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74-622: Zanzibar City comprises two main parts, Stone Town and Ng'ambo (literally: "The Other Side"); the two areas were historically divided by a creek since filled in, with the street on the Stone Town side of the creek originally called Creek Road but later renamed to Benjamin Mkapa Road. Stone Town is the historical core of the city, the former capital of the Zanzibar Sultanate ; because of its unique architecture and culture, it

148-770: A free port . Zanzibar City has a tropical climate, very similar to whole Unguja island, and slightly hotter than what is found in Pemba . This climate is classified as a tropical monsoon climate ( Köppen climate classification Am ). The average temperature in Zanzibar City is 26.9 °C (80.4 °F). The average annual rainfall is 1,512 mm (59.5 in). The monthly average temperatures are usually between 25.1 and 28.8 °C (77.2 and 83.8 °F). There are two rain seasons, with most rainfall coming between March and May and smaller rain season coming between November and December. Drier months are January - February, and

222-588: A railway from the Town to Bububu village. The British did not fund major developments in the town and allowed the sultan to manage the islands affairs from Stone Town. The British gave privileges to Mombasa and Dar es Salaam as their trading stations in East Africa. In 1964, Stone Town was the theatre of the Zanzibar Revolution , which brought about the removal of the sultan and the birth of

296-548: A socialist government led by the Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP). More than 20,000 people were killed and refugees, especially Arabs and Indians, escaped the island as a consequence of the revolution. The Arabs and Indians left behind everything they had and the ASP quickly occupied old homes and converted them into public buildings. In 1964, when Tanganyika and Zanzibar combined to form Tanzania , Stone Town kept its role as

370-537: A capital and government seat for Zanzibar, which was declared a semi-autonomous part of the new nation. Stone Town is located roughly in the middle of the west coast of Unguja , on a small promontory protruding into the Zanzibar Channel . The closest major settlement on the Tanzanian coast, opposite Stone Town, is Bagamoyo (to the south-west). Stone Town is part of Zanzibar City , which also includes

444-531: A longer drier season between June and October. The places of worship in the city are predominantly Muslim mosques. There are also Christian churches and temples: Roman Catholic Diocese of Zanzibar ( Catholic Church ), Anglican Church of Tanzania ( Anglican Communion ), Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania ( Lutheran World Federation ), Baptist Convention of Tanzania ( Baptist World Alliance ), Assemblies of God . For parliamentary elections, Tanzania

518-433: A maze of narrow alleys lined by houses, shops, bazaars and mosques . Since most streets are too narrow for cars, the town is crowded with bicycles and motorbikes . The seafront has wider streets and larger, more regularly placed buildings. Stone Town's architecture has a number of distinctive features, as a result of Arab, Persian, Indian, European, and African traditions mixing together. The name "Stone Town" comes from

592-553: A monopoly on European trade with the Middle East. The silk and spice trade, involving spices , incense , herbs , drugs and opium , made these Mediterranean city-states extremely wealthy. Spices were among the most expensive and in-demand products of the Middle Ages, used in medicine as well as in the kitchen. They were all imported from Asia and Africa. Venetian and other navigators of maritime republics then distributed

666-466: A unified group of communities that developed into the first center of coastal maritime culture. The coastal towns, including those on Zanzibar, appear to have been engaged in Indian Ocean trade at this early period. Trade rapidly increased in importance and quantity beginning in the mid-8th century and by the close of the 10th century Zanzibar was one of the central Swahili trading towns. Shangani,

740-466: Is a record from Tamil texts of Greeks purchasing large sacks of black pepper from India, and many recipes in the 1st-century Roman cookbook Apicius make use of the spice. The trade in spices lessened after the fall of the Roman Empire , but demand for ginger , black pepper, cloves , cinnamon and nutmeg revived the trade in later centuries. Rome played a part in the spice trade during

814-635: Is accessible from within the town. However, on slightly wider roads historically bicycles and now most recently motor cycles are used to transport people and goods. The town is accessible from Zanzibar and the rest of the region through three possible ports of entry. The main form of public transport in Zanzibar are the daladala share taxis ; and the main station is located by the Darajani Market. Daladalas connect Stone Town to several island locations, such as Bububu (a village north of Stone Town),

