Mafia Island is mentioned at least as early as the 8th century. The island once played a major role in ancient trade between the people of
East Asia and
East Africa. It was a regular stop for
Arab boats. On the tiny island of
Chole Mjini, just offshore in Chole Bay, once stood a settlement, which constituted one of the most important towns controlling trade from the silver mines of eastern
Zimbabwe, which reached the town via the old ports of
Kilwa and
Michangani. In the mid-1820s, the town of
Kua on
Juani Island was attacked by
Sakalava cannibals arriving from
Madagascar with 80 canoes, who ate many of the locals and took the rest into slavery. Under a treaty of 1890, Germany took control of Mafia and constructed the buildings still evident on Chole. Germany paid Sultan
Sayyid Ali bin Said al-Said of
Zanzibar M4 million for both the island and part of the mainland coast. On January 12, 1915, Mafia was taken by
British troops as a base for the air and sea assault on the
light cruiser Königsberg.The name "Mafia" derives from the
Arabic morfiyeh, meaning "group" or "archipelago", or from the
Swahili mahali pa afya, meaning "a healthy dwelling-place". In 1995, Mafia Island had financial help from the
World Wide Fund for Nature to make a natural marine wildlife centre which led to establishment of the first Marine Park in Tanzania. The organisation continued to provide support to the Island under Rufiji-Mafia-Kilwa (RUMAKI) seascape project to improve socio-economic well-being of the communities through the sustainable, participatory and equitable utilization and protection of their natural resources. Under the current EU-WWF Fisheries Co-management Project, the organization aims at building effective long-term fisheries co-management through establishment of 10 Beach Management Units and to continue supporting Village Community Banks (VICOBA) in the Island to generate optimal, sustainable and equitable livelihood benefits, and which provide a source of lesson-learning for other coastal communities. The WWF Mafia office is under three technical personnel: Paul Kugopya (Mafia Fisheries Co-management Officer), Marko Gideon (EU-WWF Fisheries Co-management Project Communication/Awareness Officer) and Renatus Rwamugira (Project Accountant for Mafia). Tanzania's first multi-user marine park at Mafia Island was established in 1995, following management recommendations and data from surveys conducted by the Society for Environmental Exploration. In August 2016, a diver, Alan Sutton, from Seaunseen, who had originally been looking for the remains of an old fort rumoured to have been washed away to sea, instead came across the remains of a wall stretching almost 4 km off Mafia Island. The discovery was detailed in a blog post by Sutton, with images showing remnants of the wall. ==Transport==