Sultanate of Zanzibar | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1856–1964 | |||||||||
 Emblem | |||||||||
| Anthem: National Anthem of Zanzibar (until 1890) National March for the Sultan of Zanzibar (1911–1964) | |||||||||
![Sultanate of Zanzibar in pink[clarification needed]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aOmani_Empire_2.png) Sultanate of Zanzibar in pink[clarification needed] | |||||||||
| Status |
| ||||||||
| Capital | Stone Town | ||||||||
| Common languages | |||||||||
| Religion | Islam[1] | ||||||||
| Government | Absolute monarchy (1856–1963) Constitutional monarchy (1963–1964) | ||||||||
| Sultan | |||||||||
• 1856–1870 | Majid bin Said (first) | ||||||||
• 1963–1964 | Jamshid bin Abdullah Al Said (last) | ||||||||
| Chief Minister | |||||||||
• 1961 | Geoffrey Lawrence | ||||||||
• 1961–1964 | Muhammad Hamadi | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
| 19 October 1856 | |||||||||
| 10 March 1862 | |||||||||
| 1 July 1890 | |||||||||
| 27 August 1896 | |||||||||
| 12 January 1964 | |||||||||
| Population | |||||||||
• 1964[2] | 300,000 | ||||||||
| Currency | Zanzibari ryal[3](1882–1908) Zanzibari rupee(1908–1935) East African shilling(1935–1964) Indian rupee andMaria Theresa thaler also circulated | ||||||||
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TheSultanate of Zanzibar (Swahili:Usultani wa Zanzibar,Arabic:سلطنة زنجبار,romanized: Sulṭanat Zanjībār), also known as theZanzibar Sultanate,[1] was an East AfricanMuslim state controlled by theSultan of Zanzibar, in place between 1856 and 1964.[4] The Sultanate's territories varied over time, and after a period of decline, the state had sovereignty over only theZanzibar Archipelago and a 16-kilometre-wide (10 mi) strip along the Kenyan coast, with the interior of Kenya constituting theBritishKenya Colony and the coastal strip administered as ade facto part of that colony.
Under an agreement reached on 8 October 1963, the Sultan of Zanzibar relinquished sovereignty over his remaining territory on the mainland, and on 12 December 1963, Kenya officially obtained independence from the British. On12 January 1964, revolutionaries, led by the AfricanAfro-Shirazi Party, overthrew the mainly Arab government.Jamshid bin Abdullah, the last sultan, was deposed and lost sovereignty over Zanzibar, marking the end of the Sultanate, and resulted inthe massacre of tens of thousands of Arabs. It was also involved in the shortest war in history, theAnglo-Zanzibar War, which lasted 38 minutes.
According to the 16th-century explorerLeo Africanus, Zanzibar (Zanguebar) was the term used by Arabs and Persians to refer to theeastern African coast running from Kenya to Mozambique, dominated by five semi-independent Muslim kingdoms:Mombasa,Malindi,Kilwa,Mozambique, andSofala. Africanus further noted that they all had standing agreements of loyalty with the major central African states, including theKingdom of Mutapa.[5][6]
In 1698, Zanzibar became part of the overseas holdings ofOman afterSaif bin Sultan, the Imam of Oman, defeated the Portuguese inMombasa, in what is nowKenya. In 1832[7] or 1840,[8] Omani rulerSaid bin Sultan moved his court fromMuscat toStone Town on the island ofUnguja (that is, Zanzibar Island). He established a ruling Arab elite and encouraged the development ofcloveplantations, usingthe island'sslave labour.[9] TheEast African slave trade flourished greatly from the second half of the nineteenth century, when Saif bin Sultan made Zanzibar his capital and expanded international commercial activities and plantation economy in cloves and coconuts.[10]
Zanzibar's commerce fell increasingly into the hands of traders from theIndian subcontinent, whom Said encouraged to settle on the island. After his death in 1856, two of his sons,Majid bin Said andThuwaini bin Said, struggled over thesuccession, so Zanzibar and Oman were divided into two separaterealms. Thuwaini became the Sultan ofMuscat and Oman while Majid became the firstSultan of Zanzibar, but obliged to pay an annual tribute to the Omani court in Muscat.[11][12] During his 14-year reign as Sultan, Majid consolidated his power around thelocal slave trade. Pressed by the British, his successor,Barghash bin Said, helped abolish theslave trade in Zanzibar and largely developed the country's infrastructure.[13] The third Sultan,Khalifa bin Said, also furthered the country's progress toward abolishing slavery.[14]
Until 1884, the Sultans of Zanzibar controlled a substantial portion of theSwahili Coast, known asZanj, andtrading routes extending further into the continent, as far asKindu on theCongo River. That year, however, theSociety for German Colonization forced local chiefs on the mainland to agree to German protection, prompting SultanBargash bin Said to protest. Coinciding with theBerlin Conference and theScramble for Africa, further German interest in the area was soon shown in 1885 by the arrival of the newly createdGerman East Africa Company, which had a mission to colonize the area.
