Sultanate of Zanzibar fled into exile, and the Sultanate was replaced by the People's Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba. In April 1964, this short-lived communist republic was united with Tanganyika to form the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, which became known as Tanzania six months later. By 1964, the country was a constitutional monarchy ruled by Sultan Jamshid bin Abdullah. Zanzibar had a population of around 230,000 natives, some of whom claimed Persian ancestry and were known locally as Shirazis. It also contained significant minorities in the 50,000 Arabs and 20,000 South Asians who were prominent in business and trade. The various
Sultanate of Zanzibar furthered the country's progress toward abolishing slavery. According to the 16th-century explorer Leo Africanus, the native inhabitants of the Zanzibar (Zanguebar) sultanate were for the most part pagans with curly hair and a black complexion. However, the denizens of the northernmost Zanzibar kingdom of Malindi were Muslims of an almost white complexion, with some pagan black inhabitants among them. Until 1884, the Sultans of Zanzibar controlled a substantial portion of the Swahili Coast, known as Zanj, and trading routes extending further into the continent, as far as Kindu on the Congo River. That year, however, the Society for German Colonization