History of Zanzibar
Encyclopedia
People have lived in Zanzibar
for 20,000 years; history
proper starts when the islands became a base for traders voyaging between Arabia, India
, and Africa
. Unguja
offered a protected and defensible harbour, so although the archipelago had few products of value, Arabs settled at what became Zanzibar City
(Stone Town) as a convenient point from which to trade with East Africa
n coastal towns. They established garrisons on the islands and built the first mosque
in the Southern hemisphere
.
During the Age of Exploration, the Portuguese Empire
was the first European power to gain control of Zanzibar, and kept it for nearly 200 years. In 1698 Zanzibar fell under the control of the Sultanate of Oman, which developed an economy of trade and cash crop
s, with a ruling Arab elite. Plantations were developed to grow spices, hence the moniker of the Spice Islands (a name also used of Dutch colony
the Moluccas, now part of Indonesia
). Another major trade good was ivory
, the tusks of elephants killed in mainland Africa. The third pillar of the economy was slaves, giving Zanzibar an important place in the Arab slave trade
, the Indian Ocean
equivalent of the better-known Triangular Trade
. The Sultan of Zanzibar controlled a substantial portion of the East African coast, known as Zanj
, and extensive inland trading routes.
Sometimes gradually, sometimes by fits and starts, control came into the hands of the British Empire
; part of the political impetus for this was the movement for the abolition of the slave trade
. In 1890 Zanzibar became a British protectorate
. The death of one sultan and the succession of another of whom the British did not approve led to the Anglo-Zanzibar War
, also known as the shortest war in history.
The islands gained independence from Britain in December 1963 as a constitutional monarchy
. A month later, the bloody Zanzibar Revolution
, in which several thousand Arabs and Indians were killed and thousands more expelled and expropriated, led to the Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba. That April, the republic merged with the mainland Tanganyika
, or more accurately, was subsumed into Tanzania
, of which Zanzibar remains a semi-autonomous region. Zanzibar was most recently in the international news with a January 2001 massacre, following contested elections.
. A cave containing traces of microlith
ic tools revealed 20,000 years of human occupation of Zanzibar (Sinclair et al. 2006). These tools are common to Later Stone Age hunter-gatherer
communities. Archaeological discoveries of a limestone cave used radiocarbon techniques to prove more recent occupation, from around 2800 BC to around the year 0 (Chami 2006). Traces of the communities include objects such as glass beads from around the Indian Ocean
. It is a suggestion of early trans-oceanic trade networks, although some writers have expressed pessimism about this possibility.
No cave sites on Zanzibar have revealed pottery fragments used by early and later farming and iron-working communities who lived on the islands (Zanzibar, Mafia) during the first millennium AD. On Zanzibar, the evidence for the later farming and iron-working communities dating from the mid-first millennium AD is much stronger and indicates the beginning of urbanism there when settlements were built with mud-timber structures (Juma 2004). This is somewhat earlier than the existing evidence for towns in other parts of the East Africa
n coast, given as the 9th century AD. The first permanent residents of Zanzibar seem to have been the ancestors of the Hadimu and Tumbatu
, who began arriving from the East African mainland around 1000 AD. They had belonged to various mainland ethnic groups, and on Zanzibar they lived in small villages and failed to coalesce to form larger political units. Because they lacked central organization, they were easily subjugated by outsiders.
and Assyria
.
An ancient pendant discovered near Eshunna dated ca. 2500-2400 BC. has been traced to copal
imported from the Zanzibar region.
Traders from Arabia (mostly Yemen
), the Persian Gulf
region of Iran
(especially Shiraz
), and west India
probably visited Zanzibar as early as the 1st century AD. They used the monsoon
winds to sail across the Indian Ocean and landed at the sheltered harbor located on the site of present-day Zanzibar Town. Although the islands had few resources of interest to the traders, they offered a good location from which to make contact and trade with the towns of the East African coast. A phase of urban development associated with the introduction of stone material to the construction industry of the East African coast began from the 10th century AD.
Traders began to settle in small numbers on Zanzibar in the late 11th or 12th century, intermarrying
with the indigenous Africans. Eventually a hereditary ruler (known as the Mwenyi Mkuu or Jumbe), emerged among the Hadimu, and a similar ruler, called the Sheha, was set up among the Tumbatu. Neither had much power, but they helped solidify the ethnic identity of their respective peoples.
The Yemenis built the earliest mosque
in the southern hemisphere
in Kizimkazi
, the southernmost village in Unguja
. A kufic
inscription on its mihrab bears the date AH
500, i.e. 1107 AD.
Villages were also present in which lineage groups were common.
's visit in 1499 marks the beginning of European influence, and the Portuguese established control over the island four years later. In August 1505, it became part of the Portuguese Empire
when Captain John (João) Homere, part of Francisco de Almeida
's fleet, captured the island. It was to remain a possession of Portugal for almost two centuries.
