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  • Princess Salme: Zanzibar Royalty in Exile

    Princess Salme: Zanzibar Royalty in Exile
    2026/06/06
    In 1866, Princess Salme of Zanzibar — a daughter of Sultan Said bin Sultan and a Circassian slave — fled the island under cover of darkness, pregnant with the child of a German merchant. She left behind a world of clove plantations, Indian Ocean dhows, and Busaidi palace intrigue for a life of exile in Hamburg and later Berlin. This episode traces her extraordinary journey from Stone Town to Europe, her conversion to Christianity, her marriage to Heinrich Ruete, and the memoir she wrote decades later — 'Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar' — that remains one of the only first-person accounts of 19th-century Swahili court life. We talk about what her story reveals about the fluid boundaries of race, status, and gender in Zanzibar's Indian Ocean world, and how her writings challenge colonial narratives. Along the way, we explore the 1859 succession crisis that tore her family apart, her brother Barghash's rise to power, and the impossible choices faced by a woman who belonged neither to Europe nor to the Busaidi dynasty by the time of her death in 1924. #PrincessSalme #EmilyRuete #ZanzibarHistory #BusaidiDynasty #IndianOceanWorld #SwahiliCoast #SaidbinSultan #BarghashbinSaid #Memoir #19thCentury #Exile #GermanEastAfrica #WomensHistory #Slavery #Conversion #StoneTown #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    8 分
  • Zanzibar's 1859 Succession Crisis and the Busaidi Civil War

    Zanzibar's 1859 Succession Crisis and the Busaidi Civil War
    2026/06/05
    In 1859, the death of Sultan Said bin Sultan triggered a bitter succession war between his sons Majid and Barghash that nearly tore the Omani Empire apart. This episode unpacks the year-long conflict, the British naval intervention, and the lasting split between Oman and Zanzibar. We explore the roles of Princess Salme, who defied her brothers and fled to Aden, and the Indian financiers who bankrolled both sides. Listen for the story of the HMS Punjabi, the bombardment of Mtoni Palace, and how this crisis reshaped Indian Ocean power. #Zanzibar #Busaidi #SultanSaid #MajidbinSaid #BarghashbinSaid #PrincessSalme #Oman #IndianOcean #1859 #SuccessionCrisis #HMSPunjabi #MtoniPalace #StoneTown #Watoro #BritishEmpire #History #FexingoHistory #CivilWar Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    8 分
  • Zanzibar's Indian Ocean Copper Revolution of 1882

    Zanzibar's Indian Ocean Copper Revolution of 1882
    2026/06/05
    In 1882, Sultan Barghash bin Said of Zanzibar launched a bold monetary experiment: minting his own copper pysa coins to replace the chaotic mix of currencies flooding his island. This episode unpacks how the Sultan, advised by his Indian merchant allies Jairam Sewji and Tharia Topan, contracted the Bombay Mint to strike millions of copper coins—each featuring the Sultan's name in Arabic script and a regnal year. We trace the coins' journey from Bombay's dies to Stone Town's markets, where they clinked alongside Maria Theresa thalers and Indian rupees. But the pysa wasn't just economic reform; it was a statement of sovereignty in an era of creeping European influence. Why did Barghash feel the need to mint his own money? How did Indian merchants—especially the Khoja and Bhatia communities—drive the project? And why did the pysa ultimately fail to unify Zanzibar's economy? This is the story of a copper coin that tried to bind an Indian Ocean empire. #Zanzibar #SultanBarghash #CopperCoin #Pysa #IndianOcean #BombayMint #JairamSewji #ThariaTopan #StoneTown #MariaTheresaThaler #MonetaryHistory #Sovereignty #Khoja #Bhatia #19thCentury #EconomicHistory #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    5 分
  • The Zanzibar Porters Who Crossed Africa

    The Zanzibar Porters Who Crossed Africa
    2026/06/04
    In this episode, Lucas and Luna follow the footsteps of the Zanzibar-based porters who, from the 1820s to the 1880s, carried ivory, cloth, and guns across the African interior. They focus on the Nyamwezi porters from what is now Tanzania, who organized themselves into caravans of hundreds, traveling thousands of miles from the Great Lakes to the coast. The episode explores the economics of the caravan trade—how porters were paid, fed, and managed—and the cultural exchanges they enabled. It also looks at the role of Zanzibar's Indian financiers, like Jairam Sewji and Tharia Topan, who supplied the trade goods, and the British consul John Kirk's attempts to regulate it. The episode highlights the porters' skill, endurance, and the harsh conditions they faced, including disease, hunger, and violence. It ends with the decline of the caravan system as railways and European colonial rule reshaped East Africa. #Nyamwezi #Zanzibar #CaravanTrade #Ivory #IndianOceanHistory #EastAfrica #SultanBarghash #ThariaTopan #JairamSewji #JohnKirk #SwahiliCoast #AfricanPorters #19thCentury #TradeRoutes #AfricanHistory #Slavery #Colonialism #History Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    9 分
  • Zanzibar's Indian Palace: The Sultans' Bombay Connection

