Tanzania / Zanzibar: 'A slave master's punishment for a slight offence'. Young Swahili boy chained to a log he is carrying on his head. Zanzibar, c. 1890

In 1698, Zanzibar fell under the control of the Sultanate of Oman. Until around 1890, the sultans of Zanzibar controlled a substantial portion of the East African coast, known as Zanj, which included Mombasa, Dar es Salaam, and trading routes extending much further inland, such as the route leading to Kindu on the Congo River.

The sultans developed an economy of trade and cash crops in the Zanzibar Archipelago with a ruling Arab elite. Ivory was a major trade good. The archipelago, also known as the Spice Islands, was famous worldwide for its cloves and other spices, and plantations were developed to grow them. The archipelago's commerce gradually fell into the hands of traders from the Indian subcontinent, whom Said bin Sultan encouraged to settle on the islands.

Zanzibar City was East Africa's main port for the slave market between Africa and Asia (including the Middle East), and in the mid-19th century as many as 50,000 slaves passed annually through the port. Sultan Barghash bin Said helped abolish the slave trade in the Zanzibar Archipelago after 1870.

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