In 1886, the British and Germans secretly met and discussed their aims of expansion in theAfrican Great Lakes, with spheres of influence already agreed upon the year before, with the British to take what would become theEast Africa Protectorate (nowKenya) and the Germans to take present-dayTanzania. Both powers leased coastal territory from Zanzibar and established trading stations and outposts. Over the next few years, all of the mainland possessions of Zanzibar came to be administered by European imperial powers, beginning in 1888 when theImperial British East Africa Company took over administration ofMombasa.[15]
The same year theGerman East Africa Company acquired formal direct rule over the coastal area previously submitted to German protection. This resulted in a native uprising, theAbushiri revolt, which was suppressed by theKaiserliche Marine and heralded the end of Zanzibar's influence on the mainland.
The blockade of Zanzibar (1888–1889) was a joint international operation led byGermany, with the support of theBritish Empire,Portugal andItaly, against the Sultanate of Zanzibar, with the aim of ending the slave and arms trade off the eastern coast of Africa. This coalition aimed to coerceSultan Khalifa bin Said of Zanzibar into rigorously enforcing existing treaties that prohibited the maritime slave trade and the illicit arms trade emanating from his East African dominions.[16]
With the signing of theHeligoland-Zanzibar Treaty between theUnited Kingdom and theGerman Empire in 1890, Zanzibar itself became aBritish protectorate.[17] In August 1896, following the death of SultanHamad bin Thuwaini, Britain and Zanzibar fought a38-minute war, the shortest in recorded history. A struggle for succession took place as the Sultan's cousinKhalid bin Barghash seized power. The British instead wantedHamoud bin Mohammed to become Sultan, believing that he would be much easier to work with. The British gave Khalid an hour to vacate the Sultan's palace in Stone Town. Khalid failed to do so, and instead assembled an army of 2,800 men to fight the British. The British launched an attack on the palace and other locations around the city after which Khalid retreated and later went into exile. Hamoud was then peacefully installed as Sultan.[18]
That "Zanzibar" for these purposes included the 16 km (10 mi) coastal strip of Kenya that would later become theProtectorate of Kenya was a matter recorded in the parliamentary debates at the time.[19]
![The Harem and Tower Harbour of Zanzibar. 1890[20]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aThe_Harem_and_Tower_Harbour_of_Zanzibar_(p.234%2c_1890)_-_Copy.jpg)
In 1886, the British government encouragedWilliam Mackinnon, who already had an agreement with the Sultan and whose shipping company traded extensively in theAfrican Great Lakes, to increase British influence in the region. He formed a British East Africa Association which led to theImperial British East Africa Company being chartered in 1888 and given the original grant to administer the territory. It administered about 240 km (150 mi) of coastline stretching from theRiver Jubba via Mombasa toGerman East Africa which were leased from the Sultan. The British "sphere of influence", agreed at theBerlin Conference of 1885, extended up the coast and inland across the future Kenya and after 1890 includedUganda as well. Mombasa was the administrative centre at this time.[15]
However, the company began to fail, and on 1 July 1895 the British government proclaimed aprotectorate, theEast Africa Protectorate, the administration being transferred to theForeign Office. In 1902, administration was again transferred to theColonial Office and the Uganda territory was incorporated as part of the protectorate also. In 1897Lord Delamere, the pioneer of white settlement, arrived in the Kenya highlands, which was then part of the Protectorate.[21]: 761 Lord Delamere was impressed by the agricultural possibilities of the area. In 1902 the boundaries of the Protectorate were extended to include what was previously the Eastern Province ofUganda.