Exotic Zanzibar

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EXOTIC ZANZIBAR


Zanzibar is a group of islands in the Indian Ocean close to the coast of mainland Tanzania. It has endless silver sand beaches, calm blue seas, historic architecture, friendly people, a past associated with wealth, greed and cruelty and many tales of Sultans, princes and princesses.

Island of Sultans, forts and palaces:

Zanzibar has been influenced by African, Persian, Portuguese, Arabic, Indian and British cultures. It has been inhabited for around 2,000 years. The Persians who were the first outsiders to visit the islands had built Zoroastrian fire temples here. The Portuguese had built the fort and ruled from Zanzibar from around 1498. The fort is an open air art gallery today and holds the Zanzibar Film Festival.
When the Portuguese could not be tolerated any longer, the Zanzibari Africans took the help of the Sultan of Oman and overthrew them in 1698. And Zanzibar became a Sultanate. Cloves and other spices were first planted during this time. Exports boomed and soon Zanzibar began to enjoy the good life. A whole new Arab-African culture grew up and from it a new language - the Kswahili, which is today a major language of East Africa, spoken or understood as far away as Sudan, Zambia and Uganda. The Sultans built several forts on the beach and two in the Stone Town opposite the harbour. Of the ones on the beach, two remain, roofless and in partial ruin. These were buildings with elaborate pillars and extensive hamams, where the Sultans had steam baths and one can see arrangements with copper vessels for generating steam. The princes and princesses went horse riding on the beach in front of the palaces. There were moonlight barbecues. The Sultans liked their life so much here that they abandoned Oman to settle in Zanzibar.
The British arrived in Zanzibar around 1890 and gradually took over from the Sultans. Zanzibar was declared a British protectorate - not a colony, much like many island nations in the Caribbean, or something like some of the princely states of India. In 1896, to tame a reluctant Sultan, the British warships fired at the Beit al Hukum Palace of the Sultan. The Sultan surrendered in 46 minutes, and this was said to be the shortest war in history. Today you see the rebuilt palace - now a museum. The large open space in front of the palace called Forodhani is a garden complete with cannons, maintained by the Aga Khan Trust. Every evening after sunset, an open air food mart - seafood, chicken, coconut, ice cream and sugar cane juice, is held here. Fried squid, millet porridge, chicken and octopus are sold on the streets nearby.
As the clamour for independence grew, mainland Tanganyika and the islands of the Zanzibar gained independence in December 1963. The islands and the mainland united to form the democratic republic of Tanzania with its capital in Dar es Salaam, but not without a civil war in 1964. The last of the Sultans Sayyid Sir Jamshid bin Abdullah Al Said was overthrown in this process. At present he lives in England, and still holds the title of Sultan of Zanzibar.
After independence the fortunes of Zanzibar, which was the Hong Kong of Africa, began to dwindle. It is today a semi autonomous part of the Tanzania nation often at political loggerheads with mainland. But oil has been discovered recently in Pemba Island, and fortunes of Zanzibar may rise again.


A treasure of cloves, slaves and ivory:

