The History Book Club discussion

This is a thread to discuss Zanzibar.

Zanzibar is off the coast of Tanzania. And it is located in the Indian Ocean. Its largest city is Wete.

Zanzibar (pronounced /ˈzænzɨbɑr/) is a semi-autonomous part of the United Republic of Tanzania, in East Africa.

It comprises the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, 25–50 kilometres (16–31 mi) off the coast of the mainland, and consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, informally referred to as Zanzibar), and Pemba.

Other nearby island countries and territories include Comoros and Mayotte to the south, Mauritius and Réunion to the far southeast, and the Seychelles Islands about 1,500 km to the east. Zanzibar was once a separate state with a long trading history within the Arab world; it united with Tanganyika to form Tanzania in 1964 and still enjoys a high degree of autonomy within the union.

The capital of Zanzibar, located on the island of Unguja, is Zanzibar City, and its historic centre, known as Stone Town, is a World Heritage Site. The name comes from the Persian zang (زنگ) meaning "rust" (politically correct equivalent for "black") and bar (بار) meaning "land".

Zanzibar's main industries are spices, raffia, and tourism. In particular, the islands produce cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon and pepper.

For this reason, the islands, together with Tanzania's Mafia Island, are sometimes called the Spice Islands (a term also associated with the Maluku Islands in Indonesia).

Zanzibar's ecology is of note for being the home of the endemic Zanzibar Red Colobus and the (possibly extinct) Zanzibar Leopard.

Source: Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zanzibar

Here is a map which shows Zanzibar in relationship to Tanzania:



This is its flag.



This thread came about through a suggestion from group member, Harvey.

In those days there was not the same degree of political correctness... the Zenj or zeng in Zanzibar (Arabic transliteration being Zengibar) refers to the 'Black' continent. I'm considering if Bur should be translated as port or Br translated as coast...?

Pemba, to the north was referred to as 'The Green Island'. Nothing to do with the etymology of the word.

I do not know how reliable the wikipedia source is but they said the following:

Zanzibar comes from the Persian word "Zangi-bar" (Zangi=Black and Bar=the Place of); later in the history the "g" sound was replaced by "z" sound due to the lack of the sound "g" in Arabic language of the invading Arabs.

Since I have no idea or knowledge of either Persian or Arabic, it is Greek to me.

Did Pemba have trees or a lot of vegetation (why was it called green)? Or was it some other reason?

Yes, I do accept this is what wiki says. My Farsi is much weaker than my Arabic. The Persians have 'g' as in the letter that looks like an Arabic 'kaf' with a line on top. (the first letter on the left in 'zeng': زنگ). It seems there was a joint Shirazi/Omani colonization of the island initially.
True there is no 'true' 'G' in Arabic, though present day Egyptians and Omanis do use a 'hard' 'g' as opposed to 'j'. Khanjar (the Omani dagger) is pronounced Khangar in Oman. The rest of the Gulf says Jamal (the name or 'handsome'/'beautiful') The Egyptians of course say Gemal as in Gemal Abdel Nasser. The place of the Blacks or the Black coast... take your pick. :)
I will consult with some Farsi speakers and let you know what I find out!

Pemba... yes Green because of the abundant vegetation!
Clove production was a bedrock of the economy.

Harvey wrote: "Yes, I do accept this is what wiki says. My Farsi is much weaker than my Arabic. The Persians have 'g' as in the letter that looks like an Arabic 'kaf' with a line on top. (the first letter on the ..."

Great post and explanation Harvey. Thank you. Yes, please let us know what some of the Farsi speakers think.

Harvey wrote: "Pemba... yes Green because of the abundant vegetation!
Clove production was a bedrock of the economy."

I see - thank you.

Zanzibar is a place I have always wanted to visit. Harvey, do you have any non-specialist books that you could recommend about the island or its history?

One man's personal journey in Africa, searching for the past and relating it to the current situation.

by Stephen Taylor

Synopsis:

An extraordinary, passionate and personal journey into Africa's past. Meshing together Africa's colonial history and the personalities of that time with his own memories of the turbulent twentieth century and its characters, Stephen Taylor will travel from Lake Victoria to the Cape of Good Hope - from the place that represents the peak of colonial exploration in Africa to the first settling place of his own family. His description and re-evaluation of the colonial period shows it in all its drama, glamour and disreputableness. His journey will be a quest for understanding: of the colonial impulse, of his own curious ambivalence towards the great continent in which he grew up, and of the southern African countries' - in particular South Africa's - future. It is a wonderfully evocative, lyrical description of some of the most dramatic lands in the world - thoughtful, historical, philosophical travel writing of the best kind.

