Zanzibar: The Most Exotic Island in the World

The history of Zanzibar is one of all proportion to its size. it was the richest place in Africa for centuries, an island burgeoning with spices and subject to such favourable winds that it has served as the center of trade between Africa, Arabia, and Indiafor over five thousend years. The island have always been highly prized by empire builders: Egyptians, Arabs, Portuguese, Chinese, Dutch, and British have all taken possession, valuing it not only for its strategic trading position, but also because of its fertile soils and temperate climate. Zanzibar used to be the world's largest producer of cloves, grown on plantations, established in the early 1800s by Sultan Said of Oman. In 1964, the country of tanganyika on the East African mainland, to become the United Republic of Tanzania. Zanzibar forms half the name of Tanzania.

Geography

A large proportion of the world's population has heard of Zanzibar. The name conjures up all sorts of exotic images: sultans, slaves, spices, ebony, ivor, gold, and explorers - words that start to tell the story of Zanzibar. However, only a small proportion of the world's population know exactly Zanzibar is. It is located in the Indian Ocean, just off the Tanzanian coast of East Africa, immediately south of the equator. Zanzibar Island is 83 km long and 38 km wide with magnificent, golden, sandy coral reefs. Zanzibar lacks the abundance of wildlife that is found on mainland Africa. No giraffes, elephants, or lions here today, just a few monkeys and small antelops. However, in1295, When visiting the island, Marco Polo recorded that Zanzibar had elephants in plenty.

Zanzibar today

The population is estimated at about 800,000, an incredible mixture of ethnic backgrounds, indicative of the island's colourful history. Zanzibaris speak Swahili, a language wich is spoken extensively in East Africa. Many believe that the purest form is spoken in Zanzibar as it is the birthplace of language. Fishing and agriculture are the main economic activities of the local people. Although cloves are still a major export along woth coconut products and spices, tourism has been earmarked as the primary foreign exchange earner, with more visitors coming to Zanzibar each year. Some of these come to visit the birth place of the late Freddie Mercury, lead singer of the band Queen, who was born Farouk Bulsara in Zanzibar City on 5 September 1946. However, the numbers of tourist are still relatively low (less than 100,000 annually) and the potential for tourism is still largely unstapped. The island is trying hard to develop sensitive tourism that benefits both visitors and that benefits both visitors and community, without losing magic hat is Zanzibar.