, falling under the control of the Sultan of Oman
. The Portuguese were expelled and a lucrative trade in slaves and ivory thrived, along with an expanding plantation economy
centring on cloves. The Arabs established garrisons at Zanzibar, Pemba
, and Kilwa. The height of Arab rule came during the reign of Seyyid Said (more fully, Sayyid Said bin Sultan al-Busaid), who in 1840 moved his capital from Muscat
in Oman to Stone Town
. He established a ruling Arab elite and encouraged the development of clove plantation
s, using the island's slave labour. Zanzibar's commerce fell increasingly into the hands of traders from the Indian subcontinent
, whom Said encouraged to settle on the island. After his death in 1856, his sons struggled over the succession
. On April 6, 1861, Zanzibar and Oman were divided into two separate principalities. Sayyid Majid bin Said Al-Busaid (1834/5–1870), his sixth son, became the Sultan of Zanzibar, while the third son, Sayyid Thuwaini bin Said al-Said
, became the Sultan of Oman.
The Sultan of Zanzibar controlled a substantial portion of the east African coast, known as Zanj
, and trading routes extending much further across the continent, as far as Kindu
on the Congo River
. In November 1886, a German-British border commission established the Zanj as a ten-nautical mile (19 km) wide strip along most of the coast of East Africa, stretching from Cape Delgado
(now in Mozambique
) to Kipini (now in Kenya
), including Mombasa
and Dar es Salaam
, all offshore islands, and several towns in what is now Somalia
. However, from 1887 to 1892, all of these mainland possessions were lost to the colonial powers of the United Kingdom, Germany
, and Italy
, although some were not formally sold or ceded until the 20th century (Mogadishu
to Italy in 1905 and Mombasa to Britain in 1963).
Zanzibar was famous worldwide for its spices and its slaves. It was East Africa's main slave-trading port, and in the 19th century as many as 50,000 slaves were passing through the slave markets of Zanzibar each year. (David Livingstone
estimated that 80,000 Africans died each year before ever reaching the island.) Tippu Tip
was the most notorious slaver, under several sultans, and also a trader, plantation owner and governor. Zanzibar's spices attracted ships from as far away as the United States
, which established a consulate in 1837. The United Kingdom
's early interest in Zanzibar was motivated by both commerce and the determination to end the slave trade. In 1822, the British signed the first of a series of treaties with Sultan Said to curb this trade
, but not until 1876 was the sale of slaves finally prohibited.
Zanzibar had the distinction of having the first steam locomotive
in East Africa, when Sultan Bargash bin Said
ordered a tiny 0-4-0
tank engine to haul his regal carriage from town to his summer palace at Chukwani
.
gradually took over; the relationship was formalised by the 1890 Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty
, in which Germany pledged, among other things, not to interfere with British interests in Zanzibar. This treaty made Zanzibar and Pemba a British protectorate
(not colony
), and the Caprivi Strip
(in what is now Namibia
) a German protectorate. British rule through a sultan (vizier
) remained largely unchanged.
The death of Hamad bin Thuwaini on 25 August 1896 saw the Khalid bin Bargash
, eldest son of the second sultan, Barghash ibn Sa'id, take over the palace and declare himself the new ruler. This was contrary to the wishes of the British government, which favoured Hamoud bin Mohammed. This led to a showdown, later called the Anglo-Zanzibar War
, on the morning of 27 August, when ships of the Royal Navy
destroyed the Beit al Hukum Palace, having given Khalid a one-hour ultimatum to leave. He refused, and at 9 am the ships opened fire. Khalid's troops returned fire and he fled to the German consulate. A cease fire was declared 45 minutes after the action had begun, giving the bombardment the title of The Shortest War in History. Hamoud was declared the new ruler and peace was restored once more. Acquiescing to British demands, he brought an end in 1897 to Zanzibar's role as a centre for the centuries-old eastern slave trade by banning slavery and freeing the slaves, compensating their owners. Hamoud's son and heir apparent
, Ali
, was educated in Britain.
From 1913 until independence in 1963, the British appointed their own residents (essentially governor
s).
under the Sultan. This state of affairs was short-lived, as the Sultan and the democratically elected government were overthrown on 12 January 1964 in the Zanzibar Revolution
led by John Okello
, a Uganda
n citizen. Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume was named President of the newly created People's Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba
. Several thousand Arabs (5,000-12,000 Zanzibaris of Arabic descent) and Indians were killed, thousands more detained or expelled, their property either confiscated or destroyed. The film Africa Addio
documents the revolution, including a massacre of Arabs. (Ethnic difference, and the expulsion of those who had anywhere else to go, were repeated themes in East Africa
, the most prominent example being the Expulsion of Indians in Uganda in 1972 by Idi Amin
.)
The revolutionary government nationalized the local operations of the two foreign banks in Zanzibar, Standard Bank
and National and Grindlays Bank. These nationalized operations may have provided the foundation for the newly-created Peoples Bank of Zanzibar. Jetha Lila
, the one locally-owned bank in Zanzibar, or for that matter in all of East Africa
, closed. It was owned by Indians and though the revolutionary government of Zanzibar urged it to continue functioning, the loss of its customer base as Indians
left the island made it impossible to continue.
united with Zanzibar to form the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar; this lengthy name was compressed into a portmanteau, the United Republic of Tanzania
, on 29 October 1964. After unification, local affairs were controlled by President Abeid Amani Karume, while foreign affairs were handled by the United Republic in Dar es Salaam
. Zanzibar remains a semi-autonomous region of Tanzania.
