Sultanate of Zanzibar
This article is about the specific polity Sultanate of Zanzibar and therefore only includes events related to its territory and not to its possessions or colonies. If you are interested in the possession, this is the link to the article about the nation which includes all possessions as well as all the different incarnations of the nation.
If you are looking for the page with the statistics about this polity you can find it here:All Statistics
Was a polity that controlled Zanzibar and its nearby islands, as well as the coast of Tanzania. It emerged when the Omani Empire was divided in 1856 between Muscat and Oman (possessions in Asia and the Arabian Peninsula) and Zanzibar (possession in Africa). It was placed under British protection in 1895.
Establishment
October 1856: After the death of the Sultan in 1856, two of his sons, Majid bin Said and Thuwaini bin Said, struggled over the succession, so Zanzibar and Oman were divided into two separate realms. Thuwaini became the Sultan of Muscat and Oman while Majid became the first Sultan of Zanzibar.
Chronology
Interactive Chronologies with maps are available in the section Changes Navigation
Was a military conflict fought between the United Kingdom and the Zanzibar Sultanate on 27 August 1896. The conflict lasted between 38 and 45 minutes, marking it as the shortest recorded war in history.
August 1896: Death of the pro-British Sultan Ḥamad bin Thuwayni on 25 August 1896 and the subsequent accession to the throne of Sultan Khalid bin Barghash.
August 1896: The Anglo-Zanzibar War lasted 38 minutes and is considered the shortest war in history. The war marked the end of the Sultanate of Zanzibar as a sovereign state and the start of a period of heavy British influence.
January 1857: Tumbatu conquered by Zanzibar.
January 1859: In 1858 Sultan Ahmad ibn Fumo Bakari, from the old ruling family of the Nabahani, founded the town of Pate on the island of the same name and established an independent sultanate.
January 1862: Malindi was conquered by Sultan Majid of Zanzibar in 1861.
January 1864: Siyu succumbed to Zanzibar's dominance, under Sultan Majid in 1863.
January 1885: In the fall of 1884, Germans started an expedition to East Africa. Carl Peters, Joachim Graf von Pfeil, Karl Ludwig Jühlke and the merchant August Otto traveled to Zanzibar and crossed over to the opposite mainland. In the hinterland of the mainland possessions of the Sultan of Zanzibar, Peters visited local chiefs and presented them with German-language "protection contracts", which he was able to persuade twelve local rulers who did not speak German to sign. In this way, claims to power were acquired in the regions of Usegua, Nguru, Usagara and Ukami. After the letter of protection was issued, Peters founded the limited partnership “Deutsch-Ostafrika Gesellschaft Karl Peters und Genossen” on April 2, 1885, which was entered in the commercial register in Berlin.
June 1885: The Khutu Expedition was led by German explorer Dr. Karl Ludwig von Khutu in German East Africa. The contract signed with Golongo was likely for trade or land acquisition purposes in the Rufiji and Ulanga area.
November 1885: Usaramo-Expedition.
December 1885: Zweite Nyassa-Expedition - second expedition led by German explorer Hermann von Wissmann in 1885. The expedition aimed to establish German control over the regions of Ubena, Uhehe, Magindo, Mahenge, and Matschonde in German East Africa.
January 1886: The Second Kilimanjaro Expedition in 1885 was led by German explorer Hans Meyer and Austrian mountaineer Ludwig Purtscheller. They successfully reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa, on October 6, 1889. This expedition marked the first recorded ascent of the mountain.
February 1886: Sabaki Expedition: First contacts made by the Germans with the Galla ethnic group on the Tana River. From the German's point of view, this was the "acquisition of Giriyama, the Wanika lands, the Galla areas and Ukamba".
October 1886: The governments of Great Britain and Germany negotiated a delimitation of their spheres of interest and, on October 29, 1886, agreed on a division of East Africa into zones of interest, whereby Germany was assigned the southern part and Great Britain the northern part (today's Kenya).
October 1886: Territorial change based on available maps.
May 1887: The Mombasa Sultanate is acquired by the Imperial British East Africa Company.
July 1895: The British government proclaimed a protectorate on Zanzibar, the East Africa Protectorate.
Disestablishment
August 1896: Death of the pro-British Sultan Ḥamad bin Thuwayni on 25 August 1896 and the subsequent accession to the throne of Sultan Khalid bin Barghash.
August 1896: The Anglo-Zanzibar War lasted 38 minutes and is considered the shortest war in history. The war marked the end of the Sultanate of Zanzibar as a sovereign state and the start of a period of heavy British influence.
