Publication "Omani Presence in East Africa"
From 2018 to 2023, in cooperation with the Omani cultural magazine "Nizwa Magazine", an international team of filmmakers and experts explored the topic of mutual cultural and social exchange between Oman and East Africa. To this end, the core team of the project (Friedrich Klütsch, Juma Al Maskari, Georg Popp, Joachim Puls and Michael Dickinson), undertook research trips to Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Descendants of the Omani traders still live there today, not only in Zanzibar, which was the centre of the Omani trading empire in the 19th century, and are part of local society.
This led to the deMAX production of the "A House of Wonders" documentary film trilogy, plus a non-fiction book with many illustrations, written by Georg Popp, in which the knowledge gained from the project and statements by renowned experts are summarised.
► Download link "Omani Presence in East Africa"
320 pages, many photographs, box texts, maps and illustrations
This impressiv book deals with the mutual influence and exchange between the two cultures in the areas of clothing, agriculture, politics, art, religion, society and music, and also includes such topics as the ivory and slave trade. Also largely unknown in the West is the role of the Omani trader Tippu Tip, who provided decisive assistance to almost all European African explorers, be it David Livingstone or Henry M. Stanley.
The institutions involved in the project include the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, the Africa Museum in Tervuren, Belgium, and the national archives in Oman and Zanzibar.
The book was printed in a limited edition and is not available in shops. However, the English version is available to download for free from our website.
► Download link "Omani Presence in East Africa"
320 pages, many photographs, box texts, maps and illustrations
Contact ► info@oman.de