Qualla: Old Fort of Zanzibar

Old Fort of Zanzibar: Introduction

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit LUCY MBUNGO, CC BY-SA 4.0. Four centuries of Zanzibar's history can be read in one square of high brown walls. The Old Fort -- Ngome Kongwe in Swahili -- sits on Stone Town's seafront between the House of Wonders and the Forodhani Gardens, the oldest building in a city layered with old buildings. The Portuguese began constructing it in the 17th century. The Omanis rebuilt it after seizing the island. The British used it as a depot. Revolutionaries inherited it. Film festival organizers transformed it. Each power that claimed Zanzibar left its mark on these walls, and the walls kept standing.

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Image: LUCY MBUNGO | CC BY-SA 4.0

Old Fort of Zanzibar: Portuguese Foundations, Omani Walls

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Richard Mortel from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, CC BY 2.0. When the Portuguese arrived in Zanzibar, they found an island strategically positioned along Indian Ocean trade routes and began building a stone fortification to defend their claim. Their construction lasted into the 17th century, but Portuguese dominion did not. Toward the end ...

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Image: Richard Mortel from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | CC BY 2.0

Old Fort of Zanzibar: A Building for Every Purpose

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0. The Old Fort's resume reads like the classified section of a colonial newspaper. After its military usefulness faded, the building served as a prison and barracks through the 19th century. In the early 20th century, it became a depot for the construction of the short-lived railwa...

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Image: Adam Jones from Kelowna, BC, Canada | CC BY-SA 2.0

Old Fort of Zanzibar: Festival Grounds

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Francis Barrow Pearce, Public domain. Walk into the Old Fort's courtyard today and you enter something closer to a bazaar than a barracks. Curio shops sell tingatinga paintings -- the bright, stylized East African art form -- alongside tourist-oriented merchandise. A restaurant occupies one corner. A tourist informat...

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Image: Francis Barrow Pearce | Public domain

Old Fort of Zanzibar: Standing Between Landmarks

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit mwanasimba from La Réunion, CC BY-SA 2.0. The Old Fort's position on the Stone Town waterfront places it in distinguished company. To one side stands the House of Wonders, the sultan's palace that brought electricity and the first elevator to East Africa. Directly opposite lie the Forodhani Gardens, where Stone Town's ev...

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Image: mwanasimba from La Réunion | CC BY-SA 2.0