[21]: 761 [22] Also, in 1902, the East Africa Syndicate received a grant of 1,300 km2 (500 sq mi) to promote white settlement in theHighlands. Lord Delamere now commenced extensive farming operations, and in 1905, when a large number of immigrants arrived from Britain andSouth Africa, the Protectorate was transferred from the authority of the Foreign Office to that of the Colonial Office.[21]: 762 The capital was shifted from Mombasa toNairobi in 1905. A regular Government and Legislature were constituted by Order in Council in 1906.[21]: 761 This constituted the administrator a governor and provided for legislative and executive councils. Lieutenant Colonel J. Hayes Sadler was the first governor and commander in chief. There were occasional troubles with local tribes but the country was opened up by the colonial government with little bloodshed.[21]: 761 After the First World War, more immigrants arrived from Britain and South Africa, and by 1919 the European population was estimated at 9,000 strong.[21]: 761
On 23 July 1920, the inland areas of the East Africa Protectorate were annexed as British dominions by Order in Council.[23] That part of the former Protectorate was thereby constituted as theColony of Kenya and from that time, the Sultan of Zanzibar ceased to be sovereign over that territory. The remaining 16 km (10 mi) wide coastal strip (with the exception ofWitu) remained a Protectorate under an agreement with the Sultan of Zanzibar.[24] That coastal strip, remaining under the sovereignty of the Sultan of Zanzibar, was constituted as the Protectorate of Kenya in 1920.[15][25]
The Protectorate of Kenya was governed as part of theColony of Kenya by virtue of an agreement between the United Kingdom and the Sultan dated 14 December 1895.[21]: 762 [26][27]
The Colony of Kenya and the Protectorate of Kenya each came to an end on 12 December 1963. The United Kingdom ceded sovereignty over the Colony of Kenya and, under an agreement dated 8 October 1963, the Sultan agreed that simultaneously with independence for Kenya, the Sultan would cease to have sovereignty over the Protectorate of Kenya.[21]: 762 [28] In this way, Kenya became an independent country under the Kenya Independence Act 1963. Exactly 12 months later on 12 December 1964, Kenya became a republic under the name "Republic of Kenya".[21]: 762
On 10 December 1963, the Protectorate that had existed over Zanzibar since 1890 was terminated by the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom did not grant Zanzibar independence, as such, because the UK never had sovereignty over Zanzibar. Rather, by the Zanzibar Act 1963 of the United Kingdom,[29] the UK ended the Protectorate and made provision for full self-government in Zanzibar as an independent country within the Commonwealth. Upon the Protectorate being abolished, Zanzibar became aconstitutional monarchy within the Commonwealth under the Sultan.[30] SultanJamshid bin Abdullah was overthrown a month later during theZanzibar Revolution.[31] Jamshid fled into exile, and the Sultanate was replaced by thePeople's Republic of Zanzibar. In April 1964, the existence of this socialist republic was ended with its union withTanganyika to form theUnited Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, which became known asTanzania six months later.[8]
By 1964, the country was aconstitutional monarchy within the Commonwealth ruled by SultanJamshid bin Abdullah.[32] Zanzibar had a population of around 230,000 natives, some of whom claimedPersian ancestry and were known locally asShirazis.[2] It also contained significant minorities in the 50,000Arabs and 20,000South Asians who were prominent in business and trade.[2] The various ethnic groups were becoming mixed and the distinctions between them had blurred;[32] according to one historian, an important reason for the general support for Sultan Jamshid was his family's ethnic diversity.[32] However, the island's Arab inhabitants, as the major landowners, were generally wealthier than the natives;[33] the major political parties were organised largely along ethnic lines, with Arabs dominating theZanzibar Nationalist Party (ZNP) and natives theAfro-Shirazi Party (ASP).[32]
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