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79-466: The town originated as a Swahili trade centre, and then grew as a slave market of the Indian Ocean slave trade . Quelimane was founded by Muslim traders (see Kilwa Sultanate ) and was one of the oldest towns in the region. The origins of the name 'Quelimane' are obscure. One tradition alleges that Vasco da Gama , in 1498, inquired about the name of the place from some inhabitants labouring in

158-575: A twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of international links between municipalities akin to what are known as sister cities or twin towns today dating back to the 9th century, the modern concept was first established and adopted worldwide during World War II . Throughout history, many cities have participated in various cultural exchanges and similar activities that might resemble

237-490: A "similar attitude towards food," whereas Chicago 's link with Warsaw , Poland began with Chicago's historic Polish community . The twinning of Indianapolis with Monza , Italy, is due to both cities' long association with auto racing . A twin towns program was instituted in the United States in 1956 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed a citizen diplomacy initiative. Sister Cities International (SCI)

316-519: A "tuning" partnership based on a shared musical heritage and culture offer, at the initiative of Bristol Mayor George Ferguson . Annecy , France and Nerima , Tokyo have for several years shared a partnership based on their "co-existent animation industry". Toledo, United States twinned with Toledo, Spain in 1931, and was the first city in North America to engage in town twinning. Vancouver, Canada twinned with Odesa, Ukraine in 1944,

395-534: A common etymology . These similarities usually arise from sharing the same or related language or having been a colony or previously conquered. The twinning of towns and cities is sometimes done for political purposes. The Hungarian city Gyöngyös was twinned with the Azerbaijani city of Shusha in 2013, signing the twinning agreement with representatives from the Azerbaijani government; Hungary recognised Shusha as de jure part of Azerbaijan , even though it

474-575: A factory in the Republic of Karelia in Russia and offered the same profit-sharing plan to its Russian employees. China's sister city relationships are managed by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries , a united front organization. Sister city initiatives are an increasingly widespread mechanism for Chinese public diplomacy . From the early 2000s until 2024,

553-499: A gift of timber from his native country for use in the new Civic Theatre, which when finished was named Belgrade Theatre . The purpose of twinnings was then expanded to encourage trade and tourism or to reflect other links, such as towns sharing the same name or migration links. By the 2000s, town twinning became increasingly used to form strategic international business links among member cities, and may include localities of any scope such as villages, prefectures, or countries. In

632-401: A hierarchical relationship. In the 2010s, Tokyo began to actively promote 'city diplomacy' with other global cities at the initiative of governor Yoichi Masuzoe . Relationships between communities can also arise because of shared names; they may be named after one community (as in the case of Córdoba ), they may share names (as in the case of Santiago de Compostela ), or their names may have

711-611: A link that still exists. Since 9 April 1956 Rome and Paris have been exclusively and reciprocally twinned with each other, following the motto: "Only Paris is worthy of Rome; only Rome is worthy of Paris." Within Europe, town twinning is supported by the European Union. The support scheme was established in 1989. In 2003 an annual budget of about € 12 million was allocated to about 1,300 projects. The Council of European Municipalities and Regions also works closely with

790-461: A patient to soak a piece of paper containing verses of the Qur'an in water. With this ink infused water, literally containing the word of Allah , the patient will then wash his body or drink it to cure himself of his affliction. The only people permitted to become medicine men in the culture are prophets and teachers of Islam. There are also Swahili that practiced Christianity . The Swahili language

869-558: A sister-city or twin-city relationship, but the first officially documented case of such a relationship was a signed agreement between the leaders of the cities of Toledo, Ohio and Toledo, Spain in 1931. However, the modern concept of town twinning appeared during the Second World War. More specifically, it was inspired by the bombing of Coventry on 14 November 1940, known as the Coventry Blitz . First conceived by

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948-409: A sort of international relations that works in parallel to the conventional system involving embassies, ambassadors, and treaties negotiated at the level of nation states . According to Rodrigo Tavares , the earliest formal attempts to establish city diplomacy across national boundaries took place in the 19th century. Only a handful of cities were involved in the 19th-century efforts; it was not until