This I would like to read!

The Sultan's Shadow: One Family's Rule at the Crossroads of East and West

by Christiane Bird(no photo)

Synopsis:

A story virtually unknown in the West, about two of the Middle East’s most remarkable figures—Oman’s Sultan Said and his rebellious daughter Princess Salme—comes to life in this narrative. From their capital on the sultry African island of Zanzibar, Sultan Said and his descendants were shadowed and all but shattered by the rise and fall of the nineteenth-century East African slave trade.

“As shrewd, liberal, and enlightened a prince as Arabia has ever produced.” That’s how explorer Richard Burton described Seyyid Said Al bin Sultan Busaid, who came to power in Oman in 1804 when he was fifteen years old. During his half-century reign, Said ruled with uncanny contradiction: as a believer in a tolerant Islam who gained power through bloodshed and perfidy, and as an open-minded, intellectually curious man who established relations with the West while building a vast commercial empire on the backs of tens of thousands of slaves. His daughter Salme, born to a concubine in a Zanzibar harem, scandalized her family and people by eloping to Europe with a German businessman in 1866, converting to Christianity, and writing the first-known autobiography of an Arab woman.

Christiane Bird paints a stunning portrait of violent family feuds, international intrigues, and charismatic characters—from Sultan Said and Princess Salme to the wildly wealthy slave trader Tippu Tip and the indefatigable British antislavery crusader Dr. David Livingstone. The Sultan’s Shadow is a brilliantly researched and irresistibly readable foray into the stark brutality and decadent beauty of a vanished world.

Looks good

Ooh, Zanzibar:) I visited the island a few years ago and fell in love with it. It has so much history and a mixture of cultures. I am hoping to do some reading on Princess Salma, I heard bits and pieces of her very sad story when I visited her former residence, The House of Wonders.

Rowena............you might like this book about Princess Salme

An Arabian Princess Between Two Worlds

by Sayyida Salme (no photo)

Synopsis:

Princess Salme, daughter of Sa'id ibn Sultan, ruler of Oman and Zanzibar, was born in Zanzibar on August 30, 1844. In 1866 she fled to Aden where she was baptized with the Christian name Emily and where she married the German merchant Rudolph Heinrich Ruete. In Hamburg three children were born. Her husband died in 1870, and after that she lived in several cities in Germany. In 1885 and again in 1888 she went to Zanzibar. Between 1889 and 1914 she lived in Jaffa and Beirut, and afterwards again in Germany. She died in Jena in 1924. The present work contains a short biography of Princess Salme/Emily Ruete and of her son Rudolph Said-Ruete, a new English translation of her "Memoirs," and an English version of her other writings, unpublished so far: "Letters Home," "Sequels to the Memoirs" and "Syrian Customs and Usages,

Thanks Jill! I'll definitely be on the lookout for that one:)

This book describes the revolutionary crisis in Zanzibar of more current times.......something of which I was unaware.

Revolution in Zanzibar: An American's Cold War Tale

by Donald Petterson (no photo)

Synopsis:

The Cold War exploded in Zanzibar in 1964 when African rebels slaughtered one of every ten Arabs. Led by a strange, messianic Ugandan, Cuban-trained factions headed the rebels, making Zanzibar (in the eyes of Washington) a potentially cancerous base for the communist subversion of mainland Africa. Exotic Zanzibar - fabled island of spices, former slave-trading entrepôt, and stepping-off point for 19th century expeditions into the vast interior of the Dark Continent - had succumbed to the terror of 20th century revolution and Cold War intrigue.In the vivid, eyewitness tradition of The Bang Bang Club and The Skull beneath the Skin, Donald Petterson weaves an engrossing tale of human drama played out against a background of violence and horror. As the only American in Zanzibar throughout the revolution, Petterson reports with the inside authority of a highly placed diplomatic observer, illuminating how the current troubles in Zanzibar are rooted in the Cold War and the revolution of 1964.(

Stone Town is the center of the capital, Zanzibar City and is a World Heritage Site. This book follows the fight to keep it in it's historic condition.