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888-508: Is divided into constituencies. As of the 2010 elections the area for Zanzibar City District had ten of the nineteen constituencies in the region: The Zanzibar Urban District is administratively divided into 45 wards: As of 2012, Mjini District was administratively divided into 20 wards. Stone Town Stonetown of Zanzibar ( Arabic : مدينة زنجبار الحجرية , romanized :  madīnat Zanjibār al-ḥajariyya ), also known as Mji Mkongwe ( Swahili for 'old town'),

962-480: Is punctuated with major historical buildings, several of which are found on the seafront; these include former palaces of the sultans, fortifications, churches, mosques, and other institutional buildings. While Stone Town was included in UNESCO's World Heritage Sites in 2000, this designation does not provide complete protection for the town's heritage. Despite the establishment of a Conservation Authority, about 80% of

1036-632: Is the old part of Zanzibar City , the main city of Zanzibar , in Tanzania . The newer portion of the city is known as Ng'ambo , Swahili for 'the other side'. Stone Town is located on the western coast of Unguja , the main island of the Zanzibar Archipelago . Former capital of the Zanzibar Sultanate , and flourishing centre of the spice trade as well as the Indian Ocean slave trade in the 19th century, it retained its importance as

1110-521: Is the peak tourist season due to beach tourism on the island. Spice trade The spice trade involved historical civilizations in Asia , Northeast Africa and Europe . Spices, such as cinnamon , cassia , cardamom , ginger , pepper , nutmeg , star anise , clove , and turmeric , were known and used in antiquity and traded in the Eastern World . These spices found their way into

1184-621: The Abbasid Caliphate and inspired famous legends such as that of Sinbad the Sailor . These early sailors and merchants would often set sail from the port city of Basra and, after many ports of call, would return to sell their goods, including spices, in Baghdad . The fame of many spices such as nutmeg and cinnamon are attributed to these early spice merchants. The Indian commercial connection with South East Asia proved vital to

1258-647: The Anglo-Zanzibar War , which is remembered as the shortest war in history: the Sultan surrendered after 45 minutes of naval bombardment of Stone Town by the Royal Navy . During the period of British protection, the Sultan still retained some power and Stone Town remained a relatively important trading centre for the informal trade. Though the town previously had a small railway the British constructed

1332-682: The Arabian Peninsula , resulting in the Austronesian colonization of Madagascar by the first half of the first millennium AD. It continued into historic times, later becoming the Maritime Silk Road . In the first millennium BC the Arabs , Phoenicians , and Indians were also engaged in sea and land trade in luxury goods such as spices, gold, precious stones, leather of exotic animals, ebony and pearls. The sea trade

1406-634: The Greco-Roman world via the incense route and the Roman–India routes by Indian and Persian traders. The Austronesian maritime trade lanes later expanded into the Middle East and eastern Africa by the 1st millennium AD, resulting in the Austronesian colonization of Madagascar . Within specific regions, the Kingdom of Axum (5th century BC–AD 11th century) had pioneered the Red Sea route before

1480-694: The Levant and Venetian merchants to Europe until the rise of the Seljuk Turks in 1090. Later the Ottoman Turks held the route again by 1453 respectively. Overland routes helped the spice trade initially, but maritime trade routes led to tremendous growth in commercial activities to Europe. The trade was changed by the Crusades and later the European Age of Discovery , during which

1554-792: The Manila Galleon . This trade route lasted until 1815. The Portuguese trade routes were mainly restricted and limited by the use of ancient routes, ports, and nations that were difficult to dominate. The Dutch were later able to bypass many of these problems by pioneering a direct ocean route from the Cape of Good Hope to the Sunda Strait in Indonesia . People from the Neolithic period traded in spices , obsidian , sea shells , precious stones and other high-value materials as early as

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1628-713: The Near East before the beginning of the Christian era, with fantastic tales hiding their true sources. The maritime aspect of the trade was dominated by the Austronesian peoples in Southeast Asia , namely the ancient Indonesian sailors who established routes from Southeast Asia to Sri Lanka and India (and later China) by 1500 BC. These goods were then transported by land towards the Mediterranean and