1027-546: A twin town. Twinned towns are often chosen because of similarities between them; thus about 15 towns in Wales are twinned with towns in Brittany , and Oxford is with Bonn , Leiden , Grenoble and other university cities. In Italy, two sets of twins are Rovigo with Viernheim , and Bedford with Tulcea . Many former West German cities are twinned with former East German cities; these twinning links were established before

1106-533: A unified group of communities that developed into the first centre of coastal maritime culture. The coastal towns appear to have been engaged in Indian Ocean trade at this early period, and trade rapidly increased in importance and quantity between the mid-8th and the 11th century. A local 15th genealogy, the Kilwa Chronicle , identifies the rulers and founders of the costal cities as immigrants from

1185-415: Is in a separate smaller painting (above its main one) showing a beech tree, intended as a symbol of prosperity and from which Carshalton Beeches in the borough derives its name. Another example of the use of public art is the wall sculpture of the partner cities of Munich , Germany. A recent study has concluded that geographical distance has very little, if any, influence upon communities' selections of

1264-514: Is likewise completely lacking.". The most likely origin for the stories about the Shirazi is from Muslim inhabitants of the Lamu archipelago who moved south in the 10th and 11th centuries. They brought with them a coinage tradition and localized form of Islam. These Africans migrants seem to have developed a concept of Shirazi origin as they moved further southwards, near Malindi and Mombasa , along

1343-760: Is the native tongue, and it is a member of the Bantu subgroup of the Niger-Congo family. Its closest relatives include Comorian spoken on the Comoros Islands and the Mijikenda language of the Mijikenda people in Kenya. With its original speech community centred on Zanzibar and the coastal parts of Kenya and Tanzania , collectively a seaboard referred to as the Swahili Coast , Swahili became

1422-447: Is twinned with Dorval, Quebec ; Huai'an, China , and Neyagawa, Osaka , Japan. Town twinning begins for a variety of reasons. Generally, partner towns have similar demographics and size. They may arise from business connections, travel, similar industries, diaspora communities, or shared history. For example, the partnership between Portland, Oregon and Bologna , Italy arose from shared industries in biotechnology and education, and

1501-617: The Indian Ocean slave trade in the Arabian Peninsula . Swahili fishermen of today still rely on the ocean to supply their primary source of income. Fish is sold to their inland neighbours in exchange for products of the interior. Although most Swahili living standards are far below that of upper hierarchy of the wealthiest nations, the Swahili are generally considered a relatively economically powerful group due to their history of trade. They are comparatively well-off. For instance,

1580-508: The Rio dos Bons Sinais is less important today than in the past, Quelimane remains a major town with a large hospital , two cathedrals , a mosque , and a public university for teachers. Due to its heat, humidity, and distance from the beach, Quelimane is not among Mozambique's major tourist destinations. However, its status as a provincial capital and the fourth-largest city in Mozambique and

1659-723: The World Economic Forum . In addition to C40, other organisations facilitating city diplomacy include the World Cities Summit , City Mayors Foundation , the Smart City Expo World Congress , the Strong City Network and 100 Resilient Cities. As of 2016, there were over 125 such multilateral networks and forums to facilitate international collaboration between different municipal authorities. A Bill introduced in

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1738-480: The Zanzibar archipelago and mainland Tanzania's seaboard, littoral Kenya , northern Mozambique , the Comoros Islands , and northwest Madagascar . The original Swahili distinguished themselves from other Bantu peoples by self-identifying as WaUngwana (the civilised ones). In certain regions (e.g., Lamu Island ), this differentiation is even more stratified in terms of societal grouping and dialect, hinting to

1817-547: The "Shirazi" were not Middle Eastern immigrants, but northern Swahili Muslims. They moved south, founding mosques, introducing coinage and elaborately carved inscriptions and mihrabs. They should be interpreted as indigenous African Muslims who played the politics of the Middle East to their advantage. Some still use this foundation myth a millennium later to assert their authority, even though the myth's context has long been forgotten. The Shirazi legend took on new importance in

1896-581: The 1990s, when the Nottingham City Council in the UK considered installing a tram network, it consulted experts from its twin city of Karlsruhe , which has one of the most extensive and efficient tram networks in Germany. With assistance from Karlsruhe's specialist engineers, Nottingham completed its second tram line in 2013. In 2014, Bristol and New Orleans announced their intention to form

