Chapter 14

Chapter 14

The Omani Empire

Jacqueline Woodfork

Introduction

As has been seen, the coast of East Africa enjoyed lively and extensive relations with other peoples of the Indian Ocean in the precolonial era. Sailors crossed the Indian Ocean and mercantile activities connected lands stretching from. Africa's eastern coast to the Middle and Far East. One of the most important contacts was between the Omani and the peoples of coastal East Africa. This chapter will examine how this meeting of people resulted in colonization, the use of existing trading networks, the introduction of a new religion, new governmental and economic structures, and the creation of a new culture and language.

Early Coastal East Africa

The area that would become part of the Omani Empire in East Africa stretched over more than three thousand kilometers of coastline between Mogadishu, in present-day Somalia, and Sofala, in present-day Mozambique. This area had numerous inlets, harbors, and islands, which allowed water-borne commerce and regular, reliable transportation and communications. Although the distance from Oman to Zanzibar was over three thousand kilometers by water, it was not an obstacle to those who sailed the Indian Ocean for commerce and conquest.

The fusion of fragments is a way in which to view the composition of the physical area and the people. Just as the coast was comprised of separate entities, the Swahili language and culture was produced by various sources. The indigenous people of the coast labored in various occupations as farmers, fishermen, and traders. As early as 247 B.c., Greek sailors made their way to the coast of East Africa in search of ivory. Greek, Roman, and Arab traders were present in areas of the Horn of Africa and Southern Somalia by 110 A.D.

Swahili is today one of the African languages most commonly recognized outside

the African continent, and it is one of the most commonly spoken languages in Africa, stretching from the coast to the Democratic Republic of Congo as the lingua franca. The word "Swahili" is derived from an Arabic word meaning "coast." Currently there is a debate as to the origins of the Swahili language and

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Figure 14-1. The Swahili Coast

culture. The orthodox interpretation of the rise of the Swahili culture and language holds that Arabic speakers encountered Bantu speaking people who had probably displaced indigenous hunter/gatherer groups. Archeological evidence indicates that these Bantu-speakers migrated from the west. Another school of thought is that the language, often called Kiswahili, was created from the synthesis of Bantu languages and Arabic to form a unique tongue when traders arrived

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from the Persian Gulf. Yet another school holds that the language and culture of the Swahili people were established prior to the arrival of non-Bantu-speaking people and that Persian words were "borrowed" and adapted by the indigenous population.! Nonetheless, Bantu, Persians, Arabs, and other Asians all contributed to this culture. The Swahili developed their own solar calendar and rejected the lunar calendar introduced by Arabs as inappropriate. The Swahili were strongly patrilineal, but in practice they were not as strict as the Arabs. The Swahili could be divided into two groups: the Shirazi were the nobility and in the minority, and the Swahili made up the rest of the society. These two groups were united by their religious affiliation; almost all were Sunni Muslims.

The Swahili language and culture developed over centuries continuously enriched

by travel and trade. When Arabs and Persians arrived on the shores of East Africa, they called the area "the land of Zanj" or "the land of the Black people."" By 1000 A.D. there were many Arab settlers; these settlers intermarried with .the indigenous African populations and learned local languages. The Swahili Coast's physical location facilitated the region's cultural development. The annual monsoon winds of the Indian Ocean assisted those who engaged in ocean-borne commerce. From December through February the winds came from the north-northeast, from April through September they came from the south-southwest; thus, a trip that began in December in Mombasa would progress to

India and return to the East Coast of Africa in September. This annual pattern provided a few months of time during which sea-borne transportation was unavailable due to unfavorable or absent winds, and many of those Asians who sailed the Indian Ocean stayed on the coast of East Africa, bringing with them their cultural and linguistic traits, which became part of the Swahili tradition. Instead of assimilation, the meeting of these civilizations gave rise to a new culture, that of the Swahili.

The Arabs and Persians took up temporary or permanent residence in the trading cities that developed along the coast. The Swahili Coast had developed into a distinctive entity due to the contacts with the various trading interests of the Indian Ocean, all of whom left their mark on Swahili society. These contacts extended as far as China. Early Chinese sources make reference to Africa, mentioning items of trade such as ivory, gold, and sandalwood; they also provide physical descriptions of the inhabitants of the East African Coast. Commercial interests in the area were not confined to the peoples of the Indian Ocean, and the trading goals of the West had a profound impact upon this area.

