Sultan Barghash's Zanzibar Water Works: An African Engineering Story

In the 1870s, Sultan Barghash bin Said of Zanzibar undertook an audacious project to bring fresh water from the Mwera hills to his capital, Stone Town. This episode traces the engineering, forced labor, and political motives behind the water works, which relied on tens of thousands of watoro (runaway slaves) as construction workers. We explore the clash between Omani ambition and African realities, the system of underground conduits and aqueducts, and how the water supply reshaped daily life in the city. Along the way, we meet the Indian contractor Jairam Sewji, the clove shamba economy that fueled the project, and the Mtoni Palace's own water-dependent gardens. The episode also reflects on the environmental and social costs of this early attempt at modern urban infrastructure in East Africa. #SultanBarghash #Zanzibar #MweraHills #StoneTown #watoro #JairamSewji #MtoniPalace #WaterWorks #Engineering #IndianOcean #OmaniEmpire #CloveShamba #AfricanHistory #19thCentury #Infrastructure #SwahiliCoast #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo