The History of Zanzibar: Spice, Slavery, and Indian Ocean Power — Fexingo History

When Sultan Said bin Sultan died at sea in 1856, his vast Busaidi domain — stretching from Muscat to Zanzibar — had no clear heir. This episode follows the bitter succession struggle between his sons Thuwaini and Majid, the quiet diplomacy of the Khoja merchant Jairam Sewji, the arbitration by the British Raj, and the final 1861 Canning Award that split the empire into two sultanates: Oman and Zan...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna dive into a pivotal but often overlooked event in Zanzibar's history: the 1888 British naval bombardment of Stone Town. As the slave trade continued illegally despite treaties, Sultan Barghash bin Said faced mounting pressure from British consul Sir John Kirk and the Royal Navy. When a dhow defied a search order, HMS Turquoise opened fire on the Zanzibar fort, killi...

The spice and slave trades brought more than goods to Zanzibar: they brought poets. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the Swahili ngoma tradition — the sung poetry that served as news, gossip, protest, and praise on the clove shambas of Unguja and Pemba. They meet Muyaka bin Haji al-Ghassaniy, the 18th-century Mombasa poet whose verses were carried to Zanzibar by Omani dhows, and trace how h...

This episode of The History of Zanzibar turns from the island's spice plantations and palace politics to the wooden vessels that connected it all: the dhows. Lucas and Luna trace the design and evolution of these lateen-rigged ships—from the small mashua used for coastal fishing to the massive ghanjah and sambuk that carried cloves, ivory, and slaves across the monsoon winds. They explore how Guja...

In 1885, a decade after Princess Salme fled to Germany, she attempted a daring return to Zanzibar under a false identity. This episode uncovers the secret mission of Emily Ruete—the Busaidi princess who became a German housewife—as she sailed back to Stone Town aboard a British steamer, carrying a letter from Otto von Bismarck. We trace her journey from colonial Hamburg to the clove-scented shores...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore a forgotten luxury that flowed through Zanzibar's markets alongside cloves and ivory: saffron. From the terraced fields of medieval Kashmir, where Persian-speaking artisans perfected its harvest, to the Gujarati merchants who carried it across the monsoon sea, they trace a single thread of the Indian Ocean spice web. They discuss the Abbasid-era Baghdad trad...

In 1882, Zanzibar's economy nearly collapsed when the copper currency that powered everyday trade suddenly disappeared. This episode follows the crisis from the Bombay Mint to Stone Town, where Sultan Barghash bin Said and his Gujarati merchant allies scrambled to mint new pysa coins in time for the clove harvest. Along the way, we meet the Khoja and Bhatia bankers who risked their fortunes, the B...

In this episode of The History of Zanzibar, Lucas and Luna explore the surprising cultural ties between 19th-century Zanzibar and the Indian subcontinent through poetry. They focus on the influence of Mirza Ghalib, the legendary Urdu poet, whose ghazals were recited in Zanzibar's Khoja and Bhatia merchant circles. The conversation reveals how Indian merchants like Tharia Topan brought not only goo...

In 1840, Sultan Said bin Sultan made a decision that reshaped the Indian Ocean world: he moved his capital from Muscat in Oman to Zanzibar's Stone Town. This episode traces the reasons behind the move—Said's clove plantations, his rivalry with the British and the Saudis, and the shifting center of Omani power. We explore how the Busaidi dynasty's relocation transformed Zanzibar from a trading outp...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the pivotal role of Sayyid Said bin Sultan, the Omani sultan who transformed Zanzibar into the world's leading clove producer in the early 19th century. They discuss how Said moved his capital from Muscat to Zanzibar, implemented a plantation system using enslaved labor, and leveraged Indian merchant capital from Kutch and Bombay. The episode covers the clov...

This episode dives into the 1698 Omani conquest of Zanzibar, a pivotal turning point that ended two centuries of Portuguese control and reshaped Indian Ocean trade. We explore the siege of Fort Jesus in Mombasa, the role of Omani naval commander Saif bin Sultan, and how the Busaidi dynasty's rise in Oman led to Zanzibar becoming the new capital of a maritime empire. The episode covers the battle's...