    Zanzibar's Indian Palace: The Sultans' Bombay Connection
    2026/06/04
    Long before Stone Town's coral walls rose, Zanzibar's sultans built a palace in Bombay. This episode traces the story of the Busaidi dynasty's Indian outpost—a mansion on the Malabar Hill that served as a diplomatic hub, a refuge for exiled princes, and a symbol of the sultanate's Indian Ocean reach. We follow the journeys of Sultan Barghash bin Said, who visited Bombay in 1875 and was hosted by the Khoja merchant Tharia Topan; of Princess Salme, who fled there after a scandalous marriage; and of the palace itself, which eventually became a school. Along the way, we touch on the legal battles over the property, the role of Indian merchants in Zanzibar's economy, and the tangled legacy of Omani rule in India. This is a story of empire, migration, and the material culture of power—told through one building that changed hands across empires and eras. #Zanzibar #Bombay #BarghashbinSaid #ThariaTopan #PrincessSalme #EmilyRuete #Busaidi #Khoja #MalabarHill #ZanzibarHistory #IndianOceanHistory #OmaniEmpire #Diaspora #ColonialArchitecture #History #FexingoHistory #SouthAsia #EastAfrica Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    6 分
  • The Watoro: Zanzibar's Runaway Slave Communities

    The Watoro: Zanzibar's Runaway Slave Communities
    2026/06/03
    In this episode of The History of Zanzibar, Lucas and Luna explore the forgotten story of the watoro—enslaved Africans who escaped from Zanzibar's clove plantations to form independent communities in the island's rugged interior. Drawing on the accounts of Sultan Barghash, British consul John Kirk, and former slaves like Mwalimu Juma, we trace how runaways built fortified villages, developed their own leadership structures, and even negotiated with the sultan for recognition. The watoro were a persistent challenge to Zanzibar's slave economy, raiding caravans and sheltering new runaways. Their story complicates the narrative of total domination by the Omani elite and reveals the agency of the enslaved in shaping their own freedom. We also examine the 1873 treaty with Britain that nominally ended the slave trade, but left the watoro's status ambiguous. Listen for a nuanced look at resistance, survival, and the hidden history of those who refused to be property. #Watoro #Zanzibar #Slavery #Resistance #RunawaySlaves #Barghash #JohnKirk #ClovePlantations #Unguja #MtoniPalace #MaroonCommunities #IndianOcean #SwahiliCoast #Abolition #19thCentury #History #FexingoHistory #AfricanResistance Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    10 分
  • The 1890 Anglo-German Agreement That Ended Zanzibar's Independence

    The 1890 Anglo-German Agreement That Ended Zanzibar's Independence
    2026/06/02
    In 1890, Zanzibar's sultan signed away his island's independence without a shot being fired. This episode traces the diplomacy, the players, and the aftermath of the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty — the deal that traded Zanzibar for a North Sea island, ended centuries of Omani and Swahili sovereignty, and cemented British control over the spice archipelago. We follow Sultan Ali bin Said, caught between German ambitions and British pressure; meet the German chancellor Otto von Bismarck and his successor Leo von Caprivi, who saw Zanzibar as a bargaining chip; and revisit the faded grandeur of Mtoni Palace, where the sultan learned his fate. Along the way, we uncover the role of Sir John Kirk, the British consul who once championed Zanzibar but ultimately helped dismantle it, and the brief, violent aftermath: the 1896 Anglo-Zanzibar War, the shortest war in history. This is the story of how a spice kingdom became a British protectorate — and how a North Sea rock became a German colony. #HeligolandZanzibarTreaty #AngloZanzibarWar #SultanAliBinSaid #JohnKirk #OttoVonBismarck #LeoVonCaprivi #ZanzibarProtectorate #BritishEmpire #GermanColonialism #Heligoland #MtoniPalace #SwahiliCoast #SaidBinSultan #ShortestWarInHistory #EastAfrica #IndianOcean #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    6 分
  • Zanzibar's Indian Ocean Hurricane of 1872

    Zanzibar's Indian Ocean Hurricane of 1872
    2026/06/01
    In April 1872, a devastating cyclone struck Zanzibar, killing thousands and destroying the clove plantations that underpinned the island's economy. Lucas and Luna explore how Sultan Barghash bin Said, already grappling with the end of the slave trade, used the disaster to centralise power, reshape the spice trade, and tighten his relationship with British consul John Kirk. They discuss the storm's role in accelerating the shift from Omani to British influence, the humanitarian response, and the long-term impact on Zanzibar's clove monopoly. Along the way, they touch on the role of Indian merchants like Tharia Topan in financing recovery, and the ecological legacy of the hurricane on Unguja and Pemba. This episode draws on ship logs, plantation records, and accounts from survivors to reconstruct a turning point often overlooked in standard histories. #Zanzibar #Cyclone1872 #BarghashBinSaid #IndianOcean #ClovePlantations #JohnKirk #ThariaTopan #Unguja #Pemba #OmaniEmpire #BritishEmpire #SpiceTrade #DisasterHistory #EnvironmentalHistory #19thCentury #EastAfrica #SwahiliCoast #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo
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    7 分