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Zanzibar est un nom mystérieux, qui évoque l'aventure,
au même titre que Tombouctou ou Ispahan. La plupart des gens ne
savent pas si Zanzibar existe vraiment et si oui, où!
Pour
certains, c'est l'île aux épices, pour d'autres, le point
de départ des explorations de Livingstone, pour d'autres encore,
la plaque tournante du traffic d'esclaves hors de l'Afrique de l'est.
Toujours est-il que des générations d'aventuriers, de
marchands, d'exporateurs ou de colons ont été attirés
depuis des siècles par cet archipel. Sumériens, Assyriens,
Egyptiens, Phéniciens, Indiens, Chinois, Malais, Perses, Portugais,
Arabes, Hollandais, Anglais y ont tous été et laissé
leur traces sur le sable blanc!
Originally the Bantus were the inhabitants of Zanzibar. Around about
the year 50 BC Zanzibar was first mentioned in the Greek nautical guide
'Periplusmaris Eritrea'. Where the name Zanzibar actually derived from
has not been found out yet. Richard Burton maintains that the Arabs
deduced the name Zanzibar from the sentence 'zayn za'l bar', and this
means: 'Beautiful is this island'.
The Islamic world first influenced Zanzibar because of the trade routes
of the Indian Ocean to Zanzibar. Persians and Arabs from the Gulf region
mainly sailed from November to March; this was the period of the dry
monsoon winds from northeast, called Kaskazi. They sailed back with
the southeast monsoon, the Kusi. Around about 700 A.D., some Arabs stayed
on the island and built stone houses. Ever since 1107 the muezzin calls
for prayer from a mosque built of red limestone. The Arabs, who mainly
came from Oman, married into the local population: that is how the Swahili
people emerged.
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The Shirazi, settlers from the Persian Gulf region, came to the island
around 1200A.D.. The Shirazi and the local population also mixed and
helped Zanzibar to become a melting pot of cultures. Persian, Arab,
Chinese and Indian traders constantly came to Zanzibar and exchanged
goods as ivory, rhinoceros horns, spices, silk and much more. The Portuguese
came as conquerors; one of their boldest seafarers, Vasco da Gama, landed
near Jamgiber in 1498. The other seafaring nations of Europe soon followed.
They ruled the whole East African coast and put a mixture of welfare,
looting and false treaties into practise. They were not to leave Zanzibar
for 200 years.
The Portuguese dominance was scattered when the Omani Arabs conquered
Zanzibar in 1652. Slave trade began to develop and became the factor
that was to change everything. The increasing demand for slaves was
triggered by the expansion of the colonial powers. The Arab sultan Sayyid
Said from Oman saw the potential profit and transferred his court from
Muskat, in Oman, to Zanzibar.
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Slave trade superseded Zanzibar's traditional export of ivory, rubber,
cowries, furs and cloves. From 1840 to 1856 Zanzibar was probably the
most important trade city on the East African coast; up to 50,000 slaves
per year were sold on the slave market of the city.
Thanks to 'Her Majesty's Royal Navy', that ruled over the sea there,
the new sultan Sayyid Barghash was forced to surrender. He had to agree
to a public proscription of slave export from this island. In 1885 the
Berlin Africa Conference divided Africa into spheres of influence. The
sultan of Zanzibar continued to rule Pemba and Zanzibar (under British
protection though). Germany was granted the rest of Tanzania (together
with Rwanda and Burundi = German East Africa). Germany ruled harshly,
the Maji-Maji-rebellion (1905, 1906) was the most sad and bloodiest
incident. But during this period the basis for a modern development
of today's Tanzania was created. Railways and roads were planned and
built as well as schools and hospitals, Dar es Salaam, formerly a village,
was enlarged to become the capital. In a bloody revolution in January
1964 - only one month after Zanzibar had gained its independence from
the British - the sultan was deprived of power. On April 24th, the new
Republic of Tanganyika was united with Zanzibar and the new nation gave
herself the name of Tanzania. In 1967 the Arusha Declaration was announced.
The independent, Tanzanian way towards socialism became apparent. The
Investment Promotion Centre (IPC), that was created in 1990, is not
only supposed to promote investment by the state Tanzania but also private
Tanzanian and foreign investments. In consequence, Tanzania leaves the
socialist principle in the 90ies and focuses more and more on western
standards.
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