On this episode, Lucas and Luna turn their attention to a community often overlooked in Zanzibar's story: the Makonde people. Far from the clove shambas and Stone Town trading houses, the Makonde arrived from the mainland as wage laborers, not slaves. They brought with them a tradition of wood carving that would become world-famous. But their path was not easy — they faced discrimination, were bar...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the botanical and economic history of the clove tree in Zanzibar. They trace how a single spice from the Moluccas transformed the islands of Unguja and Pemba into the world's clove capital under Sultan Said bin Sultan. The conversation covers the origins of Syzygium aromaticum, its secret monopoly by the Dutch, and how the Busaidi sultan used forced labor an...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the culinary history of Zanzibar, focusing on how Indian, Persian, and African influences blended in the island's kitchens. They discuss the introduction of spices like cloves, cardamom, and saffron by Omani and Gujarati merchants, the role of enslaved cooks in creating fusion dishes such as biryani and pilau, and how the clove monopoly shaped both trade and...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna dive into the forgotten world of Zanzibar's pearl fisheries, a lucrative trade that thrived in the late 19th century. They explore how Gujarati merchants like Tharia Topan and Jairam Sewji controlled the pearl beds off the coast of Pemba and Unguja, supplying pearls to markets in Bombay, Surat, and Kutch. The conversation covers the techniques of pearl diving, the r...

In the mid-19th century, the Busaidi sultanate of Zanzibar and Oman maintained a formidable naval force that projected power across the Indian Ocean. This episode explores the little-known 1852 conflict between the Omani navy and the Persian Empire in the Persian Gulf, sparked by disputes over the port of Bandar Abbas. We follow Sultan Said bin Sultan's fleet of dhows and frigates, the role of Bri...

This episode turns the spotlight on Jairam Sewji, the Gujarati Hindu merchant who effectively ran Zanzibar's economy from the 1830s to the 1870s. As the head of the customs farm, Sewji managed the sultanate's revenue, controlled the flow of ivory, cloves, and enslaved people, and built the stone mansions that still line Stone Town. Lucas and Luna explore how a man who never held a political title...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the daily reality of Zanzibar's slave markets, focusing on the 19th century when the island was the epicenter of East African slave trade. They discuss the infamous Stone Town market, where captives from the interior were auctioned, the role of Indian financiers like Jairam Sewji, and the British abolitionist pressure that led to the Moresby Treaty of 1822 a...

In 1890, as Zanzibar's sovereignty crumbled under European pressure, the collection of its customs duties was handed to a single Gujarati merchant: Nasser bin Juma. This episode traces how the 'customs farm' system — a tax auction won by private Indian financiers — effectively outsourced the sultanate's fiscal policy for decades. We follow Nasser's rise from a Khoja trader in Stone Town to the man...

In this episode of The History of Zanzibar, Lucas and Luna explore the forgotten world of the Nyamwezi porters—the men who carried ivory, cloth, and guns across the interior of East Africa to supply Zanzibar's markets. They trace the overland routes from the Swahili coast to Lake Tanganyika, describe the brutal economics of porterage (where a porter might carry 60 pounds for months only to earn a...

In 1866, Princess Salme of Zanzibar — a daughter of Sultan Said bin Sultan and a Circassian slave — fled the island under cover of darkness, pregnant with the child of a German merchant. She left behind a world of clove plantations, Indian Ocean dhows, and Busaidi palace intrigue for a life of exile in Hamburg and later Berlin. This episode traces her extraordinary journey from Stone Town to Europ...

In 1859, the death of Sultan Said bin Sultan triggered a bitter succession war between his sons Majid and Barghash that nearly tore the Omani Empire apart. This episode unpacks the year-long conflict, the British naval intervention, and the lasting split between Oman and Zanzibar. We explore the roles of Princess Salme, who defied her brothers and fled to Aden, and the Indian financiers who bankro...

In 1882, Sultan Barghash bin Said of Zanzibar launched a bold monetary experiment: minting his own copper pysa coins to replace the chaotic mix of currencies flooding his island. This episode unpacks how the Sultan, advised by his Indian merchant allies Jairam Sewji and Tharia Topan, contracted the Bombay Mint to strike millions of copper coins—each featuring the Sultan's name in Arabic script and...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna follow the footsteps of the Zanzibar-based porters who, from the 1820s to the 1880s, carried ivory, cloth, and guns across the African interior. They focus on the Nyamwezi porters from what is now Tanzania, who organized themselves into caravans of hundreds, traveling thousands of miles from the Great Lakes to the coast. The episode explores the economics of the car...

Long before Stone Town's coral walls rose, Zanzibar's sultans built a palace in Bombay. This episode traces the story of the Busaidi dynasty's Indian outpost—a mansion on the Malabar Hill that served as a diplomatic hub, a refuge for exiled princes, and a symbol of the sultanate's Indian Ocean reach. We follow the journeys of Sultan Barghash bin Said, who visited Bombay in 1875 and was hosted by t...