The African Great Lakes and The Omani Empire.

[Peter Hudson]

Considerable thick fog shrouds details on both parts of my tltle. Several years ago I located one important detail about the middle of the region while tracing Omani Traders and what they were up to operating inland from The Zanj and how they were involved in slavery and other persuits like hunting for Ivory Rhino, and where Slavery fitted into the picture a lot of that. To that I must add the other commodities being traded by the Omani merchants who were hauling a lot of goods into the region such as cotton and other items since the Great Lakes was an excellent Iron producer and also did a lot of business in trading salt. Said the Great who ruled Oman from 1806 was apparently fond of Zanzibar although I now believe the lobby from the famous Indian Kutch traders who had settled in Zanzibar were more important in convincing him to move there than we may have thought..Supporting these trading specialists would bring fabulous wealth to Omans coffers and set up several large shipping organisations ensuring a monopoly in the Indian Ocean.

Surprisingly it wasnt til 1840 that he made the crucial decision to move Omans capital there to Stonetown . By then Zanzibar was a gigantic spice Island region filled with Cloves ...again it was the Kutch who shipped that around the Oceans. The Cloves were transplanted on Zanzibar from Mauritius.The growth in Slavery was met by Omani Slave Traders working in the Great Lakes...as well as exporting Black African slaves up the Red Sea and the Gulf even though this was deemed illegal but it didnt stop until 1970 ! and it only stopped by Royal Decree when slaves were all given their freedom and allowed to choose an Omani surname instead of a single name such as Jumma (Friday)

Slave traders by the mid 19th C still had 100 years to play their game. It cannot be over emphasised how important the ruler was and he was instrumental on a number of odd inventions... One of his wives...Sheherezad had invented some...including a Royal Khanjar with a redesigned Hilt and the Royal Turban as well as a beautiful Camerbund . The Hilt of the Sayf Yamaani was to be awarded Royal status by being heavily decorated in silver. One sword which is called The Sayf...was made for Pageants Weddings and both Eids and used in the famous and important traditions called the Funnoon ,,,It was a cheap but effective march past the Ruler item and given to guards and military for parading and for the Razha mimic dancing done as part of the Funnoon celebration dancing even Today. Although the Sayf was simply decorated it was also the fashion that Vips could have their Sayfs highly decorated since they had the money etc... The Terrs could also accompany the Sayf.

On discovering the track through the jungle and mountains the Omani Traders also came to realise that a better blade was available particularly in the middle region of The Great Lakes...A Country that is now Bunyoro...but I shall give the full name later...In the early 18th and 19th C this had been the mightiest of nations in that region but was filled with mystique and legend Today it is much reduced spanning the Eastern side of Lake Albert and only a fraction of its original size...

Weirdly and in keeping with the mythology all the people vanished after a Royal cow disappeared one night and the nation declined drastically....Some said they all went below ground or into one of the Great Lakes.....

By then ...about mid 1850 ...the other sword had appeared and became known as the Kittara and was a badge of office carried by Omani Slave Traders. It was curved with heavy unsharpened backblade on a long handle which was identical to the Sayf hilt and given the Terrs in the same way as the Sayf but in this regard its name was different.. It was called The KITARA

The name of the famous Country in The Great Lakes is Bunyoro-Kitara.

Peter Hudson.