1702-539: The Spice Islands ( cloves and nutmeg ). It also connected the material cultures of India and China later on via the Maritime Silk Road. Indonesians in particular were trading in spices (mainly cinnamon and cassia ) with East Africa using catamaran and outrigger boats and sailing with the help of the westerlies in the Indian Ocean. This trade network expanded to reach as far as Africa and

1776-690: The Strait of Magellan in the southern tip of South America, opening the Pacific to European exploration. On March 16, 1521, the ships reached the Philippines and soon after the Spice Islands, ultimately resulting decades later in the Manila Galleon trade, the first westward spice trade route to Asia. After Magellan's death in the Philippines, navigator Juan Sebastian Elcano took command of

1850-558: The Sultan's Palace were also built. In 1861, as a consequence of a war of succession within the Omani royal family, Zanzibar and Oman were separated, with Zanzibar becoming an independent sultanate under Sultan Majid bin Said . In the 19th century Stone Town flourished as a trading centre. It was especially renowned for the commerce of spices (mostly cloves ) and slaves . Around middle of

1924-611: The sultan of Yemen . Indian spice exports find mention in the works of Ibn Khurdadhbeh (850), al-Ghafiqi (1150), Ishak bin Imaran (907) and Al Kalkashandi (14th century). Chinese traveler Xuanzang mentions the town of Puri where "merchants depart for distant countries." From there, overland routes led to the Mediterranean coasts. From the 8th until the 15th century, maritime republics ( Republic of Venice , Republic of Pisa , Republic of Genoa , Duchy of Amalfi , Duchy of Gaeta , Republic of Ancona and Republic of Ragusa ) held

1998-510: The 'New City' of Ng'ambo ("the Other Side"), which mostly extends in the interior of Unguja to the south-east. The dividing line between Stone Town and Ng'ambo is Creek Road, later renamed to Benjamin Mkapa Road, marking the west side of the now reclaimed creek that separated them. The streets in Stone Town are very narrow and almost getting anywhere within the town must be done on foot. The narrow streets provide shade and almost everything

2072-724: The 1,709 buildings of Stone Town are in a deteriorating condition. As coral stone is very friable, frequent maintenance is needed for most of these buildings. Some major restoration projects (especially on the seafront) have been done in recent times by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC).   Sultanate of Kilwa before 1503 [REDACTED] Portuguese Empire 1503–1698 [REDACTED] Sultanate of Oman 1698–1856 [REDACTED] Sultanate of Zanzibar 1856–1890 [REDACTED] British Empire 1890–1963 [REDACTED] Republic of Zanzibar 1964 [REDACTED]   Tanzania 1964–present A Greco-Roman text between

2146-507: The 10th millennium BC. The first to mention the trade in historical periods are the Egyptians . In the 3rd millennium BC, they traded with the Land of Punt , which is believed to have been situated in an area encompassing northern Somalia , Djibouti , Eritrea and the Red Sea coast of Sudan . The spice trade was associated with overland routes early on, but maritime routes proved to be

2220-536: The 1st and 3rd centuries, the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea , mentioned the island of Menuthias ( Ancient Greek : Μενουθιάς ), which is probably Unguja . Zanzibar, like the nearby coast, was settled by Bantu-speakers at the outset of the first millennium. Archaeological finds at Fukuchani, on the north-west coast of Zanzibar, indicate a settled agricultural and fishing community from the 6th century CE at

2294-561: The 1st century AD. During the first millennium AD, Ethiopians became the maritime trading power of the Red Sea . By this period, trade routes existed from Sri Lanka (the Roman Taprobane ) and India, which had acquired maritime technology from early Austronesian contact. By the mid-7th century AD, after the rise of Islam , Arab traders started plying these maritime routes and dominated the western Indian Ocean maritime routes. Arab traders eventually took over conveying goods via

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2368-407: The 5th century, but this role did not last through the Middle Ages. The rise of Islam brought a significant change to the trade as Radhanite Jewish and Arab merchants, particularly from Egypt , eventually took over conveying goods via the Levant to Europe . At times, Jews enjoyed a virtual monopoly on the spice trade in large parts of Western Europe. The spice trade had brought great riches to

