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VIEWS FROM A TRIP AROUND THE WORLD
#33 - ZANZIBAR, AFRICA

Size: 3" x 5"
Copyrighted: 1891
Lithographer: Joseph P. Knapp

Zanzibar, Africa - Woman of Uguha; Slave Market; H.M. Stanley; British Consulate; Mnyamwezi Pagazi
Illustrations: A Woman of Uguha; Church on Slave Market; H.M. Stanley; The British Consulate; Mnyamwezi Pagazi; Native Huts

Reverse - Text
Left section: GRIND YOUR COFFEE AT HOME
Right section:
ZANZIBAR, AFRICA.
The name Zanzibar, of both State and Capital city, is a corruption of the original "Zanguebar," having arisen from the mispronunciation of the local Banyans and other Indian traders. The State is a Sultanate of East Central Africa, comprising originally the four islands of Zanzibar, Pemba, Lamu, and Mafia, (Monfia,) together with the adjacent seaboard with indefinite limits toward the interior. This amount of territory was restricted by the action of the Anglo-Germanic Convention in 1886, to an exactly defined strip of coast-land, and in later years further changes have taken place, the Sultan's officers in various seaports having given way to the Commissioners of certain European powers. The Swahili or "Coast People" are a mixed race, the elements of the Bantu and the Arab being mingled in the proportion of three to one. They are noted for the intelligence and enterprise derived from a large infusion of Semitic blood, enabling them to take a leading part in the development of trade and industries during the last half century in Africa. The city of Zanzibar is on the west side of the island, about 25 miles from its port on the mainland--Bagamoyo. It comprises two distinct quarters--Shangani, the centre of trade and residence of the Sultan, and the eastern suburb, occupied by the lowest classes.
Viewed from the sea, the aspect is pleasing, with its gleaming mosques, palaces, white houses, barracks, forts and towers. But the interior is a labyrinth of ill-kept, narrow, winding streets, filled with a dense mass of hovels, described as "a cesspool of wickedness, oriental in appearance, Mahommedan in religion, and Arabian in morals." But as a centre of trade, it occupies a very important position, being regularly visited by several lines of ocean steamers, and is the focus of all the exploring and civilizing influences which have penetrated into the eastern section of equatorial Africa.
The total joint population was estimated in 1887 at about 100,000.