Zanzibar under Colonial Rule

by Abdul Sheriff, Ed Ferguson (Contributor)

Zanzibar stands at the center of the Indian Ocean system’s involvement in the history of Eastern Africa. This book follows on from the period covered in Abdul Sheriff’s acclaimed Slaves, Spices and Ivory in Zanzibar . The first part of the book shows the transition of Zanzibar from the commercial economy of the nineteenth century to the colonial economy of the twentieth century. The authors begin with the abolition of the slave trade in 1873 that started the process of transformation. They show the transition from slavery to colonial “free” labor, the creation of the capitalist economy, and the resulting social contradictions. They take the history up to formal independence in 1963 with a postscript on the 1964 insurrection. In the second part the authors analyze social classes. The landlords and the merchants were dominant in the commercial empire of the nineteenth century and had difficulties in adjusting to the colonial condition. At the same time the development of capitalist farmers and a fully proletarianized working class was hindered. The conservative administration could not resolve the contradictions of colonial capitalism, and the formation of a united nationalist movement was hampered. This period culminated in the insurrection of 1964, but the revolution could not be consummated without mature revolutionary classes.

Genres: Africa

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Bob Newman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cloves R Us

I think a class-based analysis of any society is well-worth doing. What I don’t like, however, are writers who think the truth resides solely with them, that mastery of the doubtful “science of history” is theirs alone, that all others are mere ideologues who have deliberately “Missed the Point”. The Marxist writers who put this volume together cleave unmercifully to a single ideological line (OK, I can even accept that), they use a certain variety of vocabulary which goes along with that line (which is tiresome), and they never, ever accept that they might not possess all the truth. Is it possible to know the Truth about anything, including the modern history of Zanzibar? I would say no. I think even fifty shades of gray is too few. That’s why I find such super-self-confidence on the part of historians more than irritating.

Zanzibar, that small island of the coast of East Africa, has an interesting history. Set up as an entrepot in pre-colonial times, the Africans, Arabs, and Indians who traded there dealt in slaves and ivory for the most part. The Sultans of Oman gradually extended control over the mainland coast, having defeated the Portuguese, and by the early 19th century, a branch of the sultans’ family had established itself in Zanzibar. As European influence spread and turned into control, Zanzibar became a slave-trading center. Indian moneylenders financed expeditions into the continent to trade for or kidnap slaves. But, slavery was an outmoded means of producing anything. Cloves were introduced from Indonesia. Soon, Zanzibar became Clove World HQ. When it was time to harvest the cloves, a lot of labor was necessary. The British, who had become paramount on the two islands of Unguja and Pemba (collectively known as Zanzibar), decided that free labor would be more efficient than slave labor. They imposed this view. By 1897, slavery had come to an end. The big landowners, Arabs or mixed Arab-Africans, who had profited both by the slave trade and then from slave labor, ran into a wall. They were not efficient or organized enough to change. Large amounts of land were mortgaged to Indian moneylenders, smaller peasant clove growers also began to control production. The British, once they had supplanted the Sultans, encouraged the growth of a wage-earning laboring class---often brought over from the mainland. Contradictions between all these groups plus the introduction of modern politics and labor unions led to a violent, chaotic revolution soon after Zanzibar’s independence was declared. A socialist future seemed likely, but Tanganyika suddenly merged with Zanzibar, forming Tan-Zan-ia, thus frustrating the plans of leftwing leaders.

This story, in great, sometimes stultifying detail, is told in the present volume. I found a couple of chapters unreadable, except for those who need incredible detail about clove and coconut production in the first half of the 20th century in Zanzibar. The use of Marxist “in-group” vocabulary is not a plus. I would argue that most historical events occur through a slow but steady accumulation of trends in certain directions, (class analysis helps to understand these trends) leading to particular results, often bad or unexpected. Plots are few. The best laid plans of mice and men…etc. The Zanzibar story is an interesting one. This book provides a lot of interesting material, but its presentation gets low Marx.