Brief History of Zanzibar

The inhabitants of Zanzibar have been trading with ships from east for about 2,000 years. In the 10th century Persian traders settled on the island mixing with the local Swahili. Then, in the 1600s, the Portuguese established a settlement on the site of Stone Town. A hundred years later the Sultan of Oman and his navy ousted the Portuguese. The Sultan was so taken by the island that he eventually moved his capital from Muscat to Zanzibar. In doing so, the Sultan established Zanzibar as an important centre for the spice trade and for a booming slave industry. The slave trade boomed for the next two hundred years, as can be evidenced in the many ruins around the island.

In the 1890’s the slave trade was abolished and the island became a British protectorate, eventually gaining independence in 1963. A year later the Sultan was overthrown and Zanzibar combined with Tanganyika to become Tanzania – although it continues to have a semi autonomous government.