1975-424: The 19th century, during the period of Omani domination. Claims of Shirazi ancestry were used to distance locals from Arab newcomers, since Persians are not viewed as Arabs but still have an exemplary Islamic pedigree. The emphasis that the Shirazi came very long ago and intermarried with indigenous locals ties this claim to the creation of convincing indigenous narratives about Swahili heritage without divorcing it from

2054-533: The 2019 session of the US Congress would have legislated for a City and State Diplomacy Act to create a new Office of Subnational Diplomacy at the Department of State . H.R.3571 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): City and State Diplomacy Act. Recently, the field of city diplomacy has taken a step beyond city-to-city exchanges to target the facilitation of dialogue between cities and multilateral organs, such as

2133-512: The Dutch city was still occupied by the German Army in the final months of the war, and children from each city took part in exchanges in 1945 and 1946. Similarly, in 1947, Bristol Corporation (later Bristol City Council) sent five "leading citizens" on a goodwill mission to Hanover . Reading in 1947 was the first British town to form links with a former "enemy" city – Düsseldorf ,

2212-584: The French town; formal twinning charters were not exchanged until 1986. The practice was continued after the Second World War as a way to promote mutual understanding and cross-border projects of mutual benefit. For example, Coventry twinned with Stalingrad and later with Dresden as an act of peace and reconciliation, all three cities having been heavily bombed during the war. The city of Bath formed an " Alkmaar Adoption committee" in March 1945, when

2291-646: The Indian Ocean. The Swahili have played a vital role as middle man between southeast, central, and South Africa and to the outside world. Trade contacts have been noted as early as 100 CE by early Roman writers who visited the Southeast African coast in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE. Trade routes extended from Kenya to Tanzania into modern day Congo , along which goods were brought to the coasts and were sold to Arab, Indian, and Portuguese traders. Historical and archaeological records attest to Swahilis being prolific maritime merchants and sailors who sailed

2370-531: The Kingdom of God , Assemblies of God , Zion Christian Church . There are also Muslim mosques. Quelimane has a tropical savanna climate ( Köppen climate classification Aw ). Quelimane is twinned with: Swahili people The Swahili people ( Swahili : WaSwahili , وَسوَحِيلِ) comprise mainly Bantu , Afro-Arab , and Comorian ethnic groups inhabiting the Swahili coast , an area encompassing

2449-546: The Mrima coast. The longstanding trade connections with the Persian gulf gave credence to these myths. In addition, because most Muslim societies are patrilineal, one can claim distant identities through paternal lines despite phenotypic and somatic evidence to the contrary. The so-called Shirazi tradition represents the arrival of Islam in these eras, one reason it has proven so long lasting. Extant mosques and coins demonstrate that

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2528-633: The Netherlands, the term is jumelage , partnerstad or stedenband ("city bond" when providing mutual support). In Greece, the word αδελφοποίηση ( adelphopiisi  – fraternisation) has been adopted. In Iceland, the terms vinabæir (friend towns) and vinaborgir (friend cities) are used. In the former Soviet Bloc , "twin towns" and "twin cities" were used, and in Russian, they use города-побратимы (sworn brother cities). The Americas, South Asia, and Australasia use

2607-767: The Ninth Annual Frelimo Party Convention in November 2006. After decades of municipal decline, the current mayor, Manuel de Araujo , is reportedly overseeing a renewed civic effort at economic and infrastructural restoration. Among the places of worship , they are predominantly Christian churches and temples: Roman Catholic Diocese of Quelimane ( Catholic Church ), ( Reformed Church in Mozambique ( World Communion of Reformed Churches ), Igreja Presbiteriana de Moçambique ( World Communion of Reformed Churches ), Convenção Baptista de Moçambique ( Baptist World Alliance ), Universal Church of

2686-456: The Persian city of Shirazi , in the 11th century. This forms the basis of the Shirazi era origin myth that proliferated along the coast at the turn of the millennium. A 2022 DNA study obtained samples from 80 Muslim graves, from cities across the region, found the maternal ancestry of the studied population was primarily of East African lineages, principally Bantu and Pastoral Neolithic, while

