CChronica Maps

Zanzibar: History, Former Names & Timeline

Spice island off East Africa, capital of the Sultans of Oman and in the nineteenth century the centre of the East African slave and clove trade.

Map showing Zanzibar in 1880Zanzibar
Border map for 1880. See the world in 1880.

Explore Zanzibar in the interactive map

Former names of Zanzibar

FromNameNote
1000Zanzibar

Timeline of Zanzibar

YearEvent
1840Sultan Said of Oman moves his capital to Zanzibar
1896The Anglo-Zanzibar War, the shortest war in history
1964Zanzibar unites with Tanganyika to form Tanzania

Who ruled Zanzibar

Derived from the border maps; each row runs until the next recorded border change.

PeriodState
500 BC–799Khoisan
800–999Bantu peoples
1000–1649Islamic city-states
1650–1782Unclaimed / no data
1783–1879Zanzibar
1880–1913Sultanate of Zanzibar
1914–1919German E. Africa (Tanganyika)
1920–todayTanzania, United Republic of

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