At the end of the fifteenth century, a new route to India had been discovered by European sailors who hoped to bypass the overland route and the commercial agents of the Middle East. In 1497, Vasco de Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope at the tip of Southern Africa and ventured into the Indian Ocean. He was swiftly followed by his compatriots. The Portuguese arrived on the shores of East Africa at the time that the power of the Swahili city-states was waning. These city-states were politically independent and rivals in trade, and the lack of unity

1. The debate about the origin of the Swahili language-and culture-reflects a wider debate in African history concerning origins of culture and agents of change. Historians such as Roland Oliver and Sir Reginald Coupland have emphasized the contributions of Arabs made to African cultures, while historians such as Cheikh Anta Diop and v.v. Matviev have insisted upon the primacy of the African aspects.

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among these cities facilitated Portuguese conquest. The subjection of the Swahili Coast took less than ten years; by 1508 the Portuguese had taken control of the major towns of the coast of East Africa. They then concentrated their attention on the areas at the southern end of the series of the city-states.

The Portuguese occupied the area to facilitate their mercantile interests, yet trade and politics were intertwined; thus, the Portuguese became entangled in the politics of the indigenous population. The fiscal benefits anticipated by Portugal were not realized, as Portuguese activities did not build upon the foundations laid by the Swahili. The ancient connections with India were severed and trade decreased when the extensive caravan system faded from use. For more than a century and a half, the Portuguese were the dominant political and commercial power on the East African Coast, yet they were neither able to take full advantage of the pre-existing trading systems, nor to sustain their own dominance in the region. As Portuguese power crumbled, the Omani were there to pick up the pieces, but a stronger hold on the former Portuguese possessions in the Indian Ocean proved difficult and often elusive.

The Emergence of the Omani Empire

on the East Coast of Africa

When the people of Mombasa looked for a way to escape the domination of the Portuguese, who were acting solely in their crown's interests in the Indian Ocean, they turned to a well-known person, the Imam of Oman, Sultan ibn Saif2. In the Omani, Mombasa saw allies who were well-known through long-established trading contacts, who had the same religious beliefs, and who were an integral part of Swahili society. The Omani had already successfully driven the Portuguese out of the capital, Muscat, in 1650 and expelled them from the empire. Not content to rest with the eviction of the Portuguese, the Omani set their sights upon taking control of other Portuguese dominions, including those on the East Coast of Africa.

In 1652, the sultan sent ships to attack Portuguese settlements at Pate and Zanzibar. The capture of these two islands signaled the beginning of the end of Portuguese influence on the Swahili Coast. The East Coast of Africa was an Omani versus Portuguese battleground during the later half of the seventeenth century. The struggle between the two powers culminated when Saif ibn Sultan sailed to Mombasa in 1696 with more than three thousand men, and, after a three-year struggle, the Omani captured Fort Jesus (at Mombasa) in 1698. Though the physical presence of the Portuguese was gone, traces of their culture would still be found in Kiswahili and in the architecture of the coastal cities.

The Omani believed that they needed to keep a firm hand in the running of the Swahili Coast while trying to contain the continuous political unrest in Oman itself: control was tenuous. Initially, the Omani feared that the Portuguese would try to exact revenge against the Omani homeland by launching retaliatory attacks

2. An imam is a Muslim leader of prayer; the title is also used by Islamic leaders who

serve in the capacity of religious and government leaders.

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Figure 14-2. Fort Jesus, Mombasa, Kenya

at the East Coast of Africa. The Omani were great mercantilists with a long tradition of ocean-borne commerce, and they realized that other Europeans wanted to supplant Portugal in the Indian Ocean trade. The Omani strove to maintain control in the motherland and simultaneously to prevent a possible erosion of the empire from both internal and external sources on the Swahili Coast.

Political Unrest

The inhabitants of the Swahili Coast were content to be rid of the Portuguese, expecting that they would at last be allowed to administer their own affairs. Imperialism was not an exclusively European phenomenon, however, and one set of foreign rulers was exchanged for another as Omani hegemony progressed. The inhabitants showed their displeasure through limited rebellion and the refusal to pay taxes. The period from the 1710s to the 1740s was one of great upheaval and reversal of fortunes. For example, Kilwa was liberated from Omani rule briefly in 1724 with the aid of Europeans in Mozambique. The Mazrui family in Mombasa bristled under the constraints of the Omani and attempted to act as independent rulers, not as subjects of the sultan or the imam. The Mazrui were an Omani clan who were not very prominent in Oman, but were very important in coastal East Africa as rulers of city-states. The Mazrui often rebelled against Omani rule in the attempt to wield greater power in their city and looked for any weaknesses to exploit. Mazrui attempts to gain control over the areas which they governed were constant throughout the period of Omani rule.