From this point onwards, see History of Tanzania
.
Zanzibar
Zanzibar ,Persian: زنگبار, from suffix bār: "coast" and Zangi: "bruin" ; is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in East Africa. It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja , and Pemba...
for 20,000 years; history
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
proper starts when the islands became a base for traders voyaging between Arabia, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, and Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. Unguja
Unguja
Unguja as mentioned in The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea is the largest and most populated island of Zanzibar, in Tanzania.-Geography:...
offered a protected and defensible harbour, so although the archipelago had few products of value, Arabs settled at what became Zanzibar City
Zanzibar City
Zanzibar City is the capital and largest city of Zanzibar, in Tanzania. It is located on the west coast of Unguja, the main island of the Zanzibar Archipelago, roughly opposite to Dar es Salaam across the Zanzibar Channel...
(Stone Town) as a convenient point from which to trade with East Africa
East Africa
East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...
n coastal towns. They established garrisons on the islands and built the first mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
in the Southern hemisphere
Southern Hemisphere
The Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...
.
During the Age of Exploration, the Portuguese Empire
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire , also known as the Portuguese Overseas Empire or the Portuguese Colonial Empire , was the first global empire in history...
was the first European power to gain control of Zanzibar, and kept it for nearly 200 years. In 1698 Zanzibar fell under the control of the Sultanate of Oman, which developed an economy of trade and cash crop
Cash crop
In agriculture, a cash crop is a crop which is grown for profit.The term is used to differentiate from subsistence crops, which are those fed to the producer's own livestock or grown as food for the producer's family...
s, with a ruling Arab elite. Plantations were developed to grow spices, hence the moniker of the Spice Islands (a name also used of Dutch colony
Dutch Empire
The Dutch Empire consisted of the overseas territories controlled by the Dutch Republic and later, the modern Netherlands from the 17th to the 20th century. The Dutch followed Portugal and Spain in establishing an overseas colonial empire, but based on military conquest of already-existing...
the Moluccas, now part of Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
). Another major trade good was ivory
Ivory trade
The ivory trade is the commercial, often illegal trade in the ivory tusks of the hippopotamus, walrus, narwhal, mammoth, and most commonly, Asian and African elephants....
, the tusks of elephants killed in mainland Africa. The third pillar of the economy was slaves, giving Zanzibar an important place in the Arab slave trade
Arab slave trade
The Arab slave trade was the practice of slavery in the Arab World, mainly Western Asia, North Africa, East Africa and certain parts of Europe during their period of domination by Arab leaders. The trade was focused on the slave markets of the Middle East and North Africa...
, the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
equivalent of the better-known Triangular Trade
Triangular trade
Triangular trade, or triangle trade, is a historical term indicating among three ports or regions. Triangular trade usually evolves when a region has export commodities that are not required in the region from which its major imports come...
. The Sultan of Zanzibar controlled a substantial portion of the East African coast, known as Zanj
Zanj
Zanj was a name used by medieval Arab geographers to refer to both a certain portion of the coast of East Africa and its inhabitants, Bantu-speaking peoples called the Zanj...
, and extensive inland trading routes.
Sometimes gradually, sometimes by fits and starts, control came into the hands of the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
; part of the political impetus for this was the movement for the abolition of the slave trade
Abolitionism
Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...
. In 1890 Zanzibar became a British protectorate
Protectorate
In history, the term protectorate has two different meanings. In its earliest inception, which has been adopted by modern international law, it is an autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically or militarily against third parties by a stronger state or entity...
. The death of one sultan and the succession of another of whom the British did not approve led to the Anglo-Zanzibar War
Anglo-Zanzibar War
The Anglo-Zanzibar War was fought between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar on 27 August 1896. The conflict lasted 38 minutes and is the shortest war in history. The immediate cause of the war was the death of the pro-British Sultan Hamad bin Thuwaini on 25 August 1896 and the subsequent succession...
, also known as the shortest war in history.
The islands gained independence from Britain in December 1963 as a constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution...
. A month later, the bloody Zanzibar Revolution
Zanzibar Revolution
The Zanzibar Revolution by local African revolutionaries in 1964 overthrew the Sultan of Zanzibar and his mainly Arab government. An ethnically diverse state consisting of a number of islands off the east coast of Tanganyika, Zanzibar had been granted independence by Britain in 1963...
, in which several thousand Arabs and Indians were killed and thousands more expelled and expropriated, led to the Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba. That April, the republic merged with the mainland Tanganyika
Tanganyika
Tanganyika , later formally the Republic of Tanganyika, was a sovereign state in East Africa from 1961 to 1964. It was situated between the Indian Ocean and the African Great Lakes of Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika...
, or more accurately, was subsumed into Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
, of which Zanzibar remains a semi-autonomous region. Zanzibar was most recently in the international news with a January 2001 massacre, following contested elections.
Prehistory
Zanzibar has been inhabited since the PaleolithicPaleolithic
The Paleolithic Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered , and covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory...
