Zanzibar Holidays

Zanzibar Holidays

Holidays in Zanzibar are often required for tourists who want to visit the area. Some want to see area to see the landscapes the culture, the historic areas, the tourists attractions the entertainment, and sports areas of the area. Some may want to have accommodation in Zanzibar. They may want a cabin, a cottage, a house, flat, an apartment, a hotel or a home in the area. Some may want a vacation in the region to see the history of the area.

Zanzibar is part of the East African republic of Tanzania. It consists of the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, 25–50 km off the coast off the mainland. There are numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, informally referred to as "Zanzibar"), and Pemba. 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 old quarter, known as Stone Town, is a World Heritage Site.

Zanzibar's main industries are spices, raffia, and tourism. It is still sometimes referred to as the Spice Islands (a term also associated with the Maluku Islands in Indonesia), because of the significance of its production of cloves, of which it used to be the world leader, and also nutmeg, cinnamon and pepper. The ecology is of note for being the home of the endemic Zanzibar Red Colobus and the elusive Zanzibar Leopard. The word "Zanzibar" probably derives from the Persian Zangi-bar ("coast of the blacks"); ultimately from the Arabic words of the same meaning, however it is known in Arabic as Zanji-bar .

The Zanzibar Archipelago consists of several islands lying off the coast of East Africa in the Indian Ocean ; Unguja Island, the largest, colloquially referred to as Zanzibar, Pemba Island, the second largest, Prison Island, Bawe Island, Chapwani Island, Chumbe Island, Mnemba Island, Misali Island

Arab traders discovered them and used them as a base for voyages between Arabia, India, and Africa. Unguja offered a protected and defensible harbour, so although the archipelago offered few products of value, the Arabs settled at what became Zanzibar City (Stone Town) as a convenient point from which to trade with East African coastal towns. They established garrisons on the islands and built the first mosque in the Southern hemisphere.

During the Age of Exploration, the Portuguese Empire was the first European power to gain control of Zanzibar, and kept it for nearly 200 years. In 1698, Zanzibar fell under the control of the Sultanate of Oman, which developed an economy of trade and cash crops, with a ruling Arab elite. Plantations were developed to grow spices, hence the moniker of the Spice Islands (a name also used of Dutch colony the Moluccas, now part of Indonesia). Another major trade good was ivory, the tusks of elephants killed in mainland Africa. The third pillar of the economy was slaves, giving Zanzibar an important place in the Arab slave trade, the Indian Ocean equivalent of the better-known Triangular Trade. Zanzibar City was the main trading port of the East African slave trade, with about 50,000 slaves a year passing through the city. The Sultan of Zanzibar controlled a substantial portion of the East African coast, known as Zanj, which included Mombasa and Dar es Salaam, and trading routes which extended much further inland, such as to Kindu on the Congo River.
Zanzibar Holidays

Sometimes gradually, sometimes by fits and starts, control came into the hands of the British Empire; part of the political impetus for this was the 19th century movement for the abolition of the slave trade. The relationship between Britain and the nearest relevant colonial power, Germany, was formalized by the 1890 Helgoland-Zanzibar Treaty, in which Germany pledged not to interfere with British interests in insular Zanzibar. That year, Zanzibar became a protectorate (not a colony) of Britain. From 1890 to 1913, traditional viziers were appointed to govern as puppets, switching to a system of British residents (effectively governors) from 1913 to 1963. The death of one sultan and the succession of another of whom the British did not approve led to the Anglo-Zanzibar War. On the morning of 27 August 1896, ships of the Royal Navy destroyed the Beit al Hukum Palace; a cease fire was declared 38 minutes later, and the bombardment subsequently became known as The Shortest War in History.

The islands gained independence from Britain in December 1963 as a constitutional monarchy. A month later, the bloody Zanzibar Revolution, in which several thousand Arabs and Indians were killed in a genocide and thousands more expelled, established the Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba. That April, the republic merged with the mainland former colony of Tanganyika, or more accurately, was subsumed by the much larger entity. This United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar was soon renamed as a portmanteau, the United Republic of Tanzania, of which Zanzibar remains a semi-autonomous region.

Zanzibar City is the capital and largest city on the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar.

Cities in Zanzibar ; Chake-Chake, Koani, Mkokotoni, Stone Town, Zanzibar City

Chake-Chake is a city located centrally on the Tanzanian island of Pemba. It is the capital of Pemba Central region.

Koani is a city located on the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar. The city serves as capital of the Zanzibar Central/South region.

Mkokotoni is a city located on the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar. The city serves as capital of the Zanzibar North region.

Stone Town or Mji Mkongwe, in Swahili meaning "ancient town", is the old part of Zanzibar City (or Unguja Mjini) - the capital of the island of Unguja, informally known as Zanzibar, a part of Tanzania.

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