Everything about Zanzibar totally explained
Zanzibar forms part of the
East African nation of
Tanzania. It is an
archipelago in the
Indian Ocean 25–50 km (15–30
mi) off the coast, consisting of numerous small islands and two large ones:
Unguja (the main island, sometimes informally referred to as "Zanzibar"), and
Pemba.
Zanzibar was once a separate state with a long trading history within the
Arab world; it united with
Tanganyika to form Tanzania, and still enjoys a high degree of autonomy within the union. The capital of Zanzibar, located on the island of Unguja, is
Zanzibar City, and its old quarter, known as
Stone Town, is a
World Heritage Site.
Zanzibar's main industries are
spices,
raffia, and
tourism. It is still sometimes referred to as the
Spice Islands, a term also associated with the
Maluku Islands in
Indonesia, because of the significance of its production of
cloves, of which it's the world leader, and also
nutmeg,
cinnamon and
pepper. The ecology is of note for being the home of the
endemic Zanzibar Red Colobus and the elusive
Zanzibar Leopard. The word "Zanzibar" probably derives from the
Persian زنگبار,
Zangi-bar ("coast of the blacks"); it's known as
Zanji-bar in
Arabic.
History
The presence of
microlithic tools attests to 20 000 years of human occupation of Zanzibar. The islands became part of the historical record of the wider world when Arab traders discovered them and used them as a base for voyages between
Arabia,
India, and
Africa.
Unguja offered a protected and defensible harbour, so although the archipelago offered few products of value, the Arabs settled at what became
Zanzibar City (Stone Town) as a convenient point from which to trade with
East African 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 crops, 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. Zanzibar City was the main trading port of the East African
slave trade, with about 50 000 slaves a year passing through the city. The
Sultan of Zanzibar controlled a substantial portion of the East African coast, known as
Zanj, which included
Mombasa and
Dar es Salaam, and trading routes which extended much further inland, such as to
Kindu on the
Congo River.
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 19th century movement for the
abolition of the slave trade. The relationship between Britain and
the nearest relevant colonial power, Germany, was formalized by the 1890
Helgoland-Zanzibar Treaty, in which Germany pledged not to interfere with British interests in insular Zanzibar. That year, Zanzibar became a
protectorate (not a
colony) of Britain. From 1890 to 1913, traditional
viziers were appointed to
govern as puppets, switching to a system of British residents (effectively
governors) from 1913 to 1963. The death of one sultan and the succession of another of whom the British didn't approve led to the
Anglo-Zanzibar War. On the morning of
27 August 1896, ships of the
Royal Navy destroyed the
Beit al Hukum Palace; a
cease fire was declared 45 minutes later, and the bombardment subsequently became 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, established the
Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba. That April, the republic merged with the mainland former colony of
Tanganyika, or more accurately, was subsumed by the much larger entity. This United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar was soon renamed as a
portmanteau, the United Republic of
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.
Fauna
Zanzibar has many animal species from the
African Mainland who
traveled from the mainland during the
last ice age. These included
the
Zanzibar leopard, which some think is
extinct.
Geography
Political status
Zanzibar also has its own
Revolutionary Council and
House of Representatives (with 50 seats, directly elected by
universal suffrage to serve five-year terms) to make laws especially for it; these make up the semi-autonomous
Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar.
Unguja comprises three administrative regions:
Zanzibar Central/South,
Zanzibar North and
Zanzibar Urban/West. The second-largest island has two regions:
Pemba North and
Pemba South.
Since the early 1990s, the politics of the archipelago have been marked by repeated clashes between two political parties: the
Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) and the
Civic United Front (CUF). Violence erupted over contested elections in 2000 and 2005, with the CUF claiming both times to have had their rightful victory stolen from them. Following 2005, negotiations between the two parties aiming at the long-term resolution of the tensions as well as a power-sharing accord took place, but suffered repeated setbacks, most notably in April 2008, when the CUF walked away from the negotiating table following a CCM call for a referendum to approve of what had been presented as a done deal on the power-sharing agreement.
Education
The island is home to
Zanzibar University.
Culture
Zanzibar is a conservative,
Sunni Muslim society. Its history was influenced by the
Arabs,
Persians,
Indians,
Portuguese,
British and the
African mainland.
Stone Town is a place of winding lanes, circular towers, carved wooden doors, raised terraces and beautiful mosques. Important architectural features are the Livingstone house, the Guliani Bridge, and the House of Wonders. The town of
Kidichi features the
hammam (Persian baths), built by immigrants from
Shiraz,
Iran during the reign of
Barghash bin Said.
Zanzibar was the first region in Africa to introduce
colour television, in 1973. The current TV station is called
TvZ
. The first
television service on mainland Tanzania wasn't introduced until some twenty years later.
Zanzibar
criminalised gay and lesbian sex in 2004
(External Link) (External Link). In September 2006, a radical Islamic group on the archipelago,
Uamsho, forced organizers to abandon plans to mark the 60th birthday of the late
Freddie Mercury (born Farouk Bulsara into the
Parsi community of Stone Town, who reached fame as the lead singer of the rock group
Queen), saying he violated Islam with his openly bisexual lifestyle. (See
Islam and homosexuality.)
Economy
Pemba Island was once the world's leading
clove producer, although when the national government decided to privatize the clove market, the island went into an economic slump. Zanzibar exports spices, seaweed and fine
raffia. It also has a large fishing and
dugout canoe production. Tourism is a major foreign currency earner.
Picture gallery
Image:ZanzibarBeach.jpg|A Zanzibar beach
Image:Zanzibar from sea.jpg|Stone Town
Image:Zanzibarsultanpalace22.JPG|House of Wonders
Image:Zanzibar east coast pristine beach.JPG|Zanzibar West Coast beach
Image:Severely polluted beach at Mtoni, Zanzibar.JPG|Polluted beach at Mtoni
Further Information
Get more info on 'Zanzibar'.
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