Ujiji

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title: "Ujiji" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["populated-places-in-kigoma-region", "lake-tanganyika"] description: "National Historic Site of Tanzania" topic_path: "general/populated-places-in-kigoma-region" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ujiji" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary National Historic Site of Tanzania ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox ancient site"]

Field	Value
name	Ujiji
image	Swahili House in Kasingirima Ward, Ujiji.jpg
caption	Swahili house in Ujiji
map_type	Tanzania
relief	yes
location	Kigoma-Ujiji District,
Kigoma Region,
Tanzania
coordinates
type	Settlement
built	18th Century
cultures	Manyema, Jiji, Ha, Swahili and Arab
architectural_styles	Swahili
condition	Endangered
ownership	Tanzanian Government
management	Antiquities Division, Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism
designation1	NHST
designation1_offname	Ujiji Historic Town
designation1_type	Cultural
::

| name = Ujiji | image = Swahili House in Kasingirima Ward, Ujiji.jpg | caption = Swahili house in Ujiji | map_type = Tanzania | relief = yes | location = Kigoma-Ujiji District, Kigoma Region, Tanzania | coordinates = | altitude_m = | type = Settlement | material = | built = 18th Century | abandoned = | cultures =Manyema, Jiji, Ha, Swahili and Arab | architectural_styles = Swahili | excavations = | archaeologists = | condition = Endangered | ownership = Tanzanian Government | management = Antiquities Division, Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism | designation1 = NHST | designation1_offname = Ujiji Historic Town | designation1_type = Cultural | notes =

Ujiji is the oldest town in western Tanzania and is located in Kigoma-Ujiji District of Kigoma Region. Originally a Swahili settlement and then an Arab slave trading post by the mid-nineteenth century nominally under the Sultanate of Zanzibar, In 1900, the population was estimated at 10,000 and in 1967 about 41,000. The site is a registered National Historic Site.

History

Main article: Sultanate of Ujiji

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Omani_Empire_2.png" caption="The "Ujiji Sultanate" in the mid-nineteenth century"] ::

Historically the town that is now Ujiji was the home of the Jiji people. The settlement has close connections with the Swahili community of Buyenzi north of Lake Tanganyika in Burundi. Ujiji is the place where Richard Burton and John Speke first reached the shore of Lake Tanganyika in 1858. It is the site of the famous meeting on 10 November 1871 when Henry Stanley found Dr. David Livingstone, and reputedly uttered the famous words “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” Livingstone, whom many thought dead as no news had been heard of him for several years and who had only arrived back in Ujiji the day before, wrote “When my spirits were at their lowest ebb, the good Samaritan was close at hand, for one morning [my servant] Susi came running at the top of his speed and gasped out, ‘An Englishman! I see him!’ and off he darted to meet him. The American flag at the head of the caravan told of the nationality of the stranger. Bales of goods, baths of tin, huge kettles, cooking pots, tents, etc., made me think, ‘This must be a luxurious traveller, and not one at his wits’ end like me.’”

A monument known as the "Dr. Livingstone Memorial" was erected in Ujiji to commemorate the meeting. There is also a modest museum. There is a former slave route near the market. In 1878, the London Missionary Society established their first missionary post on the shore of Lake Tanganyika at Ujiji. Some in Burundi claim the location of the famous meeting is a few miles south of the former capital Bujumbura. However, the Livingstone-Stanley Monument in Mugere actually marks a visit the two men made 15 days later on their joint exploration of northern Lake Tanganyika.

Culture

The culture of the people and town overall is Swahili in nature. Most residents are Muslim and of diverse ethnic backgrounds.

Climate

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Gallery

Burton and Speke Monument in Ujiji.jpg|Burton and Speke Monument Cine Atlas in Ujiji.jpg|Cine Atlas Pan Africanism mural in Tanzania.jpg|Pan Africanism mural Livingstone Memorial, Tanzania.jpg|Livingstone Memorial

References

References

1. "Antiquities Division".
2. Takwa, Esther. (2023-04-13). "Ujiji, a port with historical significance - Daily News".
3. Bennett, Norman Robert. (1961). "The Arab power of Tanganyika in the nineteenth century.". Boston University.
4. Brown, Beverly Bolser. UJIJI: THE HISTORY OF A LAKESIDE TOWN, C. 1800--1914. Boston University Graduate School, 1973.
5. "Antiquities Sites".
6. Croucher, Sarah, and Stephanie Wynne-Jones. "Slave Routes in Western Tanzania: A preliminary report on survey in Tabora and Ujiji." African Diaspora Archaeology Newsletter 9.4 (2006): 18.
7. "Stanley Meets Livingstone".
8. Livingstone, David. (1875). "The Last Journals of David Livingstone, in Central Africa, from 1865 to His Death". R.W. Bliss & Company.
9. Trimingham, J. Spencer. (1964). "Islam In East Africa". Oxford, Clarendon Press.

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