Zanzibar

Zanzibar (pronounced /ˈzænzɨbɑr/) is part of the East African republic of Tanzania. It consists of the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, 25–50 km (15–30 mi) off the coast of the mainland. There are numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, 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 in 1964 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 used to be the world leader in the 70s)[citation needed], nutmeg, cinnamon and pepper. Zanzibar's ecology is of note for being the home of the endemic Zanzibar Red Colobus and the Zanzibar Leopard. The word "Zanzibar" probably derives[citation needed] from the Persian زنگبار, Zangi-bar ("coast of the blacks").
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.[1]

During the Age of Exploration, the Portuguese Empire was the first European power to gain control of Zanzibar, and the Portugese 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. Another major trade good for Zanzibar was ivory. The third pillar of the economy was slavery, 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.[2] The Sultan of Zanzibar controlled a substantial portion of the East African coast, known as Zanj; this included Mombasa, Dar es Salaam, and trading routes that extended much further inland, such as the route leading to Kindu on the Congo River.

Sometimes gradually and sometimes by fits and starts, control of Zanzibar 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 did not 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 38 minutes later, and the bombardment subsequently became known as The Shortest War in History.[citation needed]

The islands gained independence from Britain in December 1963 as a constitutional monarchy. A month later, the bloody Zanzibar Revolution, in which thousands of Arabs and Indians were killed in a genocide and thousands more expelled,[3] led to the establishment of the Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba. That April, the republic was subsumed by the mainland former colony of Tanganyika. 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, mainly Pemba Island, was once the world's leading clove producer during the 1970s, but annual clove sales have since plummeted by 80%. Explanations given for this are a fast-moving global market, international competition and a hangover from Tanzania’s failed experiment with socialism in the 1960s and ’70s, when the government controlled clove prices and exports. Zanzibar now ranks a distant third with Indonesia supplying 75% of the world's cloves (compared to Zanzibar's 7%).[5]

Zanzibar exports spices, seaweed and fine raffia. It also has a large fishing and dugout canoe production. Tourism is a major foreign currency earner.

During May and June 2008, Zanzibar suffered a major failure of its electricity system, which left the island without mains electricity for nearly a month. The Mainland, where the fault originated, managed to be restored at the same time, but the Islanders stayed powerless and entirely dependent on alternative methods of electricity generation from May 21 to June 19 (mainly diesel generators). This led to a serious and ongoing shock to the island's fragile economy (mainly based on international tourism).

Generally, Zanzibaris live in worse conditions than in mainland Tanzania. Most people in Zanzibar subsist on incomes of less than US $ .50 per day, with tourism being the only major provider of employment.

Some foreign embassies have relocated to Zanzibar to serve both Zanzibaris and their own citizens, who find it hard to travel to Dar Es Salaam for consular services.