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Zanzibar, the Indian Ocean, and Nineteenth-Century Global Interface

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Connectivity in Motion

Part of the book series: Palgrave Series in Indian Ocean World Studies ((IOWS))

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Abstract

This chapter highlights the mechanics and consequences of Zanzibar’s position as a hub at the height of its prosperity and regional influence. Nineteenth-century Zanzibar was situated at the interface of East African, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, and Atlantic systems. As a result, Zanzibar Town acted as a condensed, integrative space through which goods, people, and ideas from very different societies circulated and East African socioeconomic trends articulated with transoceanic currents. This chapter outlines these articulations and related socioeconomic phenomena in urban Zanzibar from the mid-nineteenth century until the beginning of the twentieth century. During this period, Zanzibar Town dominated East Africa’s interface with the maritime world. Zanzibar Town channeled goods and ideas, amplified social frictions, broadcast shifting sociocultural trends across and beyond the Swahili coast, and displayed an unusual cultural vibrancy. Thus, Zanzibar was more than a commercial center; it was a nexus of global exchange, human mobility, exploitation, and changing social relations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of History, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Jeremy Prestholdt

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  1. Jeremy Prestholdt
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  1. Institute for Social and Cultural Anthropology, Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany

    Burkhard Schnepel

  2. Department of History, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Edward A. Alpers

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Prestholdt, J. (2018). Zanzibar, the Indian Ocean, and Nineteenth-Century Global Interface. In: Schnepel, B., Alpers, E.A. (eds) Connectivity in Motion. Palgrave Series in Indian Ocean World Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59725-6_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59725-6_6

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