. A cave containing traces of microlith
Microlith
A microlith is a small stone tool usually made of flint or chert and typically a centimetre or so in length and half a centimetre wide. It is produced from either a small blade or a larger blade-like piece of flint by abrupt or truncated retouching, which leaves a very typical piece of waste,...
ic tools revealed 20,000 years of human occupation of Zanzibar (Sinclair et al. 2006). These tools are common to Later Stone Age hunter-gatherer
Hunter-gatherer
A hunter-gatherer or forage society is one in which most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals, in contrast to agricultural societies which rely mainly on domesticated species. Hunting and gathering was the ancestral subsistence mode of Homo, and all modern humans were...
communities. Archaeological discoveries of a limestone cave used radiocarbon techniques to prove more recent occupation, from around 2800 BC to around the year 0 (Chami 2006). Traces of the communities include objects such as glass beads from around the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
. It is a suggestion of early trans-oceanic trade networks, although some writers have expressed pessimism about this possibility.
No cave sites on Zanzibar have revealed pottery fragments used by early and later farming and iron-working communities who lived on the islands (Zanzibar, Mafia) during the first millennium AD. On Zanzibar, the evidence for the later farming and iron-working communities dating from the mid-first millennium AD is much stronger and indicates the beginning of urbanism there when settlements were built with mud-timber structures (Juma 2004). This is somewhat earlier than the existing evidence for towns in other parts of the East Africa
East Africa
East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...
n coast, given as the 9th century AD. The first permanent residents of Zanzibar seem to have been the ancestors of the Hadimu and Tumbatu
Tumbatu
Tumbatu Island is the third-largest island making up Zanzibar, part of Tanzania in east Africa. The island is located off the northwest coast of Zanzibar's main island, Unguja....
, who began arriving from the East African mainland around 1000 AD. They had belonged to various mainland ethnic groups, and on Zanzibar they lived in small villages and failed to coalesce to form larger political units. Because they lacked central organization, they were easily subjugated by outsiders.
Early Iranian & Arab rule
Ancient pottery demonstrates existing trade routes with Zanzibar as far back as the ancient SumerSumer
Sumer was a civilization and historical region in southern Mesopotamia, modern Iraq during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age....
and Assyria
Assyria
Assyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
.
An ancient pendant discovered near Eshunna dated ca. 2500-2400 BC. has been traced to copal
Copal
Copal is a name given to tree resin that is particularly identified with the aromatic resins used by the cultures of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica as ceremonially burned incense and other purposes...
imported from the Zanzibar region.
Traders from Arabia (mostly Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
), the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
region of Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
(especially Shiraz
Shiraz
Shiraz may refer to:* Shiraz, Iran, a city in Iran* Shiraz County, an administrative subdivision of Iran* Vosketap, Armenia, formerly called ShirazPeople:* Hovhannes Shiraz, Armenian poet* Ara Shiraz, Armenian sculptor...
), and west India
West India
West India or the Western region of India consists of the states of Goa, Gujarat and Maharashtra, along with the Union Territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. It is highly industrialized, with a large urban population. Most of Western India was part of the Maratha Empire before...
probably visited Zanzibar as early as the 1st century AD. They used the monsoon
Monsoon
Monsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea...
winds to sail across the Indian Ocean and landed at the sheltered harbor located on the site of present-day Zanzibar Town. Although the islands had few resources of interest to the traders, they offered a good location from which to make contact and trade with the towns of the East African coast. A phase of urban development associated with the introduction of stone material to the construction industry of the East African coast began from the 10th century AD.
Traders began to settle in small numbers on Zanzibar in the late 11th or 12th century, intermarrying
Interracial marriage
Interracial marriage occurs when two people of differing racial groups marry. This is a form of exogamy and can be seen in the broader context of miscegenation .-Legality of interracial marriage:In the Western world certain jurisdictions have had regulations...
with the indigenous Africans. Eventually a hereditary ruler (known as the Mwenyi Mkuu or Jumbe), emerged among the Hadimu, and a similar ruler, called the Sheha, was set up among the Tumbatu. Neither had much power, but they helped solidify the ethnic identity of their respective peoples.
The Yemenis built the earliest mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
in the southern hemisphere
Southern Hemisphere
The Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...
in Kizimkazi
Kizimkazi
Kizimkazi - officially Kizimkazi Mkunguni, but also known as Kizimkazi Mtendeni - is a fishing village on the southern coast of Zanzibar, Tanzania, and was once a walled city. It is situated three miles southeast of the Kizimkazi Mosque...
, the southernmost village in Unguja
Unguja
Unguja as mentioned in The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea is the largest and most populated island of Zanzibar, in Tanzania.-Geography:...
. A kufic
Kufic
Kufic is the oldest calligraphic form of the various Arabic scripts and consists of a modified form of the old Nabataean script. Its name is derived from the city of Kufa, Iraq, although it was known in Mesopotamia at least 100 years before the foundation of Kufa. At the time of the emergence of...
inscription on its mihrab bears the date AH
Islamic calendar
The Hijri calendar , also known as the Muslim calendar or Islamic calendar , is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to date events in many Muslim countries , and used by Muslims everywhere to determine the proper day on which to celebrate Islamic...
