History of Zanzibar led to the Anglo-Zanzibar War, also known as the shortest war in history. The islands gained independence from Britain in December 1963 as a constitutional monarchy. A month later, the bloody Zanzibar Revolution, in which several thousand Arabs and Indians were killed and thousands more expelled and expropriated, led to the Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba. That April, the republic merged with the mainland Tanganyika, or more accurately, was subsumed into Tanzania, of which Zanzibar remains a semi-autonomous region. Zanzibar was most recently in the international news with a January 2001 massacre, following contested elections. Zanzibar has been inhabited, perhaps
Wildlife of Zanzibar mango. Along with small animals, Zanzibar is known for several oversized species, such as the giant rat ("Cricetomys gambianus cosensi") which can be up to a metre (3 ft) long with the tail. Dugong, internationally endangered species still occur in the region. Birds found in Zanzibar including Pemba Island and Mafia Island (not governed by the semi-autonomous region of Zanzibar), are about 240 species of which: globally threatened species are four, introduced species is one and Endemics are species are eight. The genera of the birds and some of the details of extirpated, introduced, vulnerable and threatened spices are given