Zanzibar

Abstract

At the end of the 17th century the inhabitants of Zanzibar drove out the Portuguese with the assistance of the Arabs of Oman. Thereafter an Arab governor from Oman was sent to Zanzibar, but the government of the interior remained in the hands of a local ruler, latterly known as the Mwinyi Mkuu. In 1832 Seyyid Said bin Sultan, ruler of Oman, established his capital at Zanzibar, and thereafter the whole of that island and the island of Pemba together with a large strip of the East African mainland coast came under his effective rule. Seyyid Said died in 1856. Five years later his former African possessions were, under an arbitration award made by Lord Canning (then Governor-General of India), declared to be independent of Oman. In 1887 the Sultan of Zanzibar handed over the administration of his possessions to the north of Vanga on the African continent to the British East Africa Association. The administration of these territories eventually passed to the British Government and are now part of Kenya. In 1888 a similar concession was granted to the German East Africa Association of the Sultan’s mainland territories between the river Umba and Cape Delgado. In 1890 the German Government bought these territories outright for 4m. marks. In 1892 the administration of the Benadir Ports (which had in 1889 been conceded to the British East Africa Association) was, with the consent of the Sultan, transferred to the Italian Government in consideration of a quarterly payment of Rs 40,000. The Sultan renounced in 1886 in favour of Portugal all claims to the coast to the south of Cape Delgado.