built in 1890 during the colonial period.
Burton, the explorer, described Tanga in 1857 as “patch of thatched” pent roofed huts, built upon a bank overlooking the sea”. He estimated the population to be 4000-5000, which included fifteen Baluchis and twenty Indians merchants. The town was under the rule of Sultan of the Zanzibar. Tanga got a short in the arm with the coming of the Germans to East Africa in the last quarter of 19th Century. Tanga settlement probably offered least resistance to the Germans compared to, for example, Pangani which put up stiff resistance. The Germans took control of the coastal area from the Sultan of Zanzibar in April 1891. In the same year, Tanga was designated a township. About 1 million visitors every year visit towns and cities around Tanga, Mombasa and other cities, though Tanga has an ability to accommodate even more than 10,000 visitors every year, yet the city receives less than 2000 visitors every year.
HINTS- SHAABAN ROBERT (TANGA’S FORGOTTEN HERO) Shaaban Robert was born at Vibambani village near Machui, 10 km south of Tanga town, on New Year’s day of the year 1909. His parents were of the Mganga clan of the Wayao trible from southern parts of the country. He, however, never considered himself a Yao preferring to simply be one among the Waswahili. There is confusion on how he obtained the name Robert, a European name, completely alien to his African Islamic background. One past record indicates that it was a name of his father while another states that it was not his father’s name. He received his education at Msimbazi School in Dar es Salaam between 1922 and 1926. He started working with the Colonial Civil Service as clerk at the customs department in Pangani in 1926. He remained at this department for eighteen years till 1944. During this time he produced many of his literary works. In total, he wrote 22 books of prose, essay and poems. He died on the 22nd of June 1962 and was buried at Machui,