2442-668: The Arabs had control over the sea trade with India. In the late second century BC, the Greeks from the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt learned from the Indians how to sail directly from Aden to the west coast of India using the monsoon winds (as did Hippalus ) and took control of the sea trade via Red Sea ports. Spices are discussed in biblical narratives, and there is literary evidence for their use in ancient Greek and Roman society. There

2516-512: The Lamu Archipelago, provide the clearest picture of architectural development. Houses were originally built with timber (c. 1050) and later in mud with coral walls (c. 1150). The houses were continually rebuilt with more permanent materials. By the 13th century, houses were built with stone, and bonded with mud, and the 14th century saw the use of lime to bond stone. Only the wealthier patricians would have had stone and lime built houses,

2590-692: The Moluccas and Maloko , and navigational works of the 14th and 15th centuries contain the first unequivocal Arab reference to Moluccas. Sulaima al-Mahr writes: "East of Timor [where sandalwood is found] are the islands of Bandam and they are the islands where nutmeg and mace are found. The islands of cloves are called Maluku ....." Moluccan products were shipped to trading emporiums in India, passing through ports like Kozhikode in Kerala and through Sri Lanka . From there they were shipped westward across

2664-730: The Portuguese had complete control of the African sea route, which extended through a long network of routes that linked three oceans, from the Moluccas (the Spice Islands) in the Pacific Ocean limits, through Malacca, Kerala and Sri Lanka, to Lisbon in Portugal. The Crown of Castile had organized the expedition of Christopher Columbus to compete with Portugal for the spice trade with Asia, but when Columbus landed on

2738-563: The Portuguese were ousted by Zanzibaris and Pembans in the 17th century, local patricians invited the Sultan of Oman to wield political power in exchange for defense against Portuguese reprisals. Part of the Portuguese church was built into the Omani fort, which housed roughly fifty soldiers. The Sultan also appointed a local governor, but political authority was still largely vested in the Mwinyi Mkuu, at this time Queen Fatima . Excavations at nearby Pemba Island, but especially at Shanga in

2812-519: The airport, the Amaan Stadium , Jangombe, and Magomeni, Zanzibar . For longer trips, "mabasi" (Swahili for "bus", singular "basi") are available, which are trucks adapted for passenger transport. The main "mabasi" station is also close to the Market and the "mabasi" network stretch across the entire island and is the cheapest form of long-distance transit. The main Zanzibar island harbour is in

2886-410: The capital of his kingdom in the city. The city was a high place of slavery , one of the main ports of East Africa for the slave trade. The famous slave trader Tippu Tip lived there. In 1846, the island had 360,000 enslaved for 450,000 inhabitants. In 1866, the British explorer David Livingstone (1813–1873) stayed in Zanzibar to prepare his last expedition to Tanzania. In 1892, Zanzibar was declared

2960-481: The century, the sultanate had a close relationship with the British; David Livingstone , for example, is known to have stayed in Stone Town in 1866 while he was preparing his final expedition into the interior of East Africa. In the same period, several immigrant communities from Oman , Persia and India formed as a consequence of the town's intense commercial activity. The Sultan of Zanzibar encouraged immigration of foreign traders who became very wealthy and settled in

3034-737: The city who brought diversity to the city's architecture. In the last decades of the century, the Sultans of Zanzibar gradually lost their possessions in mainland East Africa to the German Empire and the United Kingdom. In 1890, with the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty , Zanzibar itself became a British protectorate . In 1896, a sudden rebellion of the Zanzibari Omanis against the British rule led to

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3108-696: The command of navigator Vasco da Gama continued beyond to the eastern coast of Africa to Malindi and sailed across the Indian Ocean to Calicut , on the Malabar Coast in Kerala in South India — the capital of the local Zamorin rulers. The wealth of the Indies was now open for the Europeans to explore; the Portuguese Empire was the earliest European seaborne empire to grow from

3182-472: The diverse influences underlying the Swahili culture , giving a unique mixture of Arab, Persian , Indian and European elements. For this reason, the town was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000. Due to its heritage, Stone Town is also a major visitor attraction in Tanzania, and a large part of its economy depends on tourism -related activities. The heart of Stone Town mostly consists of

