Tanga

Tanga's sheltered harbour made it a Swahili trading settlement long before the colonial era, tied into the Indian Ocean network of dhows, ivory and coastal commerce. Its name is thought to derive from a Persian or Swahili word meaning sail or farm, reflecting its maritime and agricultural roots.

In 1889 the Germans chose Tanga as a military post, and it soon became a district office and rapidly expanding colonial town. They built a port for exports, laid a railway and tram line, and established sisal estates that made the region one of the world's leading producers of the fibre. The imposing Bombo Hospital, built by the German administration around 1901, is remembered as one of the first hospitals in the area. In November 1914 the town was the scene of the Battle of Tanga, a celebrated First World War clash in which German forces repelled a much larger British landing.

Under British rule Tanga remained a key sisal port and railhead, its wealth reflected in the solid colonial architecture that still lines the old quarter between the railway and the harbour. When world sisal prices collapsed, the city's economy faded, leaving a quiet, character-filled town. Today Tanga is reinventing itself around tourism, its caves, reefs and the Usambara highlands drawing a growing trickle of visitors.