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 diving and snorkelling sites. The Menai Marine Park ecosystem is a protected marine conservation area which covers . A marine reserve management plan has been developed with participation of the local communities. Tumbatu Island is part of the north-west coast of Zanzibar. This tiny island was once the capital of Zanzibar during the reign of the Sultan of Shiraz. The proud people of the island trace their ancestry to the Shiraz rulers of Persia who came to the island in the 10th century. The island is shaped like a long, thin dagger. Vegetation on the island consists of very large