Zanzibar

Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous archipelago forming part of the United Republic of Tanzania. Situated off the coast of East Africa in the Indian Ocean, it consists of numerous small islands and two main ones: Unguja, often informally called Zanzibar, and Pemba Island. The capital is Zanzibar City, whose historic quarter, Stone Town, is recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The islands hold a distinctive place in East African history, blending African, Arab, Persian, and European influences over several centuries.
Zanzibar’s economy has long relied on spice cultivation, raffia palm production, and tourism, the latter having grown rapidly since the late twentieth century. The archipelago is famed for producing cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, coconut, and black pepper, earning it and nearby Mafia Island the local moniker “the Spice Islands.” Tourism expanded significantly from around 19,000 visitors in 1985 to more than 370,000 by 2016, driven by government promotion and improved transport infrastructure, including five ports and the Abeid Amani Karume International Airport. The islands’ marine and terrestrial ecosystems are vital for fisheries, algaculture, and biodiversity, hosting endemic species such as the Zanzibar red colobus and the Zanzibar servaline genet, alongside the rare or possibly extinct Zanzibar leopard. Environmental pressures, including overfishing, tourism development, and sea-level rise linked to climate change, have raised growing ecological concerns.

Etymology

The name Zanzibar derives from the Arabic zanjībar, itself from the Persian zangbār, formed from Zanj, meaning “black”, and bār, meaning “coast”. The term belongs to a wider group of toponyms referencing the dark skin of the coastal populations of eastern Africa and is related to older geographical expressions such as the “Sea of Zanj”.

Early History before 1498

Human presence on Zanzibar dates back at least 20,000 years, evidenced by microlithic tools from the Later Stone Age. Greek and Roman geographers referred to the island in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, identifying it as Menuthias, an early written reference likely corresponding to Unguja.
At the beginning of the first millennium CE, the islands and the adjacent mainland were settled by Bantu-speaking communities. Archaeological excavations at Fukuchani on Unguja reveal an established agricultural and fishing society by the sixth century. Finds of wattle-and-daub structures, shell beads, iron slag, and a small proportion of imported pottery—mainly from the Persian Gulf—indicate participation in long-distance Indian Ocean trade as early as the fifth to eighth centuries.
By the mid-eighth century, trade intensified significantly, and by the tenth century Zanzibar had become one of the major Swahili trading towns. Nearby sites on Pemba and the Kenyan coast, such as Shanga on Pate Island, illuminate architectural developments. Early dwellings were timber-built (c.1050), later replaced by mudbrick and coral rag (c.1150). From the thirteenth century, stone houses bonded with mud, and from the fourteenth century lime-based mortars appeared, though such structures were generally restricted to wealthier families. Most inhabitants continued to live in thatched single-storey houses. Scholars emphasise that these architectural styles reveal indigenous Swahili development, rather than Arab or Persian origins, despite later influences.
Between the ninth and fifteenth centuries, Zanzibar’s Swahili merchants served as intermediaries between African inland traders and Indian Ocean networks. Gold, ivory, ambergris, and other East African products were exchanged for textiles, ceramics, and other imports from Arabia, India, and the Gulf. Marriages between visiting Asian traders—particularly Muslim merchants staying for months due to monsoon patterns—and local women contributed to the formation of Swahili patrician lineages. Although Swahili is a Bantu language, sustained contact with Arabic-speaking traders influenced its lexicon, especially during the nineteenth century.

Portuguese Influence

European contact began with Vasco da Gama’s landing in 1498. Between 1503 and 1504, Zanzibar became part of the Portuguese Empire when Captain Rui Lourenço Ravasco accepted tribute from the local ruler. For nearly two centuries, the Portuguese maintained only a limited administrative presence. Their control was exercised through tributary sultans rather than direct occupation; early English visitors noted the absence of Portuguese forts on Unguja. This relatively hands-off approach changed after violent incidents on the coast, prompting Portugal to construct a fort on Pemba around 1635.
The origins of Unguja’s sultans remain unclear, though archaeological evidence suggests their early capitals were built primarily from perishable materials. Portuguese influence gradually waned as conflicts with coastal elites mounted.

Sultanate of Zanzibar

By 1698, Zanzibar had fallen under the influence of Oman, following the expulsion of the Portuguese from much of the East African coast. Intermittent conflicts, such as the brief Oman–Zanzibar war of 1784, shaped the political landscape. During the early nineteenth century, Zanzibar’s elites invited Omani merchant families to settle, preferring their rule to Portuguese control. This period laid the foundation for the powerful Busaidi dynasty.
Under Seyyid Said, the first Busaidi sultan, Zanzibar became a major regional hub. The capital of the Omani Empire shifted from Muscat to Zanzibar in 1840, transforming the island into a centre for trade in spices, ivory, and enslaved labour. Though not covered in the provided material, this era saw the emergence of Stone Town’s characteristic coral-stone architecture and the consolidation of Zanzibar as a dominant commercial port in the western Indian Ocean.