Revenue stamps of Zanzibar Revenue stamps of Zanzibar Zanzibar issued revenue stamps from when it was a British protectorate in 1892, to after when it became part of Tanzania in 1993. Zanzibar's first revenues were Indian revenue or special adhesive stamps overprinted ZANZIBAR in capitals, and these were issued between May 1892 and August 1894. Various provisional overprints, some manuscript and some printed, were produced at around 1904, and most of these are rare. In 1905, postage stamps portraying Sultan Seyyid Hamoud bin Mahommed bin Said were overprinted "Revenue", and sometime later, 1 rupee surcharges appeared on this issue. Between 1907 and 1908 various
History of Zanzibar the revolution in Zanzibar was to break the power of the Arab/Asian ruling class, who had held it for around 200 years. Despite the merger with Tanganyika, Zanzibar retained a Revolutionary Council and House of Representatives which was, until 1992, run on a one-party system and has power over domestic matters. The domestic government is led by the President of Zanzibar, Karume being the first holder of this office. This government used the success of the revolution to implement reforms across the island. Many of these involved the removal of power from Arabs. The Zanzibar civil service, for example, became