2765-574: The Scottish village of Dull and the US town of Boring, Oregon , agreed to twin their municipalities to promote tourism in both places, playing on their names. Recently some towns have made novelty twinning arrangements with fictional or virtual locations. Wincanton , England is partnered with Ankh-Morpork from Terry Pratchett 's Discworld books . Town twinning has increasingly been used to form strategic international business links. For example, in

2844-501: The Southeast African coast around the 9th century, coincident to Bantu traders both settling on the coast and tapping into the Indian Ocean trade networks. The Swahili people follow the Sunni denomination of Islam. Large numbers of Swahili undertake the Hajj and Umrah from Tanzania, Kenya, and Mozambique. Traditional Islamic dress such as the jilbab and thob are also popular among

2923-530: The Southeast African coastline to lands as far away as Arabia , Persia , Madagascar , India , and China . Chinese pottery and Arabian beads have been found in the ruins of Great Zimbabwe . During the apogee of the Middle Ages, ivory and slaves became a substantial source of revenue. Captives sold via the Zanzibar slave trade by Arab slave traders ended up in Portuguese Brazil or via

3002-457: The Swahili origin myth, indicating that "Asian ancestry includes components associated with Persia and India, with 80–90% of the Asian DNA originating from Persian men." The modern Swahili people speak the Swahili language as a mother tongue, which belongs to the Bantu branch of the Niger-Congo family. The language contains loan words from Arabic . Islam established its presence on

3081-539: The Swahili. The Swahili also are known for their use of divination, which has adopted some syncretic features from underlying traditional indigenous beliefs. For instance, they believe in djinn , and many men wear protective amulets featuring verses from the Qu'ran. Divination is practiced through Qur'anic readings. Often the diviner incorporates verses from the Qur'an into treatments for certain diseases. On occasion, he instructs

3160-548: The US). In Japan, the international city relations may be split into multiple terms, such as Sister Cities, Friendship Cooperation Cities, Business Partner Cities (BPC), Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), Sister Ports / Friendship Ports, etc. China mostly uses the term "friendship cooperation cities" rather than "sister cities", as the Chinese words for sisters, "姐妹" (reading: jiěmèi, literally elder sister and younger sister), could imply

3239-527: The United Kingdom, the term "twin towns" is most commonly used; the term "sister cities" is generally used for agreements with towns and cities in the Americas. In mainland Europe, the most commonly used terms are "twin towns", "partnership towns", "partner towns", and "friendship towns". The European Commission uses the term "twinned towns" and refers to the process as "town twinning". Spain uses

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3318-615: The United Nations has stated that the island of Zanzibar has a 25% higher per capita GDP than the rest of Tanzania. This economic influence has led to the continued spread of their culture and language throughout East Africa. Thought by many early scholars to be essentially of Arabic or Persian style and origin, some contemporary academics are suggesting that archaeological, written, linguistic, and cultural evidence might suggest an African genesis which would be accompanied only later by an enduring Arabic and Islamic influences in

3397-761: The United Nations. Not only cities and towns, but also provinces, states, territories, and regions enter into twinning agreements. For example, the Canadian province of Alberta has "sister province" agreements with Gangwon, South Korea (since 1974), Hokkaido, Japan (since 1980), Heilongjiang, China (1981), Jalisco, Mexico (1999), Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine (2004), Lviv, Ukraine (2005), Guangdong, China (2017), and California, United States (2018), as well as policy-oriented (as opposed to economic and cultural) agreements with Nevada, United States (since 2013), Missouri, United States (2015), and Texas, United States (2018). The earliest known town twinning in Europe

3476-466: The Waswahili themselves. Citation: The Swahili people originate from Bantu inhabitants of the coast of Southeast Africa, in Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique. These Bantu-speaking agriculturalists settled the coast at the outset of the first millennium. Archaeological finds at Fukuchani, on the north-west coast of Zanzibar, indicate a settled agricultural and fishing community from the 6th century CE at

3555-509: The area, the earlier occupants had been displaced by incoming Bantu and Nilotic populations. More people from different parts of the Persian Gulf also continued to migrate to the Swahili coast over several centuries thereafter, and these formed the modern Shirazi. The second theory on Shirazi origins also posits that they came from Persia, but first settled in the Horn of Africa . In