During the time of the Sultans, cloves and other spices were planted on the islands. Soon Zanzibar became the clove capital of the world and a treasure house of all kinds of spices. Tall ships would leave Zanzibar port laden with cloves, pepper, ginger, cardamom, vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon. Because of the natural beauty of the islands, lack of interference of the government in business affairs and a safe harbor, two major commodities from the African heartland soon began to find their way to Zanzibar to be loaded on to the sailing ships: slaves and ivory.
Slaves were brought in from Kenya, Tanzania and further inland. They had to walk from their villages to the ports of Mombasa or Zanzibar yoked two at a time, while women and children walked alongside. Those who fell ill on the way were left behind. Those who reached Mombasa port destined for Zanzibar were allowed a bath at the fresh water well, which is still in use today. Then they descended the steps to board a ship for Zanzibar. In Zanzibar they were offered for sale to buyers’ agents from countries like Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Italy as well as Zanzibar. At its peak some 30,000 slaves were bought and sold each year in Zanzibar.
Slaves from east coast Zanzibar were normally never destined for the US and the Caribbean. These markets were supplied from Ghana, Senegal and other west coast countries. Though the buildings and slave rooms are similar on the two coasts, they are bigger and more elaborate at the Elmina and Cape Coast Castles in Ghana in the west. However, the embarkation points with steep stone steps leading down to the harbor are chillingly similar. One of the biggest slave traders of Zanzibar was Tipu Tip, a Zanzibari, whose house stands today next to the old British Embassy building in Stone Town. Also a plantation owner, Tipu Tip had 5,000 slaves himself. His portrait hangs in the museum, painted by an artist from Kutch, India.
The other commodity exported from Zanzibar was ivory. Ivory has been in demand from 3, 000 BC in Egypt, ancient Greece and Rome. In fact every civilization in history with a significant upper class - China, Europe, US and India - has coveted ivory. As there were many connections between the ivory and the slave trades, Zanzibar soon became the central point for feeding this world wide demand. Ivory tusks by the thousands reached Zanzibar port regularly, carried from the heart of Africa by regular porters as well as slaves. In 1891 some 75% of the world supply of ivory passed through Zanzibar. East African tusks were considered to be the world’s best. Some were massive - some 10 feet in length. The ivory was used in America and Europe for making piano keys, billiard balls, cutlery handles and carvings. After Zanzibar, the biggest warehouses were in London, New York and Connecticut. Among others, Indians were involved in the ivory trade as financiers and in the Zanzibar museum one can see old photographs of ivory tusks with serial numbers written in Guajarati.
Spices, slaves and ivory brought untold wealth to Zanzibar, its citizens and the Sultans.


End of the slave trade:


Though the Sultans prospered through the slave trade, they were never very happy with it. The end of this trade in East Africa started when David Livingstone, the explorer-missionary and friend of Africa, approached the Sultan of Zanzibar to reconsider permitting this practice. Livingstone preached extensively in Zanzibar and elsewhere and during one of his visits to England he appealed to the great English Universities of Oxford and Cambridge pleading with them to use all their powers of erudition and influence to persuade the British government and the Sultan of Zanzibar. His efforts were successful and finally the Sultan banned all slave trade from Zanzibar. The Zanzibar Slave Market, the world’s last official slave market, closed. A church - Cathedral Church of Christ - stands at its site today where services are held regularly. Down a stone staircase below the church, the women and men slave’s rooms with shackles still exist. It was a short walk for the slaves from these chambers to the over ground open market for transactions.
David Livingstone spent considerable time in Zanzibar, preparing for his expeditions to southern and central Africa. The Sultans of Zanzibar were his major financiers. David Livingstone’s house exists today at the edge of Stone Town from where he mounted his final expedition. A three storey building in disrepair, it now houses a part of the Education Ministry of the Government of Zanzibar. Livingstone’s bedroom looks out to the sea, but no trace of him remains there except some of his photographs and handwritten documents on the ground floor on the left as you enter.
Livingstone died of illness in Rhodesia, part of today’s Zimbabwe. His statue stands there on the banks of the Zambezi as it approaches the Victoria Falls. His heart, which belonged to Africa, is said to have been carved out and buried under the statue. His body was carried on their heads by Africans across the continent to Zanzibar. He lay in Zanzibar in Stone Town till it was shipped to London. He lies buried in Westminster Abbey.

End of the Ivory Trade:


Ivory, the single biggest export of Africa since ages, was not banned by a decree, but gradually died down. Ivory was sensitive - it could stabilize or destabilize local ‘big men’. It was traded for cloth, beads, guns and utensils, or simply taken. The trade flourished in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries when there was a rise in sea faring and again in the 1970’s when automatic weapons became available. The trade was controlled by the Europeans, Americans and Arabs. Most Africans themselves had little to do with it except as porters and small time suppliers.
In 1890 awareness first began to grow in German East Africa of a dwindling supply of this ‘the fauna of the empire’. In 1933 the first European conference was held to discuss conservation. Zanzibar was the central collection point for this trade. It was also the starting point for many expeditions into Africa for ivory hunting. To restrict the killing somewhat in the Kilimanjaro region, a system of game licenses were introduced. For elephants it was 500 rupees. However, not all tusks were collected by hunting. Many were taken from already dead elephants.
The trade dwindled during the Second World War, picked up briefly in the 70’s, until in 1989 it was banned by the United Nations. Illicit trade and officially permitted sales of stocks go on today. But for the average tourist, it is difficult to find a single piece of ivory in shops in Africa today.

