19th century – 19th century
Zanzibar, Pemba, East African coast, and connected hinterlands
The Zanzibar commercial empire was the Omani-led commercial system centred on Zanzibar and Pemba that expanded through plantation production, maritime treaties, customs administration, and caravan trade. Under Said bin Sultan, Zanzibar became a major emporium exporting cloves, ivory, slaves, rhinoceros horns, gum copal, and other goods while importing manufactured products from India, Europe, and the United States.
Continue exploring
The Story
During the first half of the nineteenth century, Omani political and commercial interests shifted toward Zanzibar and Pemba and, indirectly, toward other East African coastal city-states. Said bin Sultan encouraged Indian enterprise and settlement, farming out Zanzibar’s customs collection to an Asian merchant by 1804 and attracting a substantial Asian residence in the capital by 1811. Asian merchants soon became customs agents, financiers, middlemen, and wholesale traders.
Said also introduced and expanded clove cultivation in Zanzibar. By 1850, the island held near-complete domination of the international clove market, while plantation production supplemented dhow and caravan commerce. Using slave labour on about forty-five plantations, Said was producing two-thirds of the 8,000 frasilas exported from Zanzibar by 1840; the extract defines a frasila as approximately 35 pounds.
Commercial treaties with the United States, Britain, France, and the German states strengthened Zanzibar’s international position. The 1833 treaty with the United States offered a five per cent duty on American imports and no duties on East African goods purchased by Americans, stimulating shipping and trade in ivory, gum copal, and cloves. British influence nevertheless increased through military support and diplomatic pressure, including the 1847 Hamerton Treaty restricting the export of slaves beyond the sultan’s East African dominions.
By the middle of the nineteenth century, Zanzibar had become the most important commercial emporium on the East African coast. Its system connected manufactured imports from India, Europe, and the United States with exports of cloves, ivory, slaves, rhinoceros horns, gum copal, and other goods. The extract presents this unequal exchange as enriching foreign merchants while contributing to the economic subordination and underdevelopment of indigenous East African societies.
19th century – 19th century
Zanzibar, Pemba, East African coast, and connected hinterlands
The Zanzibar commercial empire was the Omani-led commercial system centred on Zanzibar and Pemba that expanded through plantation production, maritime treaties, customs administration, and caravan trade. Under Said bin Sultan, Zanzibar became a major emporium exporting cloves, ivory, slaves, rhinoceros horns, gum copal, and other goods while importing manufactured products from India, Europe, and the United States.
Continue exploring
The Story
During the first half of the nineteenth century, Omani political and commercial interests shifted toward Zanzibar and Pemba and, indirectly, toward other East African coastal city-states. Said bin Sultan encouraged Indian enterprise and settlement, farming out Zanzibar’s customs collection to an Asian merchant by 1804 and attracting a substantial Asian residence in the capital by 1811. Asian merchants soon became customs agents, financiers, middlemen, and wholesale traders.
Said also introduced and expanded clove cultivation in Zanzibar. By 1850, the island held near-complete domination of the international clove market, while plantation production supplemented dhow and caravan commerce. Using slave labour on about forty-five plantations, Said was producing two-thirds of the 8,000 frasilas exported from Zanzibar by 1840; the extract defines a frasila as approximately 35 pounds.
Commercial treaties with the United States, Britain, France, and the German states strengthened Zanzibar’s international position. The 1833 treaty with the United States offered a five per cent duty on American imports and no duties on East African goods purchased by Americans, stimulating shipping and trade in ivory, gum copal, and cloves. British influence nevertheless increased through military support and diplomatic pressure, including the 1847 Hamerton Treaty restricting the export of slaves beyond the sultan’s East African dominions.
By the middle of the nineteenth century, Zanzibar had become the most important commercial emporium on the East African coast. Its system connected manufactured imports from India, Europe, and the United States with exports of cloves, ivory, slaves, rhinoceros horns, gum copal, and other goods. The extract presents this unequal exchange as enriching foreign merchants while contributing to the economic subordination and underdevelopment of indigenous East African societies.
Continue the journey
Other paths related to this story.