3634-470: The commission (DG Education and Culture) to promote modern, high quality twinning initiatives and exchanges that involve all sections of the community. It has launched a website dedicated to town twinning. As of 1995, the European Union had more than 7,000 bilateral relationships involving almost 10,000 European municipalities, primarily French (2837 twinnings) and German (2485 twinnings). Public art has been used to celebrate twin town links, for instance in

3713-470: The fall of the Iron Curtain . Famous examples are the partnerships of Hanover and Leipzig , both of which have important trade fair grounds , or between Hamburg and Dresden. The first US-German town twinning was in 1947 between Worthington, Minnesota and Crailsheim . St Petersburg in Russia holds the record for the largest number of partnership arrangements with other communities. In June 2012,

3792-460: The fields outside the settlement. Thinking he was asking what they were doing, they simply replied kuliamani ('we are cultivating'). An alternative explanation is that when the Portuguese reached the settlement, they were welcomed by a notable Arab, or half Arab, who acted as interpreter between them and the natives. The name which the Portuguese applied to this individual, and his settlement,

3871-466: The form of seven mural paintings in the centre of the town of Sutton , Greater London. The five main paintings show a number of the main features of the London Borough of Sutton and its four twin towns, along with the heraldic shield of each above the other images. Each painting also features a plant as a visual representation of its town's environmental awareness . In the case of Sutton this

3950-415: The form of trade and an exchange of ideas. Upon visiting Kilwa in 1331, the great Berber explorer Ibn Battuta was impressed by the substantial beauty that he encountered there. He describes its inhabitants as "Zanj, jet-black in colour, and with tattoo marks on their faces", and notes that "Kilwa is a very fine and substantially built town, and all its buildings are of wood" (his description of Mombasa

4029-557: The genocide in 2016, some twin agreements such as Edirne – Haskovo were terminated by Turkey. China manages sister city relationships through the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC). In April 2019, CPAFFC president Li Xiaolin said, “Friendship city relations have become one of the important channels to implement the Belt and Road Initiative .” In January 2020, Shanghai canceled its sister city relationship with Prague after Prague's mayor signed

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4108-490: The historical processes by which the Swahili have coalesced over time. More recently, however, through a process of Swahilization , this identity is extended to any person of African descent who speaks Swahili as their first language, is Muslim , and lives in a town on the main urban centres of most of modern-day Tanzania and coastal Kenya, northern Mozambique, or the Comoros. The name Swahili originated as an exonym for

4187-465: The ideals of being a maritime-centred culture. There are two main theories about the origins of the Shirazi subgroup of the Swahili people. One thesis based on oral tradition states that immigrants from the Shiraz region in southwestern Iran directly settled various mainland ports and islands on the eastern Africa seaboard beginning in the tenth century. By the time of the Persian settlement in

4266-399: The increasing ease of access by plane ( Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique runs flights) and road contribute to a small but relatively steady stream of visitors. In addition, Quelimane is home to branches of many international NGOs, and frequent visits from foreign aid consultants, workers, and government officials also contribute to the economy. The city received a further boost when Quelimane hosted

4345-661: The language derived from Arabic : سواحل , romanized :  Sawāhil , lit.   'coasts', with WaUngwana as the endonym . Swahili people speak the Swahili language . Modern Standard Swahili is derived from the Kiunguja dialect of Zanzibar. Like many other world languages, Swahili has borrowed a large number of words from foreign languages, particularly administrative terms from Arabic , but also words from Portuguese , Persian , Hindi , Spanish , English and German . Other, older dialects like Kimrima and Kitumbatu have far fewer Arabic loanwords, indicative of

4424-465: The language's fundamental Bantu nature. Kiswahili served as coastal East Africa's lingua franca and trade language from the ninth century onward. Zanzibari traders' intensive push into the African interior from the late eighteenth century induced the adoption of Swahili as a common language throughout much of East Africa . Thus, Kiswahili is the most spoken African language, used by far more than just

