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
Tourism in Zanzibar The main airport on the island is Zanzibar International Airport, though many tourists fly into Dar es Salaam and take a ferry to the island. The principal grouping of attractions on Zanzibar are: coastal tourism, terrestrial wildlife, dhow cruising and spice tours. Zanzibar's capital is the historical Stone Town, home to much of Zanzibar's tourism industry. It is also a World Heritage Site. The town is home to numerous historical and cultural sites, including Makusurani graveyard (where many of the islands previous Arab rulers are buried), House of Wonders (a four story building which was the first place on the