500, i.e. 1107 AD.
Villages were also present in which lineage groups were common.
Portuguese rule
Vasco da GamaVasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira was a Portuguese explorer, one of the most successful in the Age of Discovery and the commander of the first ships to sail directly from Europe to India...
's visit in 1499 marks the beginning of European influence, and the Portuguese established control over the island four years later. In August 1505, it became part of the Portuguese Empire
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire , also known as the Portuguese Overseas Empire or the Portuguese Colonial Empire , was the first global empire in history...
when Captain John (João) Homere, part of Francisco de Almeida
Francisco de Almeida
Dom Francisco de Almeida , also known as "the Great Dom Francisco" , was a Portuguese nobleman, soldier and explorer. He distinguished himself as a counsellor to King John II of Portugal and later in the wars against the Moors and in the conquest of Granada in 1492...
's fleet, captured the island. It was to remain a possession of Portugal for almost two centuries.
Later Arab rule
In 1698, Zanzibar became part of the overseas holdings of OmanOman
Oman , officially called the Sultanate of Oman , is an Arab state in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by the United Arab Emirates to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the...
, falling under the control of the Sultan of Oman
Sultan of Oman
-List of Imams :-Nabhan Dynasty :-Ya'ariba Dynasty :-Banu Ghafir Dynasty :-Ya'ariba Dynasty :-Al Said Dynasty :-See also:...
. The Portuguese were expelled and a lucrative trade in slaves and ivory thrived, along with an expanding plantation economy
Plantation economy
A plantation economy is an economy which is based on agricultural mass production, usually of a few staple products grown on large farms called plantations. Plantation economies rely on the export of cash crops as a source of income...
centring on cloves. The Arabs established garrisons at Zanzibar, Pemba
Pemba, Tanzania
Pemba Island, known as "The Green Island" in Arabic , is an island forming part of the Zanzibar archipelago, lying off the east coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean. It is situated about 50 kilometres to the north of the Unguja . In 1964 Zanzibar was united with the former colony of Tanganyika to...
, and Kilwa. The height of Arab rule came during the reign of Seyyid Said (more fully, Sayyid Said bin Sultan al-Busaid), who in 1840 moved his capital from Muscat
Muscat, Oman
Muscat is the capital of Oman. It is also the seat of government and largest city in the Governorate of Muscat. As of 2008, the population of the Muscat metropolitan area was 1,090,797. The metropolitan area spans approximately and includes six provinces called wilayats...
in Oman to Stone Town
Stone Town
Stone Town also known as Mji Mkongwe is the old part of Zanzibar City, the main city of Zanzibar, in Tanzania, as opposed to Ng'ambo . It is located on the western coast of Unguja, the main island of the Zanzibar Archipelago...
. He established a ruling Arab elite and encouraged the development of clove plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
s, using the island's slave labour. Zanzibar's commerce fell increasingly into the hands of traders from the Indian subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
, whom Said encouraged to settle on the island. After his death in 1856, his sons struggled over the succession
Order of succession
An order of succession is a formula or algorithm that determines who inherits an office upon the death, resignation, or removal of its current occupant.-Monarchies and nobility:...
. On April 6, 1861, Zanzibar and Oman were divided into two separate principalities. Sayyid Majid bin Said Al-Busaid (1834/5–1870), his sixth son, became the Sultan of Zanzibar, while the third son, Sayyid Thuwaini bin Said al-Said
Thuwaini bin Said, Sultan of Muscat and Oman
Sultan Thuwaini bin Said al-Said also called Tueni, Sultan of Muscat and Oman , was the third son of Said bin Sultan, Sultan of Muscat and Oman. Thuwaini was born in Oman, and never visited Zanzibar...
, became the Sultan of Oman.
The Sultan of Zanzibar controlled a substantial portion of the east African coast, known as Zanj
Zanj
Zanj was a name used by medieval Arab geographers to refer to both a certain portion of the coast of East Africa and its inhabitants, Bantu-speaking peoples called the Zanj...
, and trading routes extending much further across the continent, as far as Kindu
Kindu
Kindu is a town in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the capital of Maniema province. It has a population of about 200,000 and is situated on the Congo River at an altitude of about 500 metres, and is about 400 km west of Bukavu....
on the Congo River
Congo River
The Congo River is a river in Africa, and is the deepest river in the world, with measured depths in excess of . It is the second largest river in the world by volume of water discharged, though it has only one-fifth the volume of the world's largest river, the Amazon...
. In November 1886, a German-British border commission established the Zanj as a ten-nautical mile (19 km) wide strip along most of the coast of East Africa, stretching from Cape Delgado
Cape Delgado
Cape Delgado, Portuguese Cabo Delgado , is a coastal promontory on the border of Mozambique and Tanzania, and is the northernmost point in Mozambique....
(now in Mozambique
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
) to Kipini (now in Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
), including Mombasa
Mombasa
Mombasa is the second-largest city in Kenya. Lying next to the Indian Ocean, it has a major port and an international airport. The city also serves as the centre of the coastal tourism industry....
and Dar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam , formerly Mzizima, is the largest city in Tanzania. It is also the country's richest city and a regionally important economic centre. Dar es Salaam is actually an administrative province within Tanzania, and consists of three local government areas or administrative districts: ...