The History and Conservation of Zanzibar Stone Town

by Abdul Sheriff (no photo)

Synopsis:

Zanzibar Stone Town presents the problems of conservation in its most acute forms. Should it be fossilized for the tourists? Or should it grow for the benefit of the inhabitants? Can ways be found to accommodate conflicting social and economic pressures?

For its size, Zanzibar, like Venice, occupies a remarkably large romantic space in world imagination. Swahili civilization on these spice islands goes back to the earliest centuries of the Islamic era. Up until the nineteenth century it was the capital of a trading empire which spread Kiswahili and Islam over a large part of eastern and central African and the Indian Ocean.

Zanzibar then suffered the loss of its empire to the Germans and the British. In the last thirty years it has passed through its second period of crisis. After the Revolution of 1964 the new rural owners did not have the wherewithal to maintain the old stone houses. The Stone Town seemed to be on the verge of extinction.

In the 1980s the government reversed its policies and the old town became threatened by rapid redevelopment which disfigures as it builds. The Old Stone Town now stands in danger of being drastically transformed by tourism and trade liberalization.

A humorous and colorful travel book which will bring a smile to the face of the arm chair traveler.

Zanzibar to Timbuktu

by Theodore Dalrymple

Synopsis:

"Africans, I discovered, have a unique talent for finding happiness where others would find only misery."

While working in Tanzania in the 1980s, British doctor Theodore Dalrymple hatched a plan to cross Africa using only public transport. Avoiding planes, his journey took him by bus, lorry, train, boat and canoe. Along the way he encountered corruption, poverty and oppression as well as pragmatic and cheerful travelling companions and the result is this humorous, beautifully-written and sharply-observed travelogue.

This is an insider's look at the royal court which once ruled the island of Zanzibar, written by an exiled Princess.

Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar

by Emily Ruete Sayyida Prin. of Zanzibar (no photo)

Synopsis:

This autobiography offers a rare inside look at the society surrounding a sultan's palace. Its author, a real-life princess in exile, recalls her vanished world of harems, slave trading, and court intrigues. The Midwest Book Review praised this book as "an engrossing memoir, offering a vivid portrait of 19th-century Arab and African life."

The Threat of Liberation: Imperialism and Revolution in Zanzibar

by Amrit Wilson (no photo)

Synopsis:

The Threat of Liberation returns to the tumultuous years of the Cold War, when, in a striking parallel with today, imperialist powers were seeking to institute ‘regime change’ and install pliant governments. Using iconic photographs, declassified US and British documents, and in-depth interviews, Amrit Wilson examines the role of the Umma Party of Zanzibar and its leader, the visionary Marxist revolutionary, Abdulrahman Mohamed Babu.

Drawing parallels between US paranoia about Chinese Communist influence in the 1960s with contemporary fears about Chinese influence, it looks at the new race for Africa’s resources, the creation of AFRICOM and how East African politicians have bolstered US control. The book also draws on US cables released by Wikileaks showing Zanzibar's role in the ‘War on Terror’ in Eastern Africa today. The Threat of Liberation reflects on the history of a party which confronted imperialism and built unity across ethnic divisions, and considers the contemporary relevance of such strategies.

If you are planning a trip to Zanzibar, you need this travel book complete with maps to find the places of historical interest

Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Zanzibar Island

by Nelles Maps (no photo)

Synopsis:

Folded road & tourist map of Tanzania at 1:1,500,000 scale. Places of interest, national parks, beaches, lodges/camps are highlighted. Shaded-relief coloring clearly depicts topography. Insets include Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar-Stonetown, Arusha, Pemba Island, and Zanzibar Island (Unguja). Legend in 3 languages.

The British failure to modernize Zanzibar during the colonial period.

Urban Design, Chaos, and Colonial Power in Zanzibar



Synopsis:

Across Africa and elsewhere, colonialism promised to deliver progress and development. In urban spaces like Zanzibar, the British vowed to import scientific techniques and practices, ranging from sanitation to urban planning, to create a perfect city. Rather than remaking space, these designs often unraveled. Plans were formulated and then fell by the wayside, over and over again. By focusing on these flawed efforts to impose colonial order, William Cunningham Bissell offers a different view of colonialism and cities, revealing the contradictions, confusion, and even chaos that lay at the very core of British rule. At once an engaging portrait of a cosmopolitan African city and an exploration of colonial irrationality, Urban Design, Chaos, and Colonial Power in Zanzibar opens up new perspectives on the making of modernity and the metropolis.