3256-435: The end of the Middle Ages well into the Renaissance , ushered in an age of European domination in the East. Channels such as the Bay of Bengal served as bridges for cultural and commercial exchanges between diverse cultures as nations struggled to gain control of the trade along the many spice routes. In 1571 the Spanish opened the first trans-Pacific route between its territories of the Philippines and Mexico, served by

3330-527: The end of the 17th century the Sultanate of Oman took over the island and completed the fort to prevent future attacks. The first stone houses in Stone Town probably began to be built in the early 1800s, gradually replacing an earlier fishing village around the Old Fort . At the time the Sultanate of Oman controlled the Zanzibar Archipelago , Mombasa and the Swahili coast . In 1824, Sultan Said bin Sultan moved his seat from Muscat , Oman, to Stone Town, which thus entered an era of quick development as

3404-480: The entire Zanzibar Archipelago experiences a similar climate throughout the year. The island has a hot tropical weather all year round with the hottest months being February and March and the cooler months being July and August. During most months of the year there is significant rainfall with a long rain season spanning from March–May and a shorter rain season from November–December. The lesser dry season occurs between December–February and May–August and consequently

3478-449: The expedition and drove it across the Indian Ocean and back to Spain, where they arrived in 1522 aboard the last remaining ship, the Victoria . For the next two-and-a-half centuries, Spain controlled a vast trade network that linked three continents: Asia, the Americas and Europe. A global spice route had been created: from Manila in the Philippines (Asia) to Seville in Spain (Europe), via Acapulco in Mexico (North America). One of

3552-495: The factor which helped the trade grow. The first true maritime trade network in the Indian Ocean was by the Austronesian peoples of Island Southeast Asia . They established trade routes with Southern India and Sri Lanka from around 1500 BC to 600 BC, ushering an exchange of material culture (like catamarans , outrigger boats , lashed-lug and sewn-plank boats, and paan ) and cultigens (like coconuts , sandalwood , bananas , and sugarcane ), as well as spices endemic to

3626-471: The finely decorated wooden doors, with rich carvings and bas-reliefs , sometimes with big brass studs of Indian tradition. Two main types of doors can be distinguished: those of Indian style have rounded tops, while those in the Omani Arab style are rectangular. Carvings are often Islamic in content (for example, many consist of verses of the Qur'an ), but other symbolism is occasionally used, e.g., Indian lotus flowers as emblems of prosperity. Stone Town

3700-415: The first Europeans to arrive, in early 1512. Abreu's expedition reached Buru , Ambon and Seram Islands, and then Banda. From 1507 to 1515 Albuquerque tried to completely block Arab and other traditional routes that stretched from the shores of Western India to the Mediterranean Sea, through the conquest of strategic bases in the Persian Gulf and at the entry of the Red Sea. By the early 16th century

3774-485: The goods through Europe. The Republic of Venice had become a formidable power and a key player in the Eastern spice trade. Other powers, in an attempt to break the Venetian hold on spice trade, began to build up maritime capability. Until the mid-15th century, trade with the East was achieved through the Silk Road , with the Byzantine Empire and the Italian city-states of Venice and Genoa acting as middlemen. The first country to attempt to circumnavigate Africa

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3848-432: The heart of Stone Town and regular ferries from Dar es Salaam and Pemba connect the town to the mainland. The town is also in close proximity to the Island's major airport. Zanzibar Airport , 9 kilometres (5.6 miles) south of Stone Town has flights to mainland Tanzania (especially Arusha and Dar es Salaam ) as well as other African main airports such as Nairobi , Mombasa , and Johannesburg . Stone Town along with

3922-409: The island of Hispaniola (in what is now Haiti ) instead of in the Indies , the search for a route to Asia was postponed until a few years later. After Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama in 1513, the Spanish Crown prepared a westward voyage by Ferdinand Magellan in order to reach Asia from Spain across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. On October 21, 1520, his expedition crossed