, all offshore islands, and several towns in what is now Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
. However, from 1887 to 1892, all of these mainland possessions were lost to the colonial powers of the United Kingdom, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, although some were not formally sold or ceded until the 20th century (Mogadishu
Mogadishu
Mogadishu , popularly known as Xamar, is the largest city in Somalia and the nation's capital. Located in the coastal Benadir region on the Indian Ocean, the city has served as an important port for centuries....
to Italy in 1905 and Mombasa to Britain in 1963).
Zanzibar was famous worldwide for its spices and its slaves. It was East Africa's main slave-trading port, and in the 19th century as many as 50,000 slaves were passing through the slave markets of Zanzibar each year. (David Livingstone
David Livingstone
David Livingstone was a Scottish Congregationalist pioneer medical missionary with the London Missionary Society and an explorer in Africa. His meeting with H. M. Stanley gave rise to the popular quotation, "Dr...
estimated that 80,000 Africans died each year before ever reaching the island.) Tippu Tip
Tippu Tip
Tippu Tip or Tib , real name Hamad bin Muḥammad bin Jumah bin Rajab bin Muḥammad bin Sa‘īd al-Murghabī, , was a Swahili-Zanzibari trader. He was famously known as Tippu Tib after an eye disease which made him blind...
was the most notorious slaver, under several sultans, and also a trader, plantation owner and governor. Zanzibar's spices attracted ships from as far away as the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, which established a consulate in 1837. The United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
's early interest in Zanzibar was motivated by both commerce and the determination to end the slave trade. In 1822, the British signed the first of a series of treaties with Sultan Said to curb this trade
Abolitionism
Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...
, but not until 1876 was the sale of slaves finally prohibited.
Zanzibar had the distinction of having the first steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
in East Africa, when Sultan Bargash bin Said
Barghash bin Said of Zanzibar
Sayyid Barghash bin Said Al-Busaid, GCMG, GCTE , son of Said bin Sultan,was the second Sultan of Zanzibar. Barghash ruled Zanzibar from October 7, 1870 to March 26, 1888....
ordered a tiny 0-4-0
0-4-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-4-0 represents one of the simplest possible types, that with two axles and four coupled wheels, all of which are driven...
tank engine to haul his regal carriage from town to his summer palace at Chukwani
Chukwani
Chukwani is a village on the Tanzanian island of Unguja, part of Zanzibar. It is located in the west of the island, south of the town of Mbweni, Zanzibar, and not far from Chukwani International Airport.-References:...
.
British influence and rule
The British EmpireBritish Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
gradually took over; the relationship was formalised by the 1890 Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty
Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty
The Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty of 1 July 1890 was an agreement between the United Kingdom and the German Empire concerning mainly territorial interests in Africa.-Terms:...
, in which Germany pledged, among other things, not to interfere with British interests in Zanzibar. This treaty made Zanzibar and Pemba a British protectorate
Protectorate
In history, the term protectorate has two different meanings. In its earliest inception, which has been adopted by modern international law, it is an autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically or militarily against third parties by a stronger state or entity...
(not colony
Colony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
), and the Caprivi Strip
Caprivi Strip
Caprivi, sometimes called the Caprivi Strip , Caprivi Panhandle or the Okavango Strip and formally known as Itenge, is a narrow protrusion of Namibia eastwards about , between Botswana to the south, Angola and Zambia to the north, and Okavango Region to the west. Caprivi is bordered by the...
(in what is now Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
) a German protectorate. British rule through a sultan (vizier
Vizier
A vizier or in Arabic script ; ; sometimes spelled vazir, vizir, vasir, wazir, vesir, or vezir) is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in a Muslim government....
) remained largely unchanged.
The death of Hamad bin Thuwaini on 25 August 1896 saw the Khalid bin Bargash
Khalid bin Barghash of Zanzibar
Sayyid Khalid bin Barghash Al-Busaid was the sixth Sultan of Zanzibar and the eldest son of the second Sultan of Zanzibar, Sayyid Barghash bin Said Al-Busaid. Khalid briefly ruled Zanzibar , seizing power after the sudden death of his cousin Hamad bin Thuwaini of Zanzibar who many suspect was...
, eldest son of the second sultan, Barghash ibn Sa'id, take over the palace and declare himself the new ruler. This was contrary to the wishes of the British government, which favoured Hamoud bin Mohammed. This led to a showdown, later called the Anglo-Zanzibar War
Anglo-Zanzibar War
The Anglo-Zanzibar War was fought between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar on 27 August 1896. The conflict lasted 38 minutes and is the shortest war in history. The immediate cause of the war was the death of the pro-British Sultan Hamad bin Thuwaini on 25 August 1896 and the subsequent succession...