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As Oman's sea-borne commerce increased, so did the need to control the Swahili city-states. The capital was moved from the interior of Oman to Muscat in 1749. At its peak, the empire stretched its control from the Swahili Coast into parts of what are now Pakistan and India. The empire was over-extended and many clashes resulted. East Africa was the most profitable part of the empire and the area that was guarded most jealously.

The Swahili Coast was not the only site of political unrest in the empire. Problems surfaced domestically as political leaders were in the process of attempting to consolidate their power in Oman. In spite of East Africa's importance, the internal political power struggles in Oman itself meant that full attention could not be devoted to the area. Upon the death of Ahmad ibn al-Busadi, the founder of the Omani Busadi dynasty, in 1784, Oman tried to exert direct political control over the Swahili Coast. At this time, a rivalry developed between the Busadi brothers, and a power struggle, which was played out in East Africa, ensued. The rivalry of the two aspirants to the seat of power divided the islands and resulted in a protracted series of battles and intrigues that included assassinations and the seizure of forts. Again, Swahili resistance to Omani rule played a role in the drama as the Omani took advantage of the sentiments of the islands' populations in their political machinations, with Ahmad emerging as the winner.

In 1799 Seyyid Sultan ibn Ahmad signed a treaty with the British, agreeing to keep the French out of East Africa. The demise of Portuguese power in the sub-region drew the interest of European powers who recognized that the Omani were reaping financial benefits from their East African possessions and wanted either to become involved in these activities or at least to prevent their European rivals from doing so. East Africa was also important on the geo-political level because of its proximity to the Middle East and because of its long-established trading links with the Far East. When Seyyid Sultan ibn Ahmad came to power, only Zanzibar was under the control of Oman. His son, Seyyid Said, changed that situation.

Seyyid Said

"I am nothing but a merchant," Seyyid Said remarked to a French traveler shortly before his death. This seriously understates his position. Seyyid Said was one of the most important rulers of the Omani Empire. Although his interests were mostly mercantile, commerce was not the only area that he affected, and his presence in Zanzibar and the policies he introduced would have a profound impact upon the Swahili Coast. Born in 1791, he took control of Oman when he killed his eldest brother and rival in 1806. He then proceeded to bring the other city-states within the confines of his political control. In 1817, Seyyid had sent 4,000 men to Pate, which was eventually captured. The Mazrui governor of Pate was replaced by a hand-picked representative of Seyyid who was supported by a number of soldiers. After 1817, Seyyid issued a decree that none of Oman's East African subjects were to trade with Mombasa, whose Mazrui rulers were still not loyal to Oman. This year also saw the "liberation" of Pemba and Brava from Mazrui rule by Zanzibar. One way in which Seyyid recognized the importance of the East African possessions was by eventually moving his capital from Muscat to Zanzibar, where he built himself a modest palace. The predominance of Zanzibar

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Figure 14-3. Seyyid Said

can also be seen in the declaration that no foreign commercial agents were to interact with mainland traders; all commercial activity was to be carried out in conjunction with Zanzibar. Seyyid's extension of power was not done easily, however, or without meeting resistance.

The Mazrui of Mombasa

Although Seyyid made remarkable progress in the consolidation of his East African empire, there was constant turmoil in Oman and on the Swahili Coast, and his activities in East Africa met with continued resistance. The Mazrui family of Mombasa, whose presence on the Swahili Coast antedated that of Seyyid Said, tried to attain sovereignty of the island. The first Mazrui became governor of Mombassa in 1727, and his rule was so fierce that the citizens revolted, but the family persisted in its desire to rule. The Mazrui tried continuously to regain

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the power they had held before the Omani tightened their control of the coast of East Africa and took advantage of any weaknesses they could exploit. The Mazrui acted upon tenuous Omani control by attempting to act as independent rulers and by frequently revolting against Oman, even calling upon the Portuguese who were eager to take action against those who had ousted them from East Africa. Between 1810 and 1812, Mombasa attacked Lamu in an attempt to remove one governor and to install a pro-Mazrui governor in his place. Lamu appealed to Seyyid Said for assistance against the encroachment of its neighbor, and Said sent his own governor and a garrison of soldiers in 1813. In 1814, a new Mazrui ruler, Abdullah ibn Ahmad, came to power in Mombasa. Instead of sending the tribute expected of a governor to the sultan, he sent only paltry gifts in defiance of Omani domination. At the time, Seyyid was too preoccupied with political events in Oman to respond to the slight, but it was neither forgotten nor forgiven.

