AFRICAN
MTEPE - AFRICAN - IV to VII Century
In East Africa large vessels had their hulls fastened with
coconut fibre and the most outstanding of these vessels was
the Mtepe which became extinct in the nineteenth century.
No primitive craft could possibly be imagined extremely crude
and ungainly in appearance, the Mtepe reached up to fifty
feet in length on the water line.
The Mtepe looks more the Arab boom than the dhow and its
origin dates as far back as the IVth to VIIth century according
to some who consider it as one of the most ancient types of
dhow took place afterwards in the form of the DAU LA MTEPE.
South of Zanzibar, the influence of Arab ships in non existent
whilst the Malayan boats like the proas and the others derived
from them like the Malagasy Sakalave etc.. |
