New modes of production, urbanization and the development of Islam in nineteenth-century Tanzania

This paper is focused on the commercial towns that developed along the caravan roads of the interior of 19th-century Tanzania. Contrary to the colonial period, when capitalist modes of production developed primarily in the rural areas, nineteenth-century capitalism was more visible in urban centres. In the interior of Tanzania urban centres were established as a consequence of the development of long-distance trade and it was in these towns that the changes brought by the new economic patterns were more visible. This makes the study of their political and economic life a lens through which to explore the consequences of the growth of stable commercial relations with the coast in connection with the development of international capitalism, as well as the role of new economic actors in dispersing the seeds of coastal culture, among which is Islam.The first sections of this paper are devoted to the analysis of the characteristics that can be considered as peculiar for the understanding of capitalism in the area: the development of trade and urban life, the emergence of a class of wage labourers and the influence of local political authorities on trade. A final section provides an overview of the available evidence on the earliest conversions to Islam in the interior, with special reference to the caravan towns of the interior.