Zanzibar’s history was greatly shaped by its geography, the prevailing winds of the

region placing it directly on the Indian Ocean trade routes and making it accessible to
both traders and colonists from Arabia, south Asia, and the African mainland. The first
immigrants were the Africans; the next were the Persians, who began to land in
Zanzibar in the 10th century and who, over a brief period, became absorbed into the
local population and disappeared as a separate group. Their influence was left in the
gradual consolidation of disparate villages and rural populations into what came to be
recognized as two peoples, the Hadimu and the Tumbatu. This African-Persian
population converted to Islam and adopted many Persian traditions. (Even today, most
of Zanzibar’s African population calls itself “Shirazi,” in echo of the ancient Persian
principality of Shīrāz, from which the earliest Persians came.)

Arabs had the deepest influence on Zanzibar, because the island’s position made it a
perfect entrepôt for Arabs mounting slave expeditions into Africa and conducting
oceangoing commerce. Arabs from Oman became especially important, for they began
establishing colonies of merchants and landowners in Zanzibar. Eventually they became
the aristocracy of the island.

The Portuguese then came in the 16th century and conquered all the seaports on the
eastern African coast, including Mombasa, the richest and most powerful, as well as
such islands as Zanzibar and parts of the Arabian coast, including the Omani capital
of Muscat. The purpose of the Portuguese, however, was largely commercial rather than
politically imperial, and, when their power dwindled in the course of the 17th century,
they left few marks of their stay.

The Omani Arabs, who expelled the Portuguese from Muscat in 1650 and were
the leading force against them in the entire region, gradually established at
least nominal control over many settlements, including Zanzibar. After a
lengthy turmoil of dynastic wars and losses and gains on the African coast, the
ruling sultan of Oman, Saʿīd ibn Sulṭān, decided to relocate his capital from
Muscat to Zanzibar. The rapid expansion of the slave trade in the late 18th and
early 19th centuries, caused by the demand for plantation slaves in North and
South America, made Zanzibar central to the slave (as well as the ivory) trade
routes into the interior of Africa. Zanzibar itself also had significant resources
of coconuts, cloves, and foodstuffs. The sultan of Oman made it his capital in
1832
In 1861 Zanzibar was separated from Oman and became an independent sultanate,
which controlled the vast African domains acquired by Saʿīd. Under the
sultan Barghash (reigned 1870–88), however, Great Britain and Germany divided most
of Zanzibar’s territory on the African mainland between them and secured economic
control over the remaining coastal strip. In 1890 the British proclaimed a protectorate
over Zanzibar itself, which lasted for more than 70 years; the sultan’s authority was
reduced and the slave trade curtailed. During that time most sultans were aligned with
the British. One notable exception was Khālid ibn Barghash, who seized the throne upon
the death of his uncle, Ḥ amad ibn Thuwayn, on August 25, 1896. The British, interested
in installing their own candidate as sultan, issued an ultimatum to Khālid: either stand
down by 9:00 AM on August 27 or be at war with Great Britian. Khālid refused to step
down, and the Anglo-Zanzibar War began. The brief battle between Khālid’s supporters
and the British Royal Navy took less than an hour and is considered the shortest war in
recorded history. After Khālid’s defeat, the British-supported Ḥ amud ibn Moḥ ammed
was installed as sultan.

In 1963 the sultanate regained its independence, becoming a member of

the British Commonwealth. In January 1964 a revolt by leftists overthrew the
sultanate and established a republic. The revolution marked the overthrow of
the island’s long-established Arab ruling class by the Africans, who were the
majority of the population. In April the presidents of Zanzibar
and Tanganyika signed an act of union of their two countries, creating what
later in the year was named Tanzania.