3996-468: The land trade of spices from South Arabia to the Mediterranean Sea . These tribes were the M'ain , Qataban , Hadhramaut , Saba and Himyarite . In the north the Nabateans took control of the trade route that crossed the Negev from Petra to Gaza . The trade enriched these tribes. South Arabia was called Eudaemon Arabia (the elated Arabia) by the Greeks and was on the agenda of conquests of Alexander of Macedonia before he died. The Indians and

4070-445: The latest. The considerable amount of daub found indicates timber buildings, and shell beads, bead grinders, and iron slag have been found at the site. There is evidence for limited engagement in long-distance trade: a small amount of imported pottery has been found, less than 1% of total pottery finds, mostly from the Gulf and dated to the 5th to 8th century. The similarity to contemporary sites such as Mkokotoni and Dar es Salaam indicate

4144-407: The main city of Zanzibar during the period of the British protectorate. When Tanganyika and Zanzibar joined each other to form the United Republic of Tanzania , Zanzibar kept a semi-autonomous status, with Stone Town as its local government seat. Stone Town is a city of prominent historical and artistic importance in East Africa . Its architecture, mostly dating back to the 19th century, reflects

4218-416: The maritime trade, promoting coinage, art, and literacy. Islam spread throughout the East, reaching maritime Southeast Asia in the 10th century; Muslim merchants played a crucial part in the trade. Christian missionaries, such as Saint Francis Xavier , were instrumental in the spread of Christianity in the East. Christianity competed with Islam to become the dominant religion of the Moluccas. However,

4292-420: The merchants of Arabia and Persia during the 7th and 8th centuries. Arab traders — mainly descendants of sailors from Yemen and Oman — dominated maritime routes throughout the Indian Ocean, tapping source regions in the Far East and linking to the secret "spice islands" ( Maluku Islands and Banda Islands ). The islands of Molucca also find mention in several records: a Javanese chronicle (1365) mentions

4366-857: The most important technological exchanges of the spice trade network was the early introduction of maritime technologies to India, the Middle East, East Africa, and China by the Austronesian peoples . These technologies include the plank-sewn hulls, catamarans , outrigger boats , and possibly the lateen sail . This is still evident in Sri Lankan and South Indian languages. For example, Tamil paṭavu , Telugu paḍava , and Kannada paḍahu , all meaning "ship", are all derived from Proto-Hesperonesian *padaw , "sailboat", with Austronesian cognates like Javanese perahu , Kadazan padau , Maranao padaw , Cebuano paráw , Samoan folau , Hawaiian halau , and Māori wharau . Austronesians also introduced many Austronesian cultigens to southern India, Sri Lanka, and eastern Africa that figured prominently in

4440-474: The natives of the Spice Islands accommodated to aspects of both religions easily. The Portuguese colonial settlements saw traders, such as the Gujarati banias , South Indian Chettis , Syrian Christians , Chinese from Fujian province, and Arabs from Aden , involved in the spice trade. Epics, languages, and cultural customs were borrowed by Southeast Asia from India, and later China. Knowledge of Portuguese language became essential for merchants involved in

4514-425: The new capital of the Sultanate of Oman and Zanzibar. With the British outlawing the slave trade in the Indian Ocean , the Sultanate's fortunes crashed. The Muscat economy was in shambles and many Omanis migrated to Zanzibar. The increase in the Arab population on the island facilitated further growth and more buildings began to spring up in the town. Furthermore, grand royal structures like the House of Wonders and

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4588-407: The original fishing town that developed into Stone Town, was a small, largely unimportant Swahili site founded in the 11th century. Bigger towns at Unguja Ukuu , Kizimkazi , and Tumbatu were the island's powers from the 8th to the 16th century. The Portuguese built a church at Shangani in the early 16th century, and the Queen of northern Unguja had a house built there in the mid-17th century. When

4662-450: The ports of Arabia to the Near East, to Ormus in the Persian Gulf and Jeddah in the Red Sea and sometimes to East Africa , where they were used for many purposes, including burial rites. The Abbasids used Alexandria, Damietta , Aden and Siraf as entry ports to trade with India and China. Merchants arriving from India in the port city of Aden paid tribute in form of musk , camphor , ambergris and sandalwood to Ibn Ziyad ,

