Zanzibar Tanzania's Mafia Island, are sometimes called the "Spice Islands" (a term also associated with the Maluku Islands of Indonesia). Zanzibar is the home of the endemic Zanzibar red colobus, the Zanzibar servaline genet, and the (possibly extinct) Zanzibar leopard. The word "Zanzibar" came from Arabic "zanjibār" ( [zandʒibaːr]), which is in turn from Persian "zangbâr" ( [zæŋbɒːɾ]), a compound of "Zang" ( [zæŋ], "black") + "bâr" ( [bɒːɾ], "coast"), cf. the Sea of Zanj. The name is one of several toponyms sharing similar etymologies, ultimately meaning "land of the blacks" or similar meanings, in reference to the dark skin of
History of Zanzibar slave trade was officially abolished in 1876, but slavery itself remained legal in Zanzibar until 1897. Zanzibar had the distinction of having the first steam locomotive in the African Great Lakes, when Sultan Bargash bin Said ordered a tiny 0-4-0 tank engine to haul his regal carriage from town to his summer palace at Chukwani. One of the most famous palaces built by the Sultans were the House of Wonders, which is today one of Zanzibar's most popular tourist attractions. The British Empire gradually took over; the relationship was formalized by the 1890 Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty, in which Germany pledged, among