Wildlife of Zanzibar World Wildlife Fund divides the coastal forests into two ecoregions: the Northern Zanzibar-Inhambane coastal forest mosaic, which extends from southern Somalia through coastal Kenya to southern Tanzania, and includes the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba, and the Southern Zanzibar-Inhambane coastal forest mosaic, which extends from southern Tanzania along the Mozambique coast to the mouth of the Limpopo. Natural habitats in this ecoregion have been largely replaced by areas under cultivation for food production and spices (cloves, cardamom, nutmeg, pepper, ginger and cardamom, grown mostly in Zanzibar and Pemba Island) for export. The remaining natural forest habitat is now located in
History of Zanzibar Portuguese Empire was the first European power to gain control of Zanzibar, and kept it for nearly 200 years. In 1698, Zanzibar fell under the control of the Sultanate of Oman, which developed an economy of trade and cash crops, with a ruling Arab elite and a Bantu general population. Plantations were developed to grow spices; hence, the moniker of the Spice Islands (a name also used of Dutch colony the Moluccas, now part of Indonesia). Another major trade good was ivory, the tusks of elephants that were killed on the Tanganyika mainland - a practice that is still in