Sultanate of Zanzibar
| Sultanate of Zanzibar | ||||||||||
| سلطنة زنجبار | ||||||||||
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| Capital | Stone Town | |||||||||
| Languages | Swahili, Arabic, English | |||||||||
| Religion | Islam | |||||||||
| Government |
Absolute monarchy (1856–1963) Constitutional monarchy (1963–1964) |
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| 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 | ||||||||||
| • | Established | 19 October 1856 | ||||||||
| • | Disestablished | 12 January 1964 | ||||||||
| Area | ||||||||||
| • | 1964 | 2,650 km² (1,023 sq mi) | ||||||||
| Population | ||||||||||
| • | 1964 est. | 300,000 | ||||||||
| Density | 113.2 /km² (293.2 /sq mi) | |||||||||
| Currency | Ryal | |||||||||
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The Sultanate of Zanzibar (Swahili: Usultani wa Zanzibar, Arabic: سلطنة زنجبار), also known as the Zanzibar Sultanate, comprised the territories over which the Sultan of Zanzibar was the sovereign. Those territories varied over time. At one point they included all of what is now Kenya as well as the Zanzibar Archipelago of the Swahili Coast. Later they included only a ten mile wide coastal strip of Kenya and Zanzibar. Under an agreement concluded on 8 October 1963, the Sultan relinquished sovereignty over his remaining territory in Kenya. On 12 January 1964, Sultan Jamshid bin Abdullah was deposed and lost sovereignty over the last of his dominions, Zanzibar.
In 1698, Zanzibar became part of the overseas holdings of Oman after Saif bin Sultan, the Imam of Oman, defeated the Portuguese in Mombasa, in what is now Kenya. In 1832 or 1840, Omani ruler Said bin Sultan moved his court from Muscat to Stone Town on the island of Unguja. He established a ruling Arab elite and encouraged the development of clove plantations, using the island's slave labour. Zanzibar's commerce fell increasingly into the hands of traders from the Indian subcontinent, whom Said encouraged to settle on the island. After his death in 1856, two of his sons, Majid bin Said and Thuwaini bin Said, struggled over the succession, so Zanzibar and Oman were divided into two separate realms. Thuwaini became the Sultan of Muscat and Oman while Majid became the first Sultan of Zanzibar, but obliged to pay an annual tribute to the Omani court in Muscat. During his 14-year reign as Sultan, Majid consolidated his power around the local slave trade. His successor, Barghash bin Said, helped abolish the slave trade in Zanzibar and largely developed the country's infrastructure. The third Sultan, Khalifa bin Said, also furthered the country's progress toward abolishing slavery.
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Wikipedia