclaimed over the region in 1885, as late as 1891 travellers reported it to be a lawless town. The German colonial administration did not gain control of it until later that year. As a major station on the Central Line, it became the most important administrative centre of central German East Africa.
In 1916 the colonial garrison had an emergency mint at Tabora, making some gold pieces as well as large numbers of crude copper and brass German East African rupie minor coins, Mint marked with a "T".[7]
Tabora and its people mainly rely on agricultural activities as either sustenance farmers or small-scale tobacco farmers. Tabora also hosts a ballast quarry.[citation needed]
Water supply is managed by the Tabora Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Authority (Tuwasa), sourced from Igombe and Kazima Dams.[9] The Igombe River is a tributary of the Malagarasi River and the Malagarasi-Muyovozi Wetlands.
Food and culture
Rice harvest in Igunga, Tabora, Tanzania
Tabora's streets are lined with century-old mango trees planted by Omani traders. Tabora is known as the fruit capital of Western Tanzania, and markets are often filled with local produce.[citation needed]
Tabora has many small local restaurants offering typical Tanzanian restaurant food like Ugali (a thick maize porridge), chips, or rice with beans, beef or chicken. For breakfast or lunch, there is usually chipsi-mayai (chips and egg), which is basically a couple of eggs fried together with some chips. Although the food is bland, it is usually served with Tanzanian chili sauce, which gives the meal some character.[citation needed]
A local specialty is pumpkin in peanut butter sauce. This goes with the rice pilau served widely throughout the region.
For snacks there are local sambusa (samosa), some goat meat on a stick or some freshly roasted corn of the cob, all widely available in Tabora. There is a choice of fruit in the large regional market of Tabora, including pineapples, watermelons, and bananas.
Tabora is small enough to walk from one side of town to the other. Bicycle taxis, motorbike taxis and regular taxis are available.
Road links
Tabora at the moment is served by mostly paved road T18 from Singida Region to Kigoma and partly unpaved road T8 from Mbeya to Mwanza passing through the district.[11] Salt flats to the west prevent a direct road from connecting to Kigoma.
In January 2013, the Tanzanian government announced the commencement of work to upgrade to tarmac level the Tabora-Urambo road and the 127 kilometres (79 mi) Nyahua-Tabora-Ndono road.[12] In December 2012, Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda stated the Tanzanian government's intent to upgrade the 359 kilometres (223 mi) Tabora-Inyonga-Mpanda road to tarmac level before 2015.[13] In August 2011, Deputy Minister for Works Harrison Mwakyembe told the National Assembly that the government had begun to tarmac the 115 kilometres (71 mi) Tabora-Puge-Nzega road.[14]
Tabora is home to a number of educational institutions, including:
Tabora Girls Secondary School
A public boarding school located in Tabora, Tanzania.[16] It was established in 1928 by the British Colonial rulers.[16][17] It is one of the oldest girls only school in Tanzania.[18] The school was originally established to educate the daughters of local chiefs as prospective wives of other chiefs sons who were also educated around the same area at Tabora Boys Secondary School.[17][19]
The school has produced students who were among the first women leaders in the country, such as Anna Abdallah one of the first woman district commissioners,[20]Julie Manning the first woman to study law in Tanzania,[21]Getrude Mongella the first President of the Pan-African Parliament.[19][22]
Tabora Boys Secondary School
A public school in Tanzania founded in 1922. The school was established to educate sons of African Chiefs and wealthy tribesmen.[23][24][25] The school first followed a tribal structure where students were assigned to dormitories based on their tribe, and received education on their respective tribal customs.[25][16] In its early days the school was considered the 'Eton of Tanganyika'.[26][27]
The first self-government cabinet in 1961 had eight ministers whose five were all from Tabora Boys.[28][29]
^Many ínternet sites claim a former German name of the town as "Weidmannsheil" without giving references. This claim, however, is obviously mistaken. The German Koloniallexikon (encyclopedia of the German colonies) of 1913 in its entry on Tabora has no mention of "Weidmannsheil" nor do the maps in the same encyclopedia show this name at all. There may be a mixup with a hunting hut known by the name of Weidmannsheil (the name is a greeting among hunters) along the Ugalla River southeast of Tabora. Compare Paul Matschie, Die Säugetiere Deutsch-Ostafrikas, 1895, p. 96 (scanned online text)
^"Tabora Climate Normals 1991–2020". World Meteorological Organization Climatological Standard Normals (1991–2020). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Archived from the original on 17 September 2023. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