4503-498: The latest. The considerable amount of daub found indicates timber buildings, and shell beads, bead grinders, and iron slag have been found at the site. There is evidence for limited engagement in long-distance trade: a small amount of imported pottery has been found, less than 1% of total pottery finds, mostly from the Gulf and dated to the 5th to 8th century. The similarity to contemporary sites such as Mkokotoni and Dar es Salaam indicate

4582-400: The main mosques. Before 1500 CE, the inhabitants carried both African, as well as Asia/Near East ancestry, which was mainly Persian-related (with more than half of their DNA originating from African ancestors and another large proportion of DNA coming from Asian ancestors). The male ancestors of elite Swahili people were a mix of approximately 83% Asian and 17% African; about 90% of the Asian DNA

4661-545: The majority of the male heritage was Asian. Some academics reject the authenticity of the primarily Persian origin claim. They point to the relative rarity of Persian customs and speech, lack of documentary evidence of Shia Islam in the Muslim literature on the Swahili Coast, and instead a historic abundance of Sunni Arab -related evidence. The documentary evidence, like the archaeological, "for early Persian settlement

4740-583: The number of China's sister city relationships doubled. More than one-third of Chinese sister city relationships are with sister cities in the east Asia Pacific region. Town twinning is supported in Japan by the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations , a joint agency of local governments established by the Japanese government in 1988 (similar to Sister Cities International , its counterpart in

4819-526: The subsequent Mayor Emily Smith – had their names embroidered on a tablecloth along with the words "Little help is better than a lot of pity" and sent it, along with money (each donated six pence), to the people of Stalingrad. The tablecloth can now be seen at the Panorama Museum of the Battle of Stalingrad. The twinning between Coventry and Stalingrad was formalized in 1944 and, after the end of

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4898-483: The term "ciudades hermanadas", which means "sister cities". Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic each use Partnerstadt (German), miasto partnerskie (Polish) and partnerské město (Czech), which translate as "partner town" or "partner city". France uses ville jumelée (jumelage, twinned town or city), and Italy has gemellaggio (twinning) and comune gemellato (twinned municipality). In

4977-523: The term "sister cities" or "twin cities". In China, the term is 友好城市 (yǒuhǎo chéngshì – friendly cities). Sometimes, other government bodies enter into a twinning relationship, such as the agreement between the provinces of Hainan in China and Jeju in South Korea. The Douzelage is a town twinning association with one town from each of the member states of the European Union. Though

5056-454: The term is often used interchangeably with the term "friendship city", this may mean a relationship with a more limited scope in comparison to a sister city relationship, and friendship city relationships are mayor-to-mayor agreements. City diplomacy is a form of paradiplomacy that involves discussions between officials and residents of different cities. Often these cities will be located in different countries. As such, city diplomacy involves

5135-539: The then Mayor of Coventry , Alfred Robert Grindlay , culminating in his renowned telegram to the people of Stalingrad (now Volgograd ) in 1942, the idea emerged as a way of establishing solidarity links between cities in allied countries that went through similar devastating events. The comradeship between the two cities continued, when again in response to the Battle of Stalingrad , 830 women in Coventry – led by

5214-514: The tongue of the urban class in the African Great Lakes region and eventually went on to serve as a lingua franca during the post-colonial period. In 2022, DNA was extracted, analyzed and compared in 80 samples taken from people buried between 1250 and 1800 CE in towns that were mostly along the Swahili Coast in modern Kenya and Tanzania. It is believed that these people were Swahili elites because they were buried in cemeteries near

5293-418: The turn of the millennium that it became much more common. The first priority of those carrying out city diplomacy typically overlaps with the core aims of municipal government – improving the lives of local residents. Yet they will often collaborate with peers in other cities to work on issues of planet-wide concern, such as efforts to address climate change . The phrase "city diplomacy" is formally used in

5372-525: The twelfth century, as the gold trade with the distant entrepot of Sofala on the Mozambique seaboard grew, the settlers are then said to moved southwards to various coastal towns in Kenya, Tanzania, northern Mozambique and the Indian Ocean islands . By 1200 CE, they had established local sultanates and mercantile networks on the islands of Kilwa , Mafia and Comoros along the Swahili coast, and in northwestern Madagascar . More recent studies support

5451-407: The war, similar links were established to foster friendship and understanding among former foes as an act of peace and reconciliation, with new twinnings between Coventry and German cities: Kiel as early as in 1947 and Dresden in 1956. In 1957, Coventry was officially twinned with Belgrade, even though the link actually dates back to 1953 when then Yugoslav Ambassador visited Coventry and offered

5530-826: The workings of the United Cities and Local Governments and the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group , and is recognised by the USC Center on Public Diplomacy . A March 2014 debate in the British House of Lords acknowledged the evolution of town twinning into city diplomacy, particularly in matters of trade and tourism, but also in culture and post-conflict reconciliation. The importance of cities developing "their own foreign economic policies on trade, foreign investment, tourism and attracting foreign talent" has also been highlighted by

5609-606: Was 'Quelimane' (pronounced Kelimãn), because in the corrupt Arabic spoken on the East African coast 'Kalimãn' is the word for 'Interpreter'. In Swahili it is 'Mkalimani'. In 1761, the settlement became a town. Until 1853 trade was forbidden to any other than Portuguese. Sisal plantations were organized by Swiss planters in the beginning of the 20th century, namely Joseph Émile Stucky de Quay . The town started to grow and attracted several communities from different backgrounds, including Muslims and Indians, and new infrastructure

5688-407: Was Persian, and the rest was Indian. The female ancestors of Swahili elites were about 97% African and 3% Asian. This is consistent with the narrative of the Kilwa Chronicle . After this time, Arabian ancestry becomes more prevalent, which correlates with the archaeological and historical record of interactions with Southern Arabia ( Oman ). For centuries the Swahili depended greatly on trade from

5767-576: Was between Paderborn , Germany, and Le Mans , France, in 836. Starting in 1905, Keighley in West Yorkshire, England, had a twinning arrangement with French communities Suresnes and Puteaux . The first recorded modern twinning agreement was between Keighley and Poix-du-Nord in Nord, France, in 1920 following the end of the World War I . This was initially referred to as an adoption of

5846-505: Was built by the Portuguese authorities. Its busy port had tea , grown and processed in the district of Zambézia (particularly important in the region around Gurúè , formerly Vila Junqueiro ), as its major export. Coconut was also produced and processed in the city. By 1970, Quelimane had 71,786 inhabitants. Mozambique became independent from Portugal in 1975, after the April 1974 Carnation Revolution at Lisbon . Although its location on

5925-574: Was controlled at the time and until 2020 by the military forces of Armenia and the unrecognised Republic of Artsakh . An attempt was made in 2003 by Preston city councillors in England to twin with the Palestinian town of Nablus in the name of solidarity. Turkey bans partnerships with any city in a country that recognizes the Armenian genocide . As a result, when Bulgaria recognized

6004-551: Was essentially the same). Kimaryo points out that the distinctive tattoo marks are common among the Makonde . Architecture included arches, courtyards, isolated women's quarters, the mihrab , towers, and decorative elements on the buildings themselves. Many ruins may still be observed near the southern Kenyan port of Malindi in the Gede ruins ( the lost city of Gede/Gedi ). Twin towns and sister cities A sister city or

6083-580: Was originally a program of the National League of Cities , but it became a separate corporation in 1967 due to the growth and popularity of the program. Twin town cultural events include the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C., honoring Washington's twin relationship with Tokyo City . Many twinned towns developed business agreements with their partners. For example, Vermont 's Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream company opened

6162-468: Was the first twinned city in Canada and the second in North America, while Denver, United States , twinned with Brest, France , was the second twinned city in the United States. Liberal, Kansas was twinned with Olney, United Kingdom in 1950, and the cities have run a joint Pancake Day race ever since. Littleton, Colorado, twinned with Bega, Australia, in 1961. Tashkent , the capital city of Uzbekistan,

6241-458: Was twinned with Seattle , Washington, in 1973. Rochester, Minnesota , and Knebworth , UK, both centers for primary medical research, twinned in 1967. Ontario, California , has five sister cities around the world. They are Brockville, Ontario, Canada (since 1977); Guamúchil, Sinaloa, Mexico (since 1982); Mocorito, Sinaloa, Mexico (since 1982); Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico (since 1988); and Winterthur, Canton of Zürich, Switzerland. Oakville, Ontario

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