Foreign relations of Zanzibar Foreign relations of Zanzibar The foreign relations of Zanzibar refers to the relationships with other nations by the independent Zanzibari government which existed from 1856 to 1964, when the Zanzibar Revolution overthrew the ruling Sultan and unified the country with Tanganyika, forming Tanzania. In 1890, Zanzibar gave up formal control over their foreign relations to the British Empire. In 1906, the United States of America formalized a treaty in which they relinquished any claims to Zanzibar in favor of the British Empire. Following the unification and creation of Tanzania, Zanzibar's foreign relations were handled by the joint government in Dar
History of Zanzibar sons struggled over the succession. On April 6, 1861, Zanzibar and Oman were divided into two separate principalities. Sayyid Majid bin Said Al-Busaid (1834/5–1870), his sixth son, became the Sultan of Zanzibar, while the third son, Sayyid Thuwaini bin Said al-Said, became the Sultan of Oman. Accounts by visitors to Zanzibar often emphasize the outward beauty of the place. The British explorer Richard Francis Burton described Zanzibar in 1856 as: "Earth, sea and sky, all seemed wrapped in a soft and sensuous repose...The sea of purist sapphire, which had not parted with its blue rays to the atmosphere...lay looking...under a