The Mazrui refused to relinquish power to Seyyid and divisive family quarrels played a part in the takeover by Oman. Seyyid unsuccessfully attacked Mombasa in 1829. He sent a second large contingent against the city-state later in the same year. Upon hearing that the expedition had been sent, the Mazrui had the throat of one of Seyyid's most trusted advisors slit. The two attempts at landings in Mombasa were blocked and resulted only in heavy causalities and the renewal of an old treaty, the only new provision of which was the removal of Seyyid's troops from Fort Jesus. Temporarily thwarted, Seyyid pursued the matter at a later date. Trying to increase Omani power on the coast of East Africa in 1837, members of the Mombasa Mazrui family were lured into a fortress where they were seized and bound, then taken by their captors to a ship bound for Oman. Some were thrown overboard; others languished in a prison on the Persian Gulf before succumbing to starvation. Seyyid was very serious about the consolidation and maintenance of his power in East Africa. Revealing the importance of the Swahili Coast through the deployment of military personnel, Seyyid committed an army of 6,500 men and a navy of fifteen ships to maintain his domination of the area. Finally, Seyyid made Zanzibar the capital of the Omani Empire in 1840.

The strength of Omani control of its East African empire varied greatly; in some areas traditional rulers continued to direct governmental affairs with the Omani governor as a titular head; some areas had traditional leaders who served on governmental advisory boards. Omani hegemony was strongest in Zanzibar, Mombasa and Kilwa. The most important concerns for the Omani were maritime trade, the collection of revenue, and diplomacy. Seyyid Said instituted a

government that was theocratic, yet tolerant. Based on a form of patriarchal absolutism, Seyyid's government had neither departments nor ministers. Other than his own, the only important office in the administration was the city governorship, and that position was under his scrutinizing eye. The government blended religion and secular concerns. Non-religious people were appointed to

positions of authority. In the legal system, all cases were judged by a qadhis (a judge of Islamic law) who was almost always a scholar, but offenders were not punished strictly according to sharia (Islamic law) and were most often fined, jailed, or whipped. European visitors reported only the rarest incidents of harsher corporal punishment. Zanzibaris were relatively content with their situation because of the great economic prosperity that the island enjoyed. They were

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also very aware of the looming threat of the Europeans whose boats plied the waters surrounding their island.

Cloves, Slaves, and Society

The benefit of the East African possessions to the Omani was financial. The greatest source of income was through customs duties, and there was also an annual poll tax. The Chief Customs Collector was also the Chief Treasurer. The position entailed the direction of most economic affairs. Seyyid appointed an Indian as the Chief Customs Collector of Zanzibar and encouraged the settlement of Indian immigrants to stimulate the economy. Many of these immigrants became customs agents, middlemen, moneylenders, and wholesale traders, effectively dominating the state's economic affairs. Zanzibar was attractive to merchants because it maintained low and predictable duties. The island's revenues increased steadily from the beginning of the nineteenth century. Much of the economic activity concerned the re-exportation of imports, both people and materials, to India, Persia, Egypt, and inner Arabia. The revenues of Zanzibar increased to equal those of Muscat. There was increased caravan trade into the interior, and many inland-trading settlements grew to support these commercial activities. The interior trade will be examined in chapter 15.

Perhaps the most significant contribution that Seyyid Said made to East Africa was the introduction of cloves to the Swahili Coast.3 Cloves were also grown in the Dutch East Indies, but production there could not meet the demand. Prior to the introduction of this cash crop, coconuts, palm oil, and grains were the most frequently produced agricultural items. Indian cloth, rice and other foodstuffs, beads, and guns were imported. The region's export trade items also included ivory and slaves. Cloves arrived from Mauritius in 1828, and Seyyid tested the product before having seeds distributed throughout Zanzibar and Pemba. These two islands came to dominate the clove market. Although cloves were a financial boon to the Omani owners of clove plantations, their production brought great changes to the Swahili Coast where they were grown. In Zanzibar, Omani appropriated the most fertile lands to the north and east of Zanzibar City from the indigenous population. It is unclear what happened to the Swahili land-owning elite when the Omani governors were appointed, but almost certainly some of them worked for these officials. Small-scale, indigenous farmers were alienated from the land, and their property was appropriated first by the Swahili and then by the Omani. Clove production is a delicate and time-consuming process; thus, more and more slaves were needed to manage the plantations as production increased. The switch to cloves meant that traditional foodstuffs were produced at greatly reduced levels. The dependence upon a specialized product was both a boon and a bane to the plantation owner. It neither aided a general expansion of agriculture nor did it create great upheavals in

3. Although many scholars focus on the role of the clove in the market economy of coastal East Africa, historian Steven Feierman emphasizes the role of the trade in ivory. See Philip Curtain, Steven Feierman, Leonard Thompson, and Jan Vansina, African History (London: Longman, 1985), 396-397.

