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
Sultanate of Zanzibar be sovereign over that territory. The remaining ten-mile wide coastal strip (with the exception of Witu) remained a Protectorate under an agreement with the Sultan of Zanzibar. That coastal strip, remaining under the sovereignty of the Sultan of Zanzibar, was constituted as the Protectorate of Kenya in 1920. The Protectorate of Kenya was governed as part of the Colony of Kenya by virtue of an agreement between the United Kingdom and the Sultan dated 14 December 1895. In summary, the "Colony of Kenya" referred to the interior lands. The "Protectorate of Kenya" was a ten-mile coastal strip together with certain