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...

Zanzibar stands at the centre of the Indian Ocean system's involvement in the history of Eastern Africa. 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. In the second part the authors analyse social classes and their role in the period culminating in the insurrection of 1964. North America: Ohio U Press; Tanzania: Historical Association of Tanzania

The rise of Zanzibar was based on two major economic transformations: firstly, slaves became used for the production of cloves and grain for export, instead of the slaves themselves being exported; secondly there was an increased demand for luxuries such as ivory and Zanzibar took advantage of its strategic position to trade as far as the Great Lakes. Yet this economic success increasingly subordinated Zanzibar to Britain, with its anti-slavery crusade and its control over the Indian merchant class. North America: Ohio U Press; Kenya: EAEP