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Figure 14-4. East African Trade Routes in the Nineteenth Century

the society. After a long history of slave trading, the elite shifted their emphasis from trading slaves to owning them.4 There was a great increase in the slave trade in the middle of the nineteenth century to meet the demands of clove production. Islam and the cultural incorpo-

4. For a fuller discussion of slavery in Zanzibar, see Frederick Cooper, Plantation Slavery on the East Coast of Africa (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977).

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ration of the slave into society were major factors in the development of plantation systems on the coast of East Africa, and a particular relationship between the master and slave was forged. The plantation owners were Muslims who usually lived by the Qur'anic teachings of the obligations of the master to the slave (and certainly of the slave to the master), including the indoctrination of the slave into Islamic culture. Islam was one of the methods by which the slaves were brought into the social structure and given a position in their new situation. Some slaves held positions as artisans and caravan leaders. These slaves came to identify themselves as coastal people and Muslims, as did other Africans in the sub-region.

Slaves on the Swahili Coast were to be treated in the manner prescribed by the Qur'an and were incorporated into the dominant society. This was done through conversion to Islam and because the offspring of a master and a slave woman was not only free, but a part of the family of the master. Concubinage was a method of fostering greater cultural interchange and cohesion, which brought cultural blending to the level of the Omani ruling elite and to the sultan's palace.

It is in the production of cloves and their importance in trade that the irony of Britain's abolitionist stance can be seen. Africans were also culpable in this system, the procurers and sellers of slaves, and did not want to see their source of livelihood eradicated. The trade continued. While fewer slaves were in the international market, the domestic use of slaves increased. The government actively sought the end of the slave trade, but the production of cloves, an already expensive commodity, depended upon slave labor. Thus, "legitimate trade," or commerce involving items other than humans, relied upon slave labor.

The Decline of Oman and

the Advent of the West

Seyyid died on 19 October 1856 at the age of sixty-five while returning to Zanzibar from Muscat. His second son, Seyyid Majid, succeeded him in Zanzibar. The empire was then split into two entities, Oman and the East African Coast. Majid ruled in Zanzibar and Seyyid Thuwaini controlled Oman. Zanzibar was the more lucrative of the two areas, and Majid had to compensate his brother for the superior richness of Zanzibar by paying an annual sum of forty thousand dollars to Muscat. Majid, however, did not do so until the British intervened at his brother's request and the sum was paid until Thuwaini's death. Majid established the city of Dar es Salaam (Haven of Peace) on the mainland in present-day Tanzania, hoping to strengthen his control over the interior trade. The city was not completed at the time of his death in 1870. This cleavage in the empire and the subsequent erosion of power was the beginning of the demise of the Omani, as European powers took advantage of the political intrigues and destabilized empire

to begin moving onto the Swahili Coast. Disaffected people in the Swahili city-states continuously used contacts with European powers to try to strengthen their position against the ruling Omani. Earlier appeals for help went to the Portuguese, but as the British achieved dominance in the Indian Ocean, a switch was made. Mombasa sought British protect

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Figure 14-5. View of Zanzibar, c.1857

tion in 1824 to resist the encroachment of Seyyid Said. The Omani were paying close attention to their East African possessions, which limited the power of the Mazrui. Captain W.E Owen of Britain was assisted by the Mazrui in declaring Mombasa a British protectorate. Owen envisioned Mombasa as a center from which to wage war against the slave trade. Said wanted neither a strengthened Mazrui family nor anti-slavery activities in his realm. The British found themselves in a difficult diplomatic situation and Mombasa's protectorate status was hastily rescinded in 1826 when the British realized that it was more economically advantageous for them to support Seyyid than the Mazrui. As circumstances on the East Coast of Africa changed, so did its relationship with Britain.

