Talk:Pangani District, Tanga

Hi,

I would like to know on which basis it is believed that Pangani is a settlement which goes back until the 6th century BC!

Thanks a lot, Nino

Nino: THere is no basis whatever for the claim, and I have deleted it. THe earliest known settlements anywhere on the East African coast date to well into the Common Era. THe author of the original claim may have believed the old speculation that Pangani is the site of the mythical town of "Rhapta", a claim for which there is no evidence (most scholars place Rhapta either far to the north or far to the south of Pangani). At any rate, Rhapta is mentioned in the Periplus, a source from the 2nd century CE. There is no evidence of its existence from as early as 600 BC.

I have also deleted the statement that Pangani is the "Zanzibar of the mainland" as extremely misleading: the two towns resemble each other very little. Perhaps the author of that statement meant to draw attention to Pangani's emerging beach resorts, but that raises an issue that runs throughout this article: confusion between Pangani Town and Pangani District.