It is almost impossible to touch on the history of Zanzibar without talking about the Arabs, Portuguese, the Persians, the people of Zanzibar, the architecture and culture of Zanzibar – and most important – “The Slave Trade”. Some inhabitants of these islands can still trace their forebears back to the slave trade. Slaves also served as concubines to the Arabs rulers in their many Palaces, scattered around the island.
The French and Portuguese were the founders of the trade. They travelled to the interior of the African Continent (Tanganyika, Malawi, and the Congo) to bring the captured natives into Zanzibar.
A collection of Sailors’ tales the “Kitab al-ajaib al Hind”, written by Buazurg (a sailor in the Persian Gulf during the 10th century) touches on the story of a slaving venture which takes an unusual turn. A party of Omanis sailors are driven by a storm to the eastern coast of Africa and welcomed by an unknown ruler who actually assisted in their trading activities. Chou Chu-Fei wrote the ling-wai-taita in 1178 and mentions (perhaps referring to Zanzibar or Mozambique) that there is an island in the Indian Ocean, which there are many savages who are Black as lacquer with frizzled hair. They can be enticed with food and captured natives to be sold as Slaves to the Arabic countries, where they fetch a very high price. With emerging of major towns and villages, some communities became stronger as a result of settling in rich and fertile areas, thus dominating the weaker ones and the start of slavery. The slave trade started late in the 17th century and continued until the latter part of 19th century where Zanzibar Town became a very important business centre for cloves, ivory, and slavery covering most part of the Gulf and Far East. For more about the Zanzibar Slave Trade click here.
By the time the Sultan of Oman (Seyyid Said bin Sultan) conquered the Portuguese and took over the islands, slavery was well developed in the region. Finding the trade very lucrative, he made Zanzibar (Zenj-Al-Baar) his headquarters. The French and Portuguese were the founders of the trade. They travelled to the interior of the African Continent (Tanganyika, Malawi, and the Congo) to bring the captured natives into Zanzibar. The Arabs, to the Middle East sold these slaves to Southern Africa by the Portuguese and to the Indian Ocean islands of Mauritius, Reunion and Seychelles by the French.
In those days of transport by sailing boat, the monsoon winds off the coast of East Africa could probably be considered to have promoted the trade in slaves.
By 1804 Zanzibar (as the party of the Omani kingdom) was the principal centre for the coastal slave trade. Slaves were captured in the interior and taken to Bagamoyo, the former capital of Tanganyika and then ferried in dhows to be sold at the slave markets of Zanzibar.
The decline of trading by the Portuguese and French can be attributed to the involvement of Arabs, because the Muslim Omanis were prohibited from selling slaves white men.
General atrocities like – whipping, dragging, rape, being held in chains, etc. were the order of the day and shown to every Englishman who visited the Slave Market. In 1873 the English abloshed the market, but signs persisted until 1899 when Zanzibar became a British Protectorate. Slavery played a major role in handling of Ivory and the growing of Cloves.
The famous explorer, Dr. David Livingstone, visited several sites in 1867 and convinced Sir Lloyd Mathews – (the first Minister of Zanzibar Government) to put a stop to slavery. Dr. David Livingstone never saw the abolishment of slavery, which was eventually achieved the same year he died on his last expedition in Zambia. In 1873, Lloyd Mathews forced the Sultan Barghash who was the 3rd Sultan, to sign the declaration abolishing the Slave Trade though did not cover the slaves who had already been sold and were in transit.
Two British vessels (HMS Lyra and HMS Gordon) were seconded to patrol the waters of Zanzibar for any illegal smuggling of slaves, but this action failed as most of the smuggling took place at night.
In 1874, Sir John Kirk succeeded Lloyd Mtahews and established and helped to create institution called UMCA – Universities Mission for Central Africa – to built hospitals, churches and schools in Zanzibar for the freed slaves. At times the Mission was forced to purchase the slaves from their captive’s in-order to free them. Some of these social establishments that are now in ruins, are still evident in Zanzibar. The Anglican Church at Mkunazini, Saint Mary Church at Mbweni and saint Joseph School, are in use and operational to this day.
Substantial changes emerged when the European Nations started to focus in Zanzibar, hence further colonisation. Germans, British, Americans and French established their Consulates in Zanzibar Stone Town. In 1884, after the Berlin Conference, the British Empire was referred to allocate their sovereignty over Zanzibar. At the same time, the Omani Sultans became the constitutional Monarchs and established a Legislative council to oversee and create political parties for Independence, which took place in December 1963. Revolution followed a month later in 1964 and dominated by the indigenous mass and the Sultan overthrown and Tanganyika and Zanzibar united to form the United Republic of Tanzania.
