Anglo-Zanzibar War sovereign state and the start of a period of heavy British influence. Zanzibar was an island country in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Tanganyika; today it forms part of Tanzania. The main island, Unguja (or Zanzibar Island), had been under the nominal control of the Sultans of Oman since 1698 when they expelled the Portuguese settlers who had claimed it in 1499. Sultan Majid bin Said declared the island independent of Oman in 1858, which was recognised by Great Britain, and split the sultanate from that of Oman. Barghash bin Said, the second sultan and Khalid's father, had
Wildlife of Zanzibar baobab trees. The island’s coast line is reef-fringed with coral reefs studded with multicoloured fish. The island has a large number of the Zanzibar suni ("Nesotragus moschatus") called 'pa', on the coral rag on the east coast, duiker ("Cepholophus adersi") locally called the 'paanunga' and Newmans tree coney ("dendrohyrax neumanni"). An important bird species is Guinea fowl. Jongowe village on the island has a population concentration as well as a large number of mosque remnants and a group of 40 stone houses, within an area of all traced to the 14th century. Mosque ruins and some stone houses built in