Britain, seeing that the Omani had reaped economic benefits from the Swahili Coast, was interested in establishing its effective navy in the area to engage in seaborne mercantile activities. One of the major items of trade caused numerous problems between the encroaching British, the Swahili and the Omani. Britain banned the slave trade in 1807 and put pressure on its allies to do the same. That the French displayed an interest in the slave trade in Kilwa also encouraged the British to establish themselves in the areas of the Swahili Coast. The British government declared that the slave trade had officially ended and set about policing international waters themselves in search of illegally-obtained humans for sale. It stopped ships carrying slaves. Seyyid realized that slavery was the basis of clove production on Zanzibar and the island of Pemba, and declined to follow suit. It was not until 1873 that the then sultan of Zanzibar bowed to pressure and banned all trade in slaves by sea. Slavery was still legal on the mainland, and slaves were still smuggled to the clove producing islands.

New England sailors, primarily from Boston and Salem, Massachusetts, were very much involved in Indian Ocean commerce, and, at the apex, they made as many calls to the port of Zanzibar as did the British. The New Englanders' inter

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ests included slaves and, because of the agreeable climate, consideration of founding settlements along the coast. Seyyid Said encouraged U.S. business by imposing a minimal tariff on in-coming American goods and not requiring U.S. merchants to pay any duties on East African goods that they purchased. Cotton cloth was one of the principal American imports-slavery was important on both sides of the exchange. U.S. trade overshadowed that of Britain, which encouraged the latter to become further enmeshed in the political affairs of the Swahili Coast in order to, gain a stronger foothold in trade. The British encouraged fear of the French in Seyyid who needed British military support in Oman. Germans, too, made their commercial interests felt.

In the following years between the establishment of the first treaty between Oman and Britain in 1839, a number of interdependent factors increased the interests and presence of the British on the coast of East Africa. Britain was interested in the economic benefits to be gained through its presence in the Omani Empire, and the position of the sultan of Zanzibar was strengthened to abet trade. In 1841 Britain sent its first consul to Zanzibar. The persistence of the slave trade turned the attention of British abolitionists to the Swahili Coast, and Christian missionaries and explorers swiftly moved into the area. These factors were separate, yet interconnected. Christianity was often the organizing principal around which abolitionist movements were founded, and some Europeans believed that Africans needed saving from slavery as well as their traditional lifestyles, which the Europeans deemed uncivilized. Some missionaries, such as David Livingstone, were also explorers. This region was not the only area in which competing European powers had varied interests. The Omani empire in East Africa was but one of the areas where Occidental people and their governments were trying to establish, maintain, or change control of political, economic, and cultural systems for their own benefit.

During the "Scramble for Africa," the Germans became a factor on the Swahili Coast. The Anglo-German Agreement of 1886 left Zanzibar, Pemba, Mafia, Lamu, Kismayu, Brava, Merca, Mogadishu, and Warsheikh defined as dominions of the Sultan of Zanzibar. Two years later, however, Zanzibar was declared a British protectorate. This formal measure was undertaken to secure Britain's interests on the island and to exclude it from German control. Events close to the Swahili Coast, such civil unrest in Buganda, also encouraged European powers to tighten their grip on the coast of East Africa.5 Britain and Germany came to control the Swahili Coast and much of the interior of East Africa by the close of the nineteenth century.

Conclusion

The East Coast of Africa was an area of great economic activity that drew together various groups of people. The Swahili combined elements of African,

5. Buganda is the southern part of present-day Buganda. In 1888, the king, Mwanga, put into motion a xenophobic plan. To rid his country of all foreigners and their religions, he planned to entice them to an island in the Lake Victoria and leave them there to starve. News of the scheme was leaked to the missionaries, which led to a rare convergence of Protestant, Catholic, and Muslim efforts. Mwanga was deposed in favor of a younger brother.

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Arab, Indian and, to a lesser extent, Portuguese culture to create a unique and vibrant culture that was made possible by the geography of the East Coast of Africa. The increasing economic importance of the Swahili Coast led to an influx of labor, which contributed to the commercial activity of the area. Urbanization led to a population that was more ethnically varied as more people came from the East African hinterland as domestic and plantation slaves, and from various parts of Asia as merchants. This dynamic society drew the attention of a number of foreign powers that sought to dominate the coast in order to reap the economic benefits.

Review Questions

1. How did the geography of the East Coast of Africa affect its history?

2. How was Omani imperialism in East Africa different from that of the Europeans?

3. What role did the coast of East Africa play in the battle between European

powers in the nineteenth century?

4. How did the Omani imperial project change from the time of the demise of

Portuguese power in East Africa to the coming of Europeans in the nineteenth

century?