Stone Town: A World Heritage:


What is different is the culture of Zanzibar. 98% of the people are Muslims and local women cover their heads. Petty theft and pilferages are rare here. Until very recently people left their doors unlocked when they went out. There was a culture of self sufficiency. For constructing buildings, local stones, mortar and narrow wooden logs were used to construct two to four storey houses located in narrow stone paved alleyways. This is the Stone Town - some 200 years old. The widest roads - there are just two or three of them, allow one car to pass at a time. Other roads allow only a motorcycle, bicycle or pedestrians to pass. A little like Dariba Kalan in Old Delhi or some parts of old Jerusalem, it can be imagined to be like Venice in stone and mortar. At its time the town was extremely modern. The House of Wonders, a palace in Stone Town with extensive balconies, was built in 1883. It was the first multi storey building in much of Africa with running water, electricity and a lift.
Stone Town exists today and is crowded with people. Houses have elaborate balconies, embellishments, windows with shutter work and magnificently carved wooden entrance doors. The doors in old town Mombasa are very similar. The style is a combination of Arab and Indian - the arches are Indian and the stylization Arabic. In fact one of the major architects in Stone Town was a Sikh. Some buildings carry Parsee names like Currimbhoy, who must have been traders here. Major modifications to the style of construction are not allowed. Some buildings have been carefully restored by boutique hotels, upscale shops and restaurants to their original glory of polished woodwork, brass inlay and milk white stone and mortar walls. The central post office building is beautiful. The internet facility there is open almost all the time.
At the height of Zanzibar’s glory, in addition to royalty from the palaces, there were German, French and American trading houses operating out of Stone Town. Any European or Arab of any importance to Africa has stayed here. There was a short railway line running parallel to the beach and the town. A period of socialism after independence resulted in the only modification to Stone Town when an apartment complex was built on its outskirts, which is reminiscent of Russian apartment complexes in erstwhile East Europe and Mongolia. The Stone Town is a World Heritage site declared by UNESCO.

Romantic Zanzibar


With its languid style, silver sands, calm waters, old buildings, glorious heritage and a whiff of sin, Zanzibar has always been associated with romance. There is the story of Sayyida, the favourite princess of the Sultan, born to a concubine, who fell in love with a German trader when she saw him from her balcony. She ran away with him to wed in Aden and then to live in Germany. Tragically the husband died in a tram accident in Hamburg after 3 years of marriage and Sayyida, by then renamed Emily Reute, was left to fend for herself and her children. She endured many hardships and wanted to return to Zanzibar, but the Sultan did not allow her. She died in her 70’s in Germany and had Zanzibar’s silver sand sprinkled on her grave. Her memoirs were published in 1992 - ‘An Arabian Princess between Two Worlds’.
When in Zanzibar you can also visit the outlying islands in a motorized dhow. The major one is the Prison Island, about 3 miles offshore. The prison building there was built by the British to house convicts. But just after it was completed, plague had broken out in Bombay and all travelers in the East African region needed quarantine facilities before entering Zanzibar. Thus the Prison Island was used as a quarantine centre. It is now a tourist destination given out on lease to an Indian entrepreneur from Dubai. On the Prison Island there are many giant tortoises, perfectly harmless, introduced many years ago, some as old as 130 years. Their ages are painted on their shells. The older ones are the few living creatures alive today from the days of the slave trade and luxurious living of Zanzibar. The 1,000 year giant baobab tree on the outskirts of Stone Town, however, has seen much more: it is a silent living spectator to much of Zanzibar’s history. The baobab, said to have mystical powers like many others in Africa, has many iron nails hammered into its massive trunk. Each nail probably had a paper pinned with it - a prayer written asking for the grant of a wish. There are freshly pinned prayers, too

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