4736-485: The spice trade, particularly in black pepper , became an influential activity for European traders. From the 11th to the 15th centuries, the Italian maritime republics of Venice and Genoa monopolized the trade between Europe and Asia. The Cape Route from Europe to the Indian Ocean via the Cape of Good Hope was pioneered by the Portuguese explorer navigator Vasco da Gama in 1498, resulting in new maritime routes for trade. This trade, which drove world trade from

4810-410: The spice trade. In 1511, Afonso de Albuquerque conquered Malacca for Portugal, then the center of Asian trade. East of Malacca, Albuquerque sent several diplomatic and exploratory missions, including to the Moluccas. Learning the secret location of the Spice Islands , mainly the Banda Islands, then the world source of nutmeg, he sent an expedition led by António de Abreu to Banda, where they were

4884-587: The spice trade. They include bananas , Pacific domesticated coconuts , Dioscorea yams, wetland rice, sandalwood , giant taro , Polynesian arrowroot , ginger , lengkuas , tailed pepper , betel , areca nut , and sugarcane . Hindu and Buddhist religious establishments of Southeast Asia came to be associated with economic activity and commerce as patrons, entrusted large funds which would later be used to benefit local economies by estate management, craftsmanship, and promotion of trading activities. Buddhism , in particular, traveled alongside

4958-440: The strength of the materials allowing for flat roofs, while the majority of the population lived in single-story thatched houses similar to those from the 11th and 12th centuries. According to Tom Middleton and Mark Horton, the architectural style of these stone houses have no Arab or Persian elements, and should be viewed as an entirely indigenous development of local vernacular architecture. While much of Zanzibar Town's architecture

5032-466: The trade. The colonial pepper trade drastically changed the experience of modernity in Europe, and in Kerala and it brought, along with colonialism, early capitalism to India's Malabar Coast, changing cultures of work and caste. Indian merchants involved in spice trade took Indian cuisine to Southeast Asia, notably present day Malaysia and Indonesia , where spice mixtures and black pepper became popular. Conversely, Southeast Asian cuisine and crops

5106-506: The ubiquitous use of coral stone as the main construction material; this stone gives the town a characteristic, reddish warm colour. Traditional buildings have a baraza , a long stone bench along the outside walls; this is used as an elevated sidewalk if heavy rains make the streets impracticable, or otherwise as benches to sit down, rest, socialize. Another key feature of most buildings is large verandas protected by carved wooden balustrades . The best-known feature of Zanzibari houses are

5180-421: Was Portugal, which had, since the early 15th century, begun to explore northern Africa under Henry the Navigator . Emboldened by these early successes and eyeing a lucrative monopoly on a possible sea route to the Indies , the Portuguese first rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1488 on an expedition led by Bartolomeu Dias . Just nine years later in 1497, on the orders of Manuel I of Portugal , four vessels under

5254-431: Was also introduced to India and Sri Lanka, where rice cakes and coconut milk -based dishes are still dominant. European people intermarried with Indians and popularized valuable culinary skills , such as baking , in India. Indian food, adapted to the European palate, became visible in England by 1811 as exclusive establishments began catering to the tastes of both the curious and those returning from India. Opium

5328-554: Was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000. Ng'ambo is a much larger, modern area that developed around Stone Town after the Zanzibar Revolution , with office buildings and large apartment blocks such as those of the Michenzani neighbourhood. Zanzibar City is served by a number of international and domestic airlines via Abeid Amani Karume International Airport . In 1592, the first English ship arrived in port. In 1824, Said bin Sultan , Sultan of Muscat and Oman established

5402-571: Was in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean . The sea route in the Red Sea was from Bab-el-Mandeb to Berenike , from there by land to the Nile , and then by boats to Alexandria . Luxury goods including Indian spices, ebony , silk and fine textiles were traded along the overland incense route . In the second half of the first millennium BC the Arab tribes of South and West Arabia took control over

5476-479: Was rebuilt during Omani rule, nearby sites elucidate the general development of Swahili, and Zanzibari, architecture before the 15th century. Stone Town is located along a natural harbour and the first Europeans to set foot on the island of Zanzibar were the Portuguese. The Portuguese ruled the island for over two centuries and began constructing Stone Town's first stone structure, the Old Fort . However, towards

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