The History of the Catholic Church in Zanzibar 

The Islands of Zanzibar:

The Islands of Zanzibar include Unguja Island (Zanzibar) and Pemba Island  off the eastern shore of Tanzania.  These are shown in the following picture of the Eastern Shores of Tanzania.

While Christianity in Zanzibar can go back historically to the time of the Portuguese
explorations, there is very little in the line of buildings to show its existence. In Old Stone Town, a city 500 years old, there are only two Christian churches, located not far from each other, the two cathedrals: one Anglican, the other Roman Catholic. Rather than the evidence of buildings it is the evidence of names in our graveyards and the members of two notable segments of our Christian population today that indicate the roots of the Church in Zanzibar must he traced to Portugal. The oldest segment is that of the Goan community: the other is the Makonde tribe who came here as refugees from Catholic Mozambique, a Portuguese colony. 

The History is covered in three parts: 

Part I "Yesterday's History"; 

Part II "Today's Church"; 

Part III "Tomorrow's Challenges".