| WAHADIMU
The Wahadimu tribe also claims to be Shirazi. Its traditional home is the south and the east of the island of Unguja. The inhabitants of Donge, although geographically in the north, regard themselves as belonging to the Wahadimu rather than the Watumbatu group. As with the Watumbatu it is to oversimplify matters to say that the Wahadimu as a whole are descended from a single family of immigrants from Shiraz. Down the centuries there have been many groups of settlers who infused their blood as well as their culture to make up the tribe. Indeed the Wahadimu are no more homogenous than any other people. There is little doubt that various groups of people from the continent of Asia as well as from the mainland of Africa have contributed to the making of the present day Wahadimu. While old historical records indicate that in the past the Wahadimu to be more of Asiatic appearance, in the later years there has been a much greater infusion of mainland African blood in their veins. The Portuguese on their first arrival early in the 16th century found the people of Unguja Ukuu, which was the capital of Zanzibar, to be apparently Arab, or "Moorish" as they called them. But Sir John Gray writes with regard to the succeeding years: "It is interesting to note that over a course of many years there would appear to have been a more or less continuous arrival of newcomers from the mainland by way of Unguja Ukuu, which might almost be described as having been used by them as a kind of base transit camp for immigrants. Thus, it is generally acknowledged by the people of the east coast villages of Chwaka, Mapopwe, Charawe, Ukongoroni, and Michamvi that their forbears entered the island from the mainland by way of Unguja Ukuu." However it is certain that the Wahadimu until lately have been maintaining their ancestral connection with Arabia, as note that their last ruler, or Mwinyi Mkuu,(born 785, died 1865) whose seat was Dunga was Ahmed bin Muhammad bin Hassan el Alawi. With the destruction of Unguja Ukuu by the Portuguese the inhabitants repaired to Kizimkazi and revived an old Arab or Persian settlement. Here are still to be found remains of a fort with a few graves near the beach, and a restored mosque which is nearly 900 years old. On the wall of the mihrab is a Cufic inscription which says: "This is what has been ordered by the high and very great Sheikh Assayid Abu Imran Musa bin Alhassan bin Muhammad, may Allah grant him long life and destroy his enemies - on a Sunday in the month of Dhul Haj in the year five hundred." (i.e. August 1107)
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