, on the morning of 27 August, when ships of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
destroyed the Beit al Hukum Palace, having given Khalid a one-hour ultimatum to leave. He refused, and at 9 am the ships opened fire. Khalid's troops returned fire and he fled to the German consulate. A cease fire was declared 45 minutes after the action had begun, giving the bombardment the title of The Shortest War in History. Hamoud was declared the new ruler and peace was restored once more. Acquiescing to British demands, he brought an end in 1897 to Zanzibar's role as a centre for the centuries-old eastern slave trade by banning slavery and freeing the slaves, compensating their owners. Hamoud's son and heir apparent
Heir apparent
An heir apparent or heiress apparent is a person who is first in line of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting, except by a change in the rules of succession....
, Ali
Ali bin Hamud of Zanzibar
Sayyid Ali bin Hamud Al-Busaid was the eighth Sultan of Zanzibar. Ali ruled Zanzibar from July 20, 1902 to December 9, 1911, having succeeded to the throne of the death of his father, the seventh Sultan. He served only briefly as sultan because of illness...
, was educated in Britain.
From 1913 until independence in 1963, the British appointed their own residents (essentially governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
s).
Independence and revolution
On 10 December 1963, Zanzibar received its independence from the United Kingdom as a constitutional monarchyConstitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution...
under the Sultan. This state of affairs was short-lived, as the Sultan and the democratically elected government were overthrown on 12 January 1964 in the Zanzibar Revolution
Zanzibar Revolution
The Zanzibar Revolution by local African revolutionaries in 1964 overthrew the Sultan of Zanzibar and his mainly Arab government. An ethnically diverse state consisting of a number of islands off the east coast of Tanganyika, Zanzibar had been granted independence by Britain in 1963...
led by John Okello
John Okello
John Gideon Okello was an East African revolutionary and the leader of the Zanzibar Revolution in 1964. This revolution overthrew Sultan Jamshid bin Abdullah and led to the proclamation of Zanzibar as a republic.-Youth:...
, a Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
n citizen. Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume was named President of the newly created People's Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba
People's Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba
The People's Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba was a state consisting of the islands of the Zanzibar Archipelago. It existed for less than a year before it merged with Tanganyika to create the United Republic of Tanzania.-History:...
. Several thousand Arabs (5,000-12,000 Zanzibaris of Arabic descent) and Indians were killed, thousands more detained or expelled, their property either confiscated or destroyed. The film Africa Addio
Africa Addio
Africa Addio is a 1966 Italian documentary about the end of the colonial era in Africa. The film was released in a shorter format under the names "Africa Blood and Guts" in the USA and "Farewell Africa" in the UK...
documents the revolution, including a massacre of Arabs. (Ethnic difference, and the expulsion of those who had anywhere else to go, were repeated themes in East Africa
East Africa
East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...
, the most prominent example being the Expulsion of Indians in Uganda in 1972 by Idi Amin
Idi Amin
Idi Amin Dada was a military leader and President of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. Amin joined the British colonial regiment, the King's African Rifles in 1946. Eventually he held the rank of Major General in the post-colonial Ugandan Army and became its Commander before seizing power in the military...
.)
The revolutionary government nationalized the local operations of the two foreign banks in Zanzibar, Standard Bank
Standard Bank (historic)
The Standard Bank was a British overseas bank, which operated mainly in Africa from 1863 to 1969. It merged with the Chartered Bank in 1969 to form Standard Chartered.-History:...
and National and Grindlays Bank. These nationalized operations may have provided the foundation for the newly-created Peoples Bank of Zanzibar. Jetha Lila
Jetha Lila
Jetha Lila was a private bank established in Zanzibar that traced its origins to 1880. It was an anomaly in East Africa in that it was local in origin, all other banks being foreign with headquarters outside the region, primarily in the United Kingdom....
, the one locally-owned bank in Zanzibar, or for that matter in all of East Africa
East Africa
East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...
, closed. It was owned by Indians and though the revolutionary government of Zanzibar urged it to continue functioning, the loss of its customer base as Indians
Indian diaspora in East Africa
The Indian diaspora in Africa refers to people of Indian origin living in Africa. Most Indians in Africa arrived in the 19th century as British indentured labourers, many of them to work on the Kenya-Uganda railway, while others had arrived earlier by sea as traders....
left the island made it impossible to continue.
Union with Tanganyika
On 26 April 1964, the mainland colony of TanganyikaTanganyika
Tanganyika , later formally the Republic of Tanganyika, was a sovereign state in East Africa from 1961 to 1964. It was situated between the Indian Ocean and the African Great Lakes of Lake Victoria, Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika...
united with Zanzibar to form the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar; this lengthy name was compressed into a portmanteau, the United Republic of Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
, on 29 October 1964. After unification, local affairs were controlled by President Abeid Amani Karume, while foreign affairs were handled by the United Republic in Dar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam
Dar es Salaam , formerly Mzizima, is the largest city in Tanzania. It is also the country's richest city and a regionally important economic centre. Dar es Salaam is actually an administrative province within Tanzania, and consists of three local government areas or administrative districts: ...
. Zanzibar remains a semi-autonomous region of Tanzania.
From this point onwards, see History of Tanzania
History of Tanzania
The East African nation of Tanzania dates formally only from 1964, when it was formed out of the union of the much larger mainland territory of Tanganyika and the coastal archipelago of Zanzibar. The former was a colony and part of German East Africa from the 1880s to 1919, when, under the League...
