History of Spice Trade in Zanzibar

The Portuguese were the first Europeans to trade in Zanzibar and their largest impact was to create a market for slaves. Prior to their arrival, the Arabs and the Shirazi Persians had established trade links into the Great Lakes area and established plantations in Zanzibar and on the East African coast. During the 17th and 18th centuries there was a power struggle between the sultanates of Oman and Portugal. This resulted in the building of several large garrisons and forts by the Omanis to defend against the Portuguese. In 1698 the Omani Arabs drove the Portuguese from Zanzibar and established a ruling sultan from the Omani royal family. This began the long indigenous Arab dominance in Zanzibar which continued even after the islands official independence from Oman and when the Sultans moved their court to Zanzibar in 1832.

Zanzibar has a history of trading spices which dates back to around 200 years. It was believed that the Persians were the first to bring the ancient trade to the Isles. Indian Traders came next, and the Omanis from Shiraz and the Arab peninsula. The Omanis were directly responsible for introducing most of the spices that are grown in Zanzibar today. The earliest known trade of cloves from the islands of Zanzibar to other parts of the world dates back to around 1818. The purchase of the islands by Seyyid Said from the local sultan in 1861 saw an increase in the trade due to the sluggish decline in cloves prices on the world market. Small holders and large estates appeared throughout the clove producing areas to meet the growing demand, and by the 1880’s, there were as many as 45,000 family clove producers in Zanzibar. This growth in trade and agriculture saw Zanzibar become the leading world clove producer. At one stage during the 19th century Zanzibar was exporting up to 19,000 tonnes of cloves annually and this has left a legacy of centuries old clove trees and a large number of ruins of old clove oil distilleries, many of which can still be seen today.

1. Ancient Times: Arab traders establish trade routes connecting Zanzibar to the Middle East, Persia, and India, laying the foundation for the spice trade on the island.
2. 15th Century: Portuguese explorers arrive in Zanzibar and begin to dominate the spice trade, particularly in cloves.
3. 17th Century: Zanzibar comes under the control of the Sultanate of Oman, which further expands the island’s spice trade and establishes Zanzibar City as a major trading center.
4. 19th Century: Zanzibar becomes the world’s leading producer of cloves, with large-scale spice plantations established by Arab and Swahili landowners.
5. Late 19th Century: Zanzibar falls under British influence, and the spice trade continues to thrive under British rule, with the introduction of modern farming methods and infrastructure improvements.
6. 20th Century: Zanzibar gains independence from British colonial rule in 1963 and merges with Tanganyika to form Tanzania in 1964. The spice trade remains an important part of Zanzibar’s economy and cultural heritage.
7. Present Day: Spice plantations in Zanzibar continue to attract tourists, contributing to the island’s economy and preserving its rich spice heritage. Spices remain an integral part of Zanzibari cuisine, culture, and identity.

Early Spice Trade Routes

Zanzibar, for the sake of this essay, is considered to be the main island and the two smaller isles, Pemba and Latham, rather than the Zanzibar archipelago. This is important to note for Zanzibar’s mainland and its early state boundaries upon the establishment of the Omani protectorate in the late 19th century. Prior to the Omani Sultanate, Zanzibar is made up of various city-states, with a ruler known as a Mwinyi Mkuu, who had varying amounts of control and influence over their dominions. It was not until the late 19th century that the sultans of certain city-states could achieve hegemony over Zanzibar’s main isle and in some cases, Pemba. This is an important issue with Tippu Tip and the creation of the Barzan, as certain regions and produce could only be accessed at different times due to Tippu Tip’s involvement with a particular ruler or war during a given period.

Inspired by the different botanical products found on Zanzibar, such as cloves and cinnamon, this section breaks down the routes and beginnings of the Barzan, starting with Tippu Tip in the mid-19th century and ending with the German conquest of that state in 1890. By doing so, it makes it easier to see how the various products in different regions of Zanzibar were able to be accessed by traders, compared to the basic lumping of all cloves into one singular category.

Arrival of Portuguese Explorers

This is one of those significant moments when the whole direction of history for Zanzibar and its inhabitants changed. In 1499, Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese explorer touched down on Zanzibar soil on his way back from India. The cause of his visit was purely for strategic purposes, it was a pit stop to provide his weary sailors with supplies and to take on more water. It has been documented that da Gama had called upon the current ruler of Malindi, Kenya who was at the time an enemy of the Sultan of Zanzibar, Saif Al-Din. From Malindi, da Gama had sent a messenger to the Sultan claiming that he was a friend of Kenya and that he detested the Mombasa and Zanzibar sultans, this is because they were seen as trading with the hostile Swahili tribes with whom the Portuguese were in conflict with. With the intention of invasion in mind, da Gama made his way to Zanzibar in attempt to undermine the current ruler in the hopes that a newly appointed Sultan would allow greater Portuguese involvement in the divide and rule tactics they had already been applying to the Swahili coast. Once Saif Al-Din was out of the way, Da Gama moved to try and instate the sultan’s brother as the new ruler but Saif Al-Din got word of his intentions and returned to destroy the Portuguese ships in a surprise night raid at the Zanzibar harbour. Although Saif Al-Din had succeeded in removing the immediate Portuguese threat, the incidence signaled that it was the beginning of a new era for Zanzibar and its people. The Portuguese had unwittingly set off a chain of events which eventually led to the displacement of the original Zanzibar sultanate and an increase in the involvement between foreign powers in the affairs of the island.

Influence of Omani Sultanate

Removal of the Persians was followed by a short-lived isolationist policy, as the Omani Arabs posed a major and more long-term activator for change in the political and economic history of the islands. Zanzibar became a powerful part of the worldwide trade of cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and black pepper. All these could be easily shipped to areas including India, China, and Persia, as well as throughout the African coast. The systematic occupation of the coastal area by Omani Arabs ensured the creation of an ‘island city-state’ and this entire period is defined by this government’s complex and often oppressive legacy. The Omani Arabs exacted a profound and lasting influence upon the East African coast. The first Arab to land and preside over Zanzibar was Badr al Din who quickly discovered the enormous potential of the islands as a supplier of consumer as well as luxury goods. These were catered for in the creation of clove plantations, the first of which being opened by the Busaidi sultan Sayyid Said who had established himself as the leading Busaidi in 1822 and on his death in 1856 was buried in Zanzibari earth, symbolizing the islands’ immense significance to the family. His choice of the islands over Oman represented the beginning of an enduring period of development for Zanzibar. Throughout the period of the Omani Arabs, the islands had a status ranging from that of a provincial backwater to a seat of considerable power with the extent of its social and physical development being directly related to the activities of the sultans and their advisors in both Zanzibar and Oman. A number of Shirazi notables educated in Oman were to rise to powerful positions on the islands with the General Mathews of colonial Zanzibar being known to have said that the whole history of Zanzibar was contained within the toil of Khalil Bin Barghash. Though the Omani ascendancy saw periods of unrest and the appearance of rival claimants to the Zanzibari throne, many sultans were able to rule constructively, adding to the relative political stability of the islands compared to the surrounding mainland. It was only in 1963 with the violent overthrow of the last sultan Jamshid bin Abdullah that Zanzibar was to become a republic.