The town is currently the largest settlement in Pangani District and is a major tourist attraction in Tanga region and is a home to Muhembo, a Tanzanian National Historic Site.

[2] Early TIW found close to Kumbamtoni resembled coastal pottery from the southern and central parts of the Swahili coast.

[3] During the Swahili era (1250–1550 CE), interactions between indigenous tribes of the Pangani coast and communities in the Indian Ocean took place, but at a minor level.

The discovery of Sasanian Islamic wares from the Persian Gulf during the Zanjian period and black-and-yellow ceramics from the Red Sea during the Swahili eras is evidence of the old maritime trade history in Pangani Bay.

The pottery in Zanjian and Swahili villages in Pangani Bay shared characteristics with that of sites on the East African coast (Shanga, Kilwa, and Kaole), as well as its hinterland (Mombo), in addition to the recognised internal cultural continuity.

Due to a shift in Islamic influence (from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea) that brought people together and encouraged settlement growth and expansion, the northern shore dominated the economy during this time.

During this time, it is likely that a rigid, emic idea of the African hinterland developed as wealthy coastal Swahili town dwellers (waungwana) saw the need to set themselves apart from people who lived in the interior in order to consolidate their authority and safeguard expanding trade monopolies.

Foreign contacts, which may be seen in the archaeological record in the form of Asian ceramics and glass beads, had a significant impact on the formation of identity borders.

[11] The worldwide slave and ivory traffic grew more intense throughout the nineteenth century, and Omani (and European) plantation agriculture gained sway, compounding the pressures of earlier eras.

Increased foreign engagement is evidenced by the abundance of novel glass bead kinds and numerous pottery from India, China, and Europe found at Gombero.

Pangani's modern town came to prominence in the mid 19th century, when, under nominal Zanzibari rule, it was a major terminus of caravan routes to the deep interior.

The diversified population of Pangani Bay includes residents from other places as well as people who self-identify as Zigua, Bondei, Digo, Iloikop, and Bena as a result of this area's long history of exploitation and more recent diaporas (related to the development of cash crops).

[15] His letters to his family, sister, and brother-in-law, as well as to the readers of Vendsyssel Tidende, provide a window into the lives, ideas, and experiences of a pragmatic imperialist who was keen to modernise agricultural productivity and introduce "civilization" to the area.

The local leader of the resistance was Abushiri ibn Salim al-Harthi, a Swahili-speaker born in Zanzibar who owned a small estate at the suburb that now bears his name.

In the 1890s, German troops quenched the Bushiri Rebellion, a local uprising, and the residents of Pangani Bay once more fell victim to outside intrusion.

Lautherborn relocated to Bagamoyo, one of the two surviving DOAG strongholds, during the uprising, took up guns, learned new skills as a builder, and created labour and management practises that would influence the rest of his stay in the area.

In fact, he brought a large portion of his primarily Nyamwezi staff with him when he returned to Kikogwe, his sisal plantation south of Pangani.

He demonstrated the commercial viability of sisal, kept workers on the job during a labour shortage, and received praise from all quarters for his efficient plantation management.