.
Sultans of Zanzibar
- Majid bin SaidMajid bin Said of ZanzibarSayyid Majid bin Said Al-Busaid was the first Sultan of Zanzibar. He ruled Zanzibar from October 19, 1856 to October 7, 1870....
(1856–1870) - Barghash bin SaidBarghash bin Said of ZanzibarSayyid Barghash bin Said Al-Busaid, GCMG, GCTE , son of Said bin Sultan,was the second Sultan of Zanzibar. Barghash ruled Zanzibar from October 7, 1870 to March 26, 1888....
(1870–1888) - Khalifah bin SaidKhalifah bin Said of ZanzibarSayyid Khalifa I bin Said Al-Busaid, GCMG, was the third Sultan of Zanzibar. He ruled Zanzibar from March 26, 1888 to February 13, 1890 and was succeeded by his brother, Ali bin Said Al-Busaid....
(1888–1890) - Ali bin SaidAli bin Said of ZanzibarSayyid Ali bin Said Al-Busaid, GCSI, was the fourth Sultan of Zanzibar. He ruled Zanzibar from February 13, 1890 to March 5, 1893, and was succeeded by his nephew, Hamad bin Thuwaini Al-Busaid.-Titles:...
(1890–1893) - Hamad bin ThuwainiHamad bin Thuwaini of ZanzibarSayyid Hamad bin Thuwaini Al-Busaid, GCSI, was the fifth Sultan of Zanzibar. He ruled Zanzibar from March 5, 1893 to August 25, 1896....
(1893–1896) - Khalid bin BarghashKhalid bin Barghash of ZanzibarSayyid Khalid bin Barghash Al-Busaid was the sixth Sultan of Zanzibar and the eldest son of the second Sultan of Zanzibar, Sayyid Barghash bin Said Al-Busaid. Khalid briefly ruled Zanzibar , seizing power after the sudden death of his cousin Hamad bin Thuwaini of Zanzibar who many suspect was...
(1896) - Hamud bin Muhammed (1896–1902)
- Ali bin HamudAli bin Hamud of ZanzibarSayyid Ali bin Hamud Al-Busaid was the eighth Sultan of Zanzibar. Ali ruled Zanzibar from July 20, 1902 to December 9, 1911, having succeeded to the throne of the death of his father, the seventh Sultan. He served only briefly as sultan because of illness...
(1902–1911) (abdicated) - Khalifa bin HarubKhalifa bin Harub of ZanzibarSayyid Sir Khalifa II bin Harub Al-Said, GCB, GCMG, GBE was the ninth Sultan of Zanzibar. He ruled Zanzibar from December 9, 1911 to October 9, 1960....
(1911–1960) - Abdullah bin KhalifaAbdullah bin Khalifa of ZanzibarSayyid Sir Abdullah bin Khalifa Al-Said, KBE, CMG was the 10th Sultan of Zanzibar. He ruled Zanzibar from October 9, 1960 to July 1, 1963...
(1960–1963) - Jamshid bin AbdullahJamshid bin Abdullah of ZanzibarSayyid Sir Jamshid bin Abdullah Al Said GCMG, was the last Sultan of Zanzibar. He ruled Zanzibar from July 1, 1963 to January 12, 1964. On December 10, 1963, Zanzibar received its independence from the United Kingdom as a constitutional monarchy under Jamshid. This state of affairs was short...
(1963–1964)
Viziers
- Sir Lloyd William MatthewsLloyd MathewsSir Lloyd William Mathews KCMG, CB was a British naval officer, politician and abolitionist. Mathews joined the Royal Navy as a cadet at the age of 13 and progressed through the ranks to lieutenant. He was involved with the Third Anglo-Ashanti War of 1873–4, afterwards being stationed in...
, (1890 to 1901) - A.S. Rogers, (1901 to 1906)
- Arthur RaikesArthur RaikesArthur Edward Harington Raikes was a British army officer.Raikes was born on 5 February 1867 to Reverend Charles Hall Raikes and Charlotte d'Ende Arbuthnot. Raikes served as a Lieutenant in the Wiltshire Regiment before moving to Zanzibar where he was appointed Brigadier-General in the Sultan's...
, (1906 to 1908) - Francis Barton, (1906 to 1913)
British residents
- Francis Pearce, (1913 to 1922)
- John Sinclair, (1922 to 1923)
- Alfred Hollis, (1923 to 1929)
- Richard Rankine, (1929 to 1937)
- John Hall, (1937 to 1940)
- Henry Pilling, (1940 to 1946)
- Vincent Glenday, 1946 to 1951)
- John Rankine (colonial administrator), (1952 to 1954)
- Henry PotterHenry PotterHenry Potter may refer to:* Henry Potter , longest-serving United States district court judge* Henry Potter , bishop of the Episcopal Church of the United States* H. C. Potter, American producer/director...
, (1954 to 1959) - Arthur George Mooring, (1959 to 1963)
Sources
- AllAboutZanzibar.com In-depth history of Zanzibar