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Appendix 4: Notes on Places and Peoples

Aden southern Arabian port; British used it as a coaling station
Bagamoyo most important town on coast opposite Zanzibar in the nineteenth century
Buganda powerful state in the upper Great Lakes region in the nineteenth century  
Bombay headquarters of the British East India Company
Kamba Bantu-speaking people of central Kenya; important ivory traders
Kilwa Swahili trading town on southern coast of Tanzania; prosperous until sacked by the Portuguese (1505); its trade revived in the late eighteenth century and declined again with the rise of Zanzibar
Malindi Swahili trading town on coast of Kenya and Mombasa's rival
Mauritius Indian Ocean island (Mascarene group); important station on the route to India; the Dutch (1598-1710), French (1722-1810), and British (1810-1968) occupied it; the French called it Ile de France
Mombasa Swahili trading town on coast of Kenya and Kilwa's rival; Portuguese stronghold until Omanis expelled them from Fort Jesus (1698); resisted Omani domination; slave villages produced grain; now Kenya's major port (also serving Uganda and Rwanda)
Muscat port on the Gulf of Oman; held by the Portuguese from 1508 to 1648, then under Persian princes until it became the capital of Oman in 1741 (under the Busaidi dynasty)
Nyamwezi Bantu-speaking people of central Tanzania, involved in regional trading networks and the caravan trade (its real pioneers)
Reunion Indian Ocean island (Mascarene group); settled by the French (1642) and a post of the French East India Company; now an overseas department of France
Swahili Bantu-speaking people of the East African coast, living in towns and villages; a Muslim and maritime people; also their language (more properly Kiswahili) which has many Arabic loanwords; Swahili is now the official language of Kenya and Tanzania
Yao Bantu-speaking people trading in the hinterland of Kilwa as far southwest as Lake Malawi
Zanzibar large island with a deep harbor; Oman's most loyal East African possession (2200 miles from Oman) until it became independent in 1856; also the name of the main town ( the older part is often called Stonetown); it became part of Tanzania in 1964