Zanzibar revolution

Zanzibar Revolution
Unguja and Pemba, the two main islands of Zanzibar
Date 12 January 1964 Location Zanzibar Result Revolutionary victory
Belligerents
Revolutionaries Afro-Shirazi Party Umma Party	Zanzibar Sultanate
Commanders and leaders
John Okello	Sultan Jamshid bin Abdullah
Strength
600–800 men	Zanzibar Police Force
Casualties and losses
At least 80 killed and 200 injured during revolution (the majority were Arabs) Up to 20,000 civilians killed in the aftermath

Revolutionaries

At least 80 killed and 200 injured during revolution (the majority were Arabs)

The Zanzibar Revolution occurred in 1964 and led to the overthrow of the Sultan of Zanzibar and his mainly Arab government by local African revolutionaries. Zanzibar was an ethnically diverse state consisting of a number of islands off the east coast of Tanganyika which had been granted independence by Britain in 1963. In a series of parliamentary elections preceding independence, the Arab minority succeeded in retaining the hold on power it had inherited from Zanzibar's former existence as an overseas territory of Oman. Frustrated by under-representation in Parliament despite winning 54% of the vote in the July 1963 election, the mainly African Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP) allied itself with the left-wing Umma Party, and early on the morning of 12 January 1964 ASP member John Okello mobilised around 600–800 revolutionaries on the main island of Unguja (Zanzibar Island). Having overrun the country's police force and appropriated their weaponry, the insurgents proceeded to Zanzibar Town where they overthrew the Sultan and his government. Reprisals against Arab and South Asian civilians on the island followed; the resulting death toll is disputed, with estimates ranging from several hundred to 20,000. The moderate ASP leader Abeid Karume became the country's new president and head of state, and positions of power were granted to Umma party members.

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