The ‘Omani’ and the ‘Indian’ roles in the nineteenth-century commercial expansion

One of the difficulties faced by researchers in the nineteenth century history of Zanzibar is the paucity of source material available before the arrival of the Europeans and the North Americans. Apart from oral traditions, Zanzibari written sources for that period are virtually nonexistent. As late as 1859 the British consul Rigby, in his attempt to unravel the convoluted relationships of the Omani rulers with other members of the Albusaid, let alone those with their Arab, Swahili, Indian or African followers, was lamenting:

Everything is arranged verbally in open Durbar; Arabs have a great aversion to writing; no records of any sort are kept at Zanzibar